Dolph Ziggler has been a household name on WWE TV for over a decade. He was released by WWE and Triple H to everyone's shock in 2023. Join us as we break down the factors that contributed to Dolph Ziggler's inability to become a consistent main event star in WWE, despite having all the tools to succeed.
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00:00 But crushing heartbreak for Dolph Ziggler once again.
00:04 Oh, so close.
00:05 Why do you still do it?
00:08 Why are you still here?
00:09 Why do you subject yourself to this every night?
00:13 Since I was a kid, five years old, I walked into practice going,
00:16 Where are the ropes? Because this is what I wanted to do.
00:19 It was the night after WrestleMania 29 on Monday Night Raw.
00:24 Dolph Ziggler walked in with his Money in the Bank briefcase
00:29 to a thunderous ovation, successfully cashing in his contract
00:35 for an anywhere, anytime World Heavyweight Championship match
00:39 against Alberto Del Rio, and he left the champion.
00:42 Even though he was perceived in giving the role of a villain,
00:51 a heel in the midcard, the pop he received from that crowd was huge.
00:57 It's still regarded as one of the loudest pops for a wrestler
01:00 in WWE around this time.
01:03 You would have expected WWE to give him a big push after that, right?
01:06 Well, it just didn't work out that way.
01:08 Ziggler would unfortunately suffer a head injury on SmackDown,
01:12 and it put his world title reign that he just started in heavy doubt.
01:16 Just two months later, after he lost the title back to Del Rio,
01:19 he got pushed down the midcard and he never received that level of success
01:24 in WWE again.
01:25 It was a repeating cycle for one of the most critically acclaimed
01:28 superstars in WWE in the 2010s.
01:31 This is Sportskeeda Wrestling.
01:33 I'm Kevin.
01:34 Let us know what your favorite Dolph Ziggler match or moment is.
01:38 What would you do with Dolph Ziggler's career if you had the fantasy
01:42 booking power?
01:43 Let us know in the comments below.
01:44 So what went wrong?
01:46 Why didn't Dolph Ziggler, who seemed destined for top level stardom,
01:50 ever get that sweet, sweet, unfiltered moment
01:54 without some bitter sweetness attached to it?
01:56 Believe it or not, Dolph Ziggler's career in WWE is an impressive one,
02:01 maybe even Hall of Fame worthy.
02:02 He made his debut for the company in September of 2005
02:06 on an episode of Saturday Night Heat as an enforcer sidekick for Chava Guerrero,
02:11 who was portraying a golfing character in the ring.
02:14 Yeah, Kerwin White, somewhat forgettable.
02:17 Yeah, that whole thing was kind of controversial and it didn't last that long.
02:21 And he was sent back to Ohio Valley Wrestling.
02:24 WWE's developmental brand at the time.
02:26 He came into WWE with a lot of success, by the way, before Ohio Valley Wrestling
02:31 as one of the most successful mat wrestlers in the history of Kent State
02:34 University.
02:35 That college sports connection would be played up in his next role in WWE
02:40 when he was brought up to the main roster as a part of the Spirit Squad,
02:44 a group of five young wrestlers who use their in-ring personas
02:48 to be male cheerleaders.
02:51 And he adopted the name of Nikki.
02:54 Yes, the group was involved in a few with D-Generation X,
02:57 of course, a big role to be jumped into right away.
02:59 And they even won the tag team championships.
03:02 But Dolph, or Nikki at the time, had zero or no influence in it.
03:06 He was simply a bumping, flapping body for Triple H and Shawn Michaels.
03:11 He was just another guy in a not so great group that they get a lot of TV time,
03:15 though. For a young wrestler being plucked out of Ohio Valley Wrestling,
03:19 this was not the worst role to be in.
03:21 It was certainly better than, I don't know, holding Kerwin White's golf clubs.
03:25 He would remain in OVW for a year or so and even make the leap over
03:28 to another developmental territory in FCW, Florida Championship Wrestling,
03:32 impressing a lot of people there with his pure in-ring abilities.
03:36 Not long after, he was called back up to the main roster for the third time.
03:41 And this time he would enter as a single superstar.
03:44 September 2008, he would make his return to WWE Raw,
03:49 reintroducing himself backstage as Dolph Ziggler,
03:54 marking the beginning of his solo superstar run.
03:57 And some fans simply just didn't take to the name, feeling it wasn't fitting
04:01 for a WWE superstar.
04:04 Oh, however, as time passed, he gradually became accustomed to it
04:08 and accepted it as a part of his wrestling persona.
04:11 And the fans accepted it as well.
04:13 But shortly after joining the main roster, he faced a setback,
04:16 getting suspended for 30 days due to breaking WWE's wellness policy.
04:20 He had a rocky start in the company, did eventually come back to Raw in November
04:24 and lost to Batista in his first match as Dolph Ziggler.
04:28 The man called Dolph Ziggler wasn't as special as he would become
04:31 at the moment around this time, but WWE saw potential in him.
04:35 And that's the reason they kept booking him in matches regularly.
04:38 He had a brief moment with Kane in the Royal Rumble in 2009
04:41 before getting eliminated by the Big Red Machine.
04:44 WWE was giving him these little moments to showcase his charisma,
04:48 and he was taking those moments and making them meaningful.
04:51 During this period, his gimmick was going around
04:54 and reintroducing himself to other superstars.
04:57 It may sound ridiculous on paper, but Ziggler's sheer ability,
05:00 his sheer undeniable personality came through and he pulled it off.
05:05 He was good at generating simple heel heat.
05:08 He was annoying.
05:09 And that was his role, to be annoying.
05:12 In April 2009, Ziggler got drafted to SmackDown,
05:15 and that's when he began to see some real success.
05:19 He scored a win against the United States champion MVP.
05:22 And although it wasn't for the title, it meant something.
05:25 Following this, he started a feud with The Great Khali
05:28 and even defeated the Indian giant on a couple of occasions.
05:32 Around this time, Ziggler adopted the sleeper hold as his submission
05:35 move and signature and finished off a few opponents with it.
05:39 If you're a great wrestler and you can use a hold to end a match,
05:43 people know that you got real skills.
05:45 They made this move mean something.
05:47 When Ziggler put it on you, you took a nap.
05:49 This allowed him to beat wrestlers who were bigger than him,
05:52 like Khali and even Mark Henry.
05:54 He then got a very special feud, the legendary luchador Rey Mysterio,
05:59 and he would challenge him for the Intercontinental Championship.
06:02 Although he couldn't win the title at the time, it was truly a test
06:05 and showed off his quick ability to earn a reputation of being a masterful seller,
06:10 effortlessly making his opponents look better than maybe even
06:14 they expected to look in that match.
06:16 His unparalleled ability to elevate the performance of anyone
06:19 he was in the ring with cemented his status as one of the true technicians
06:24 of his time.
06:25 Going into 2010, Ziggler started to get more opportunities
06:29 and he would get a really special one in the Money in the Bank ladder match
06:33 at WrestleMania 26.
06:35 His first real showcase on the show of shows.
06:38 He had all the tools to be a major player in WWE and the heel run was working.
06:43 WWE decided to make him an even bigger heel by aligning him
06:47 with the heat magnet that was Vicky Guerrero.
06:51 And excuse me, you remember how much Vicky Guerrero
06:56 was getting booed around this time?
06:57 Well, that heat was then attracted to our man Ziggler in this story.
07:02 Her angle with the rated R superstar Edge was must see TV in 0809.
07:06 And seeing that success, WWE decided to bring her in to work with another talent.
07:11 This time it was Ziggler.
07:12 And in retrospect, it made a lot of sense.
07:14 Not long after, Ziggler scored championship success,
07:18 capturing the WWE Intercontinental title and had a very strong run with it
07:23 before dropping it to Kofi Kingston in January of 2011.
07:27 This happened because WWE had different plans for the Zig Zag Man.
07:31 And the night he lost the IC title, Ziggler was added to the failed four way
07:35 for the number one contenders match against Cody Rhodes,
07:38 Drew McIntyre and the Big Show.
07:40 And this match was put together by none other than Vicky Guerrero.
07:45 And who came out the winner?
07:47 You guessed it.
07:47 Dolph Ziggler here in the spot to face the World Heavyweight Champion Edge.
07:51 It seemed that WWE was finally giving Ziggler the main event main event push.
07:57 He had the look.
07:59 He had the Mike skills.
08:00 You knew he was good in the ring.
08:02 He could deliver.
08:03 What else do you need to succeed in WWE?
08:06 Considering the history that Dolph's manager, Vicky Guerrero, had with Edge.
08:11 Yeah, they didn't like each other.
08:12 The feud seemed interesting.
08:14 Guerrero did everything she could to help Ziggler win the title.
08:18 But the rated R superstar was simply too much and managed to defeat Dolph
08:22 at the Royal Rumble 2011.
08:24 It was certainly a great upgrade for Dolph Ziggler.
08:27 Following this, Vicky banned Edge's finishing move, the spear,
08:31 and decided that if Edge used it, Ziggler would become the champion.
08:35 Wow.
08:35 What an angle.
08:36 Even though Ziggler lost to Edge again in another match on the February
08:40 11th edition of SmackDown, Edge was stripped of the title as he used the spear.
08:45 Ziggler was awarded the World Heavyweight Championship.
08:49 Is that how anyone wants to win a championship on some weird technicality?
08:54 Yeah, it seemed undeserving.
08:56 He didn't win it.
08:57 He lost clean to a champion, Edge, and was only awarded the title because of...
09:01 You get it.
09:03 It's just weird, right?
09:04 Regardless, he became the champion.
09:06 And did you know how long his first title reign lasted?
09:09 Less than one day.
09:11 Yeah.
09:11 On the same night, he was forced to defend the championship against Edge.
09:14 And guess what?
09:15 He lost it.
09:16 Just like he became champion, he became a former champion.
09:20 However, he could still call himself a former world champion,
09:23 I guess, if you want to do that.
09:25 Ziggler made the jump to Raw with Vickie Guerrero in tow.
09:28 And because he was coming as a former world champion, yeah, we still have an
09:31 issue with that, WWE gave him the United States Championship.
09:36 He had a sense of purpose on Raw and it kept him very relevant.
09:39 He was delivering those incredible matches with the likes of John Morrison
09:43 and Alex Riley, and also had a segment with the Hollywood superstar, Hugh Jackman.
09:48 Unfortunately, he got punched by the Wolverine.
09:51 Thankfully, the claws weren't out.
09:52 In December of 2011, Ziggler lost the US title to Zack Ryder
09:57 in a highly anticipated match.
10:00 Ryder was riding high on the popularity of his YouTube show, Z True Long
10:06 Island Story, which earned him a loyal fan base within WWE.
10:10 Then he was one of the first innovators of using social media and digital
10:13 platforms to get himself over on WWE TV shows, fans were clamoring for
10:18 Ryder to win the championship and Ziggler did service to him as the
10:22 perfect opponent for him at the time.
10:24 The dynamic between Ziggler and Ryder was real.
10:27 The two allowed for their engaging storytelling to go to the next level
10:31 and added a depth to both of their characters.
10:34 So at the TLC 2011 pay-per-view, Ryder defeated Ziggler for that US title.
10:39 It was a truly great moment, which goes to show that Ziggler is a star in the
10:44 making, but someone who can make stars along the way and can play that perfect
10:48 deal to a sympathetic baby face.
10:51 The cycle repeats itself once again, success with a mid-card title means
10:55 it's time for another shot at a main event title with his US title reign behind him.
10:59 Ziggler was back in the main event scene, challenging the red hot CM Punk for the
11:05 WWE championship at Royal Rumble 2012.
11:08 In back-to-back Royal Rumble main events, Ziggler found himself competing
11:12 for the world title or WWE titles against two of the biggest superstars
11:16 of the time, Edge and Punk.
11:18 However, it wasn't his time to shine just yet and he lost to CM Punk.
11:23 However, he kept unsuccessfully challenging for the championships and was proving
11:28 himself to be someone who could deliver those outstanding matches, even if you
11:32 knew the outcome before the bell rang.
11:34 But soon things were about to change for him.
11:36 On the July 3rd episode of SmackDown, Ziggler defeated Alex Riley to qualify
11:41 for a spot in the World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank ladder
11:44 match and actually went on to win the contract in one of the most underrated
11:49 Money in the Bank matches of all time.
11:51 As Ziggler was going to keep being a standout performer, what was left for him
11:54 to do if WWE wasn't going to put a world title on him?
11:57 Well, the Money in the Bank contract was the perfect way to do this.
12:01 You knew there would be something in the future for him.
12:03 He could pull the trigger whenever he wanted and this would
12:05 project him to another level.
12:07 However, despite having that anywhere, anytime contract to cash in, he didn't
12:12 cash in right away and waited for the right moment.
12:14 In the meantime, he feuded with the likes of main event talents in Chris Jericho,
12:18 Randy Orton, and John Cena.
12:20 His SummerSlam culminating feud with Chris Jericho opened the show.
12:24 And even though Jericho got the win, it got strong reviews from the Wrestling
12:28 Reserver Newsletter with three and a half stars.
12:30 His feud with Cena was quite entertaining.
12:32 Ziggler was a head turner with the ladies.
12:34 So this next storyline makes a lot of sense.
12:36 When he was still with Vickie Guerrero at his side as his manager, she was
12:40 blaming John Cena for having an affair with Raw General Manager, AJ Lee.
12:44 This led to a match between Ziggler and Cena set for the TLC pay-per-view in 2012.
12:50 Yeah, Cena was getting booked a lot, but he was still the most
12:52 popular man in the business.
12:54 Now Ziggler was going to have the real test against him defending his Money
12:58 in the Bank contract in a ladder match.
13:00 Cena won and he would become the new holder of the Money in the Bank contract.
13:05 Well, it didn't go maybe the way you expected with Ziggler
13:08 losing all these big matches.
13:09 No, he won with the help of AJ Lee.
13:12 AJ Lee and Ziggler soon became an on-screen couple with Vickie
13:16 Guerrero getting kicked to the curb.
13:18 Yeah, there was a lot of drama there.
13:20 And again, looking at Ziggler's on-screen persona, it made sense.
13:24 He was a young, flamboyant wrestler on the cusp of becoming
13:27 a world champion in the WWE.
13:29 It's no wonder his charms would allure AJ Lee.
13:33 Not long after this, Big E Langston, later renamed simply Big E, joined
13:39 the tandem as well, becoming the bodyguard for Ziggler.
13:42 That's right.
13:43 Before dancing his way to success in the New Day with Kobe
13:46 Kingston and Xavier Woods, Big E was the backing muscle for Ziggler and AJ Lee.
13:51 At the Royal Rumble in 2013, Ziggler showed off once again.
13:55 He came out first and lasted until the final four, his most impressive
13:59 performance to date inside the Royal Rumble.
14:02 It was a true showcase showing that WWE saw a lot coming up with him and
14:06 he was still Mr.
14:07 Money in the Bank.
14:08 Slowly but surely he got positive fan reactions.
14:11 At WrestleMania 29, Ziggler and Big E unsuccessfully challenged Team
14:16 Hell No, Daniel Bryan and Kane for the Tag Team Championships.
14:20 That team was red hot, didn't seem like they were going to lose the title.
14:22 It was simply just a holding pattern until we saw the cash in.
14:27 Yes, that cash in at WrestleMania that everyone wanted with Ziggler during
14:30 the World Heavyweight Title match between Alberto Del Rio and Jack Swagger
14:35 with fans chanting, "We want Ziggler, we want Ziggler."
14:38 They expected it, they wanted it, it didn't happen.
14:41 It happened the next night on Monday Night Raw when the
14:45 chants were even louder.
14:46 This was one of the loudest pops on a Monday Night Raw after WrestleMania.
14:50 It was huge to say the least.
14:52 You would think Ziggler would rush the ring and hit Del Rio quickly with the
14:56 briefcase and cash in and win the title and disappear, but that's
14:59 not exactly how it happened.
15:01 Ziggler strolled to the ring calmly, handed the briefcase to the
15:05 referee and cashed in his contract.
15:08 Even having a competitive match with a vulnerable and weakened
15:12 at the moment Del Rio, the tensions were high.
15:15 Ziggler was selling so convincingly that people thought that maybe all of this
15:20 weight and anticipation for him to cash in and win the title would be thrown
15:24 off of the mountain right before reaching the mountain's peak.
15:28 In the end, Dolph Ziggler pulled through and clinched the championship with the
15:32 entire crowd rallying behind him.
15:34 Despite him being a villain, he was their choice.
15:37 It was a huge moment and it felt as if Ziggler was truly a made man and was
15:42 going to become one of the next big superstars of the decade.
15:45 The pop he received was truly legendary.
15:48 It was technically his second world championship, but this
15:52 was the one he truly earned.
15:53 The phrase goes, "To be the man, you got to beat the man," and Ziggler was the man.
15:58 He looked like a champion.
15:59 He wrestled like a champion.
16:00 His resume before winning the title all made sense.
16:04 WWE could have truly projected Ziggler to a whole nother level, making him one of
16:10 the top superstars of the 2010s around this time, but that simply wasn't meant to be.
16:16 Shortly after winning the title, Ziggler would unfortunately suffer an untimely
16:20 concussion, as if any of them ever are timely, during a match with Jack Swagger.
16:26 This would set up a series of events circumstantially that would
16:29 see WWE pull back on Ziggler's future.
16:32 He was forced to take some time off, but when he returned, WWE seemingly didn't
16:36 have the same type of emphasis on his character.
16:38 At the payback pay-per-view, Ziggler dropped the title to Del Rio.
16:43 When Del Rio took advantage of his concussion by focusing his attack on his
16:47 head, it seemed like everything was there.
16:50 The match also featured a double turn as the crowd turned on Del Rio and supported
16:55 Ziggler, seemingly turning him into a full fledged babyface.
16:58 So it wasn't all bad.
17:00 WWE saw something in Ziggler, but keeping the title on him and keeping
17:04 him in the main event simply wasn't what they saw.
17:06 After all of that post WrestleMania magic and one of the loudest pops of the year,
17:11 Ziggler's momentum truly was derailed.
17:14 And soon after his relationship on screen with AJ Lee would dissolve as well.
17:19 What could have been with him as world champion?
17:23 What could have been?
17:24 Would he have dropped the title to John Cena?
17:26 Would he have hanged on to the title long enough for it to be
17:29 unified with the WWE championship?
17:31 It's all that.
17:32 What could have been?
17:33 It's all just speculation.
17:35 The reality was that Ziggler was once again, rocking in the mid card,
17:39 delivering strong matches.
17:40 And as time went on, he became a truly sympathetic babyface.
17:44 One thing that the title win did for him was turn the fans in his favor.
17:49 And it worked out pretty well for him.
17:51 He won the Intercontinental Championship in 2014 and again found himself in
17:55 the main event scene at Survivor Series.
17:58 Remember when Team Cena took on The Authority?
18:01 Yeah, Ziggler was a part of Team Cena.
18:04 Facing overwhelming odds, Ziggler found himself outnumbered three to one in
18:09 the final sequence in a showdown against Seth Rollins, Luke Harper, and Kane.
18:13 And the last standing members of The Authority.
18:16 While he stood as the lone warrior representing Team Cena, he managed to
18:20 eliminate Harper and Kane and got help from a man called Sting, who made his
18:26 debut in WWE and got the pinfall win over Seth Rollins and was the sole
18:31 survivor and winner of the match.
18:32 In a long time, Ziggler was presented as a main event star.
18:36 Cena himself came out and raised his hand on the ramp, implying that
18:39 he was going to be a huge star.
18:42 This was a chance by WWE to rectify mistakes made in the past.
18:47 He would lose the Intercontinental Championship to Harper.
18:50 And it was once again ready for another slingshot to the top prize.
18:55 The cycle once again repeats itself.
18:57 Mid-card title, now the main event.
18:59 However, Brock Lesnar was the WWE World Heavyweight Champion at the time, and
19:03 there was no way that Ziggler could have won a championship at that time.
19:06 Not even a match between the two, just a segment with the Beast
19:10 Incarnate could have worked.
19:11 But for some reason, WWE never pulled the trigger.
19:15 He remained in the mid-card and had an awkward feud with Rusev, where he
19:19 started dating Lana, who was still in real life with Rusev.
19:23 Yeah, it was weird.
19:25 It didn't help either one involved.
19:26 In 2016, WWE had a brand split and Ziggler was drafted to SmackDown, and
19:31 it started out pretty well for him.
19:32 He became the number one contender for the WWE Championship.
19:36 Ambrose retained his title.
19:38 Ziggler was sent right back to the Intercontinental title picture,
19:41 and the circle repeats itself.
19:42 He received a taste of the main event spotlight and only was
19:46 relegated back to the mid-card.
19:48 This time, however, things were different.
19:50 2016 featured some amazing moments on SmackDown, and one of them, one of
19:55 the best storylines of that year, featured the show-off Dolph Ziggler.
19:59 Fans come up telling you, "Why do you still do it?
20:03 Why are you still here?
20:05 Why do you subject yourself to this every night?"
20:08 It's because I can't stop.
20:09 I can't.
20:10 It's a sickness.
20:11 I can't stop.
20:12 And maybe my career didn't always turn out the way I thought it would, you know?
20:17 I thought, I thought it would have been better.
20:19 I thought I earned something.
20:22 I thought I would be a bigger star.
20:25 But you know what?
20:25 I just can't stop myself.
20:28 I can't.
20:29 The Miz would play on Ziggler's passion and raise the stakes for their
20:32 upcoming IC title match at No Mercy 2016 to a very big level.
20:37 It would be title versus career.
20:39 If Ziggler lost, he would be done in WWE.
20:42 It was an effective emotional tool that allowed fans to be truly
20:46 pulled into the outcome in Sacramento.
20:49 This was a shiny example of how truly special Ziggler was as a
20:53 perfectly paced big match performer.
20:56 And it stands as one of the Miz's all time best performances.
20:59 Ziggler proved once again that good guys do get the win in the end.
21:04 And he would super kick the Spirit Squad ghoul ghosts of the past off the apron.
21:09 Kick out of the Miz's skull crushing finale.
21:11 And with this is awesome to most greatly upon the ring.
21:16 Ziggler would beat all of the odds, become WWE Intercontinental
21:26 Champion and remain in the WWE.
21:28 The main event that night may have seen AJ Styles retain the WWE
21:32 championship, but it was Ziggler and Miz's redemptive conquest that stole the show.
21:38 It received four and a half stars from the Wrestling Observer.
21:40 It likely deserved all five stars.
21:43 In 2017, Ziggler would change from a villain booed by the fans
21:48 instead of a fan favorite.
21:49 That chip on his shoulder simply became too much.
21:52 Yes, he became overzealous and now is teaching younger talents to also
21:57 resent the audience with the returning Drew McIntyre in his fold.
22:01 2018 saw Ziggler tangling with one of the best in-ring performers in the business.
22:06 Someone that people felt was on his level.
22:08 And now he was leveled up as the Intercontinental Champion, once
22:11 again, with McIntyre as his muscle at ringside, you would see him face
22:16 Seth freaking Rollins, who was not just freaking exactly yet.
22:20 Yeah, they would war and steal the show at the extreme rules.
22:24 Pay-per-view and a 30 minute Ironman match.
22:26 Though Dolph was not at the top of the card.
22:28 He was certainly very close to it.
22:30 He would have a bloody personal feud with Kofi Kingston in 2019.
22:34 When Kofi won the WWE championship.
22:37 There's Ziggler saying it should have been me.
22:39 It should have been me.
22:41 It was a pretty cool evolution on the passionate promos he had in 2016 to
22:45 a now overzealous resentful level.
22:48 No one believed that Dolph would win the WWE title, but it did layer up the match
22:53 with some emotions that needed to be there as WWE worked its way through the
22:57 pandemic, so dig Ziggler and he was deeply respected within WWE circles.
23:02 Yet once again, wasn't going to be in the main event.
23:05 He did get the very admirable role of being a utility player for
23:10 WWE NXT in 2022, former world champion.
23:14 He would add legitimacy to the brand that was in a state of fluctuation itself.
23:18 It was developing the stars of tomorrow, but those stars weren't just stars yet.
23:23 Ziggler was undeniable, showed up, showed out and shocked the system down there in
23:28 Orlando, adding a true star dusting on everyone he got in the ring with integrating
23:34 himself quickly with younger talent and capturing the NXT championship during the
23:38 brand's transitional 2.0 times.
23:41 The son of Rick Steiner may have wanted the title back, but Dolph Ziggler would
23:45 use his veteran ways to outsmart him and retain the championship at NXT stand
23:51 and deliver during WrestleMania weekend, only for Braun Breaker to eventually win it back.
23:55 During his interview with Chris Van Deleet, Ziggler himself revealed that he was never
24:00 in the conversation to be the guy in WWE.
24:03 And that's okay.
24:04 Not everyone can be the face of the company.
24:07 But there were so many chances where he could have at least won the championship
24:11 and had maybe a more meaningful title reign at the top of the card.
24:15 Ziggler is one of those guys who never reached his full potential in WWE.
24:20 And is he to blame for that?
24:21 Some people say no.
24:23 He was released from the company in 2023 after nearly 20 years of performing top
24:30 level pro wrestling in the number one pro wrestling company in the world.
24:33 And if you think about it, what else was there left for him to do?
24:37 They never were going to elevate him to the world title.
24:39 He remained a true mid card staple in the scene.
24:43 If it wasn't the top of the card, he got to do it.
24:46 If a star needed to be made, that was a younger talent.
24:48 Ziggler would do it.
24:49 The legendary star was coming back and needed to have a fun, wild, redemptive
24:54 match like Goldberg at SummerSlam 2019.
24:57 Ziggler got to do it.
24:58 He was the go-to man for WWE and so many specific situations.
25:04 Though we've been able to cover a lot in this video, it should be noted that Dolph
25:08 Ziggler's win loss record is not definitive of Dolph Ziggler.
25:12 Nick Nemeth, the man behind that name, so much more.
25:16 His performances, stellar respect for the professional wrestling business and the
25:21 art of professional wrestling, the story told between the bells.
25:26 He told it so well.
25:28 He still does today.
25:29 Nemeth remains active in pro wrestling on weekly television with TNA Wrestling, as
25:34 well as New Japan Pro Wrestling, where he's had some incredible performances there.
25:38 He's gone strong style on us, everybody.
25:41 What's your favorite match from Dolph Ziggler or Nick Nemeth?
25:44 Let us know in the comments below.
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