Taking place in front of a raucous post-WrestleMania 29 crowd that had love to spare for the 'Show Off', Dolph Ziggler determinedly stomped down to the ring alongside AJ Lee and Big E Langston after World Heavyweight Champion Del Rio had been left for dead by downed WrestleMania opponent Jack Swagger. He was about to have the greatest moment of his entire career.
Ziggler had held the briefcase for nearly the full year having won his ladder match the previous July, and targeted Del Rio's injured leg with a flurry of kicks before scoring a nail-biting nearfall. Ziggler briefly lost control of the match, drawing panicked boos from the capacity crowd, but his kick-out generated another thunderous cheer.
Del Rio locked in an arm-breaker as the audience genuinely feared a tap-out, but Ziggler lasered in on the leg yet again and hit a mammoth Zig Zag to win the World Heavyweight Title to the sound of joy and palpable relief from the Izod Center crowd. His fanbase have been chasing a dragon like this one for nearly seven years since.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett
