8 Times WWE Completely Failed Dolph Ziggler

2. Casting Him As A Babyface Who Can't Get The Job Done

Dolph Ziggler Dean Ambrose
WWE

Dean Ambrose had his own problems as WWE Champion straight after the Draft. Although he was holding the promotion's top title and being presented as SmackDown's top babyface, Ambrose had to play second fiddle as the spotlight shone on the new Universal Title over on Raw. He and Dolph Ziggler were facing an uphill battle to stir interest before their showdown at SummerSlam.

With Finn Bálor facing Seth Rollins for Raw's new belt and Randy Orton going up against Brock Lesnar, Dolph's big challenge for the WWE Title felt like a mid-card effort. That proved true come the pay-per-view, because Ziggler vs. Ambrose went on before both aforementioned matches. The build up was also confusing.

On commentary, JBL repeatedly stated that then-babyface Dolph couldn't get the job done when push came to the shove. In other words, he had no business even being in a WWE Title match at all, let alone on WWE's second biggest show of the year.

Cast as a repeated failure, even some of the best mic work of Ziggler's career couldn't save his match with Ambrose from feeling inferior next to SummerSlam's bigger bouts.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.