50 Greatest WWE Raw Moments Ever
29. Dolph Ziggler Cashes In (April 8th, 2013)
There may be no single wrestler who stands as a monument to the decades-long creative decline WWE experienced between 2002 and 2022 than Dolph Ziggler.
For almost all of his run either side of this lone World Title victory in 2013, Ziggler was simply part of the furniture in WWE, and while furniture is often comfortable, reliable and necessary, it can also be cumbersome, past its best and in the way. Enter 'The Show-Off', who was all of the above for better and worse in the company, but perfectly placed to win the big one on a show that, for years, was a bizarre party destination for disillusioned punters that were still in town.
Cashing in on Alberto Del Rio the night after WrestleMania 29, Dolph's music kicking in right as the boring titleholder nursed an ankle injury sent a red hot crowd into white hot hysterics. Ziggler is credited with coining "Gratitude Era" as the term for how much WWE used to pay gushing tribute to its distant past at the expense of current talent, but for one night his reaction rivalled some of the great Steve Austin pops. The sustained noise that greeted his theme somehow doubled when he actually snared the World Title.
This was fan service bang in the middle of a desperate creative drought, highlighting how a sense of relief was basically the new euphoria in this broken version of the company.