7 Times WWE Tried To Unbury Someone (& Failed!)

Dolph Ziggler occupies a unique space as the shorthand wrestler for all of WWE's 2010s ills, regardless of if the reference is designed to praise or criticise his actual work.

'The Show Off' was undeniably let down by the company's creative team at the height of his powers. His body of work was consistent as he rose through the ranks, and because his ascent through secondary and tag titles mirrored that of Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels decades earlier, he was seen as a guy that would break and Land-Of-The-Giants glass ceiling in the same way. Ignoring subjective and ultra-generous comparisons between Ziggler and two of the greatest to ever lace the boots, the wider problem was the difference in landscapes. Hart and Michaels had Vince McMahon's biases to overcome, but they did so when he had no choice but to experiment, and no real reason not to. Size wasn't Dolph's problem - stubbornness was. A mentally unravelling McMahon had his Guys, and Dolph was never ever going to be one no matter how much he occasionally walked, talked and worked for the job he wanted rather than the one he had.

By 2017, every possible bit of juice had been squeezed from the fruit to such an extent that Ziggler took on the role of passive-aggressive tribute act. Mocking the likes of DX and the Ultimate Warrior as a way to rib Bobby Roode's one-note "Glorious" act and lean in on how everybody was trapped in mindless deference to the past, Ziggler saw through his mini-mission and became United States Champion in December. He immediately abandoned the belt in continued protest, but he was closing the stable door long after the push had bolted. A Royal Rumble 2018 return came too soon to maximise the drama around his exit, not least when it lasted all of 90 seconds.

Everything during the five long years between then and his 2023 release was rendered mostly pointless by the profound failure of the reboot.