Dolph Ziggler: Greatest Hits

Dolph Ziggler: Greatest Hits



I've noticed that most of my other Greatest Hits posts have featured big names. I think now I'm gonna feature wrestlers that deserve to be noticed more for their talents, and what a way to start it off with the show off himself.


Dolph is one of those guys that is over with the audience just with his sheer talent in the ring and he always receives a big pop when he comes out. He got the second loudest ovation in the 2014 Royal Rumble. That's pretty damn impressive. Here are the matches that have made him a star.



By the way I'm going by the assumption that the Spirit Squad never existed.



Normally I include PPV debuts since it's usually a big deal for a performer, but Ziggler's PPV debut was against the Great Khali (The Bash)  and I don't think he should be in any list that mentions the word 'Great'. Also the match did suck so we'll just leave it. For those interested I would rate the match 3/4*.



Dolph Ziggler vs Rey Mysterio
From Summerslam 2009 and the IC Title is on the line. Ziggler fought Mysterio for the Title the previous month at Night of Champions, but he lost that match and so he got another chance here. I'm not a big fan of the NOC match but this one ruled. The crowd was hot for it, it was exciting all the way through and featured many nearfalls and false finishes. Just a ton of fun and it made Ziggler look great in the process, even if he lost the match in the end. ***3/4



Dolph Ziggler vs John Morrison
From Hell in a Cell 2009 and the IC Title is on the line. I figure that Mysterio was meant to be in this match but he violated the wellness policy at the time. This one started off a little slowly but became a lot better and more entertaining as it went on and showed off the skills of both guys. Ziggler lost another IC Title match and wouldn't get another one on PPV for quite some time. Still this was a very good match from both men. ***1/4



Dolph Ziggler vs Kofi Kingston
From Night of Champions 2010 and the IC Title is on the line. Ziggler won the Title from Kofi on Smackdown a couple of months before this match. If Ziggler is DQ'd or counted out he will lose the Championship. This must have been the twentieth match together so they knew each other quite well at this point. This was a fun match that got the crowd fired up and it was given enough time as well. It got really exciting towards the end too as both guys traded their biggest moves until Ziggler hit the zig zag for the win. Great stuff. ***1/2



Daniel Bryan vs Dolph Ziggler
From Bragging Rights 2010 and this is a Smackdown vs Raw match with both guys holding the mid-card Championships. This was easily both guys best WWE match at this point in time. This PPV sucked and is one of the worst I've seen, but this is the sole bright spot. The only thing that put me off the match was the unnecessary fat jokes towards Vickie Guerrero. Bryan and Ziggler started slowly and gradually built to an exciting finish with nearfalls and counter-moves. A MOTYC for 2010 and deserving of the 'this is awesome' chant. ****1/2



Dolph Ziggler vs Edge
From Royal Rumble 2011 and the World Title is on the line. If Edge is caught using the spear, he will forfeit the Title. No one really gave Ziggler much of a chance of winning this one, but there were some moments that made him look like a viable contender, like when he almost pinned Edge with his finisher. I loved Edge paying homage to his best friend Christian by using his finisher to win. Awesome forgotten gem that made Ziggler look like a star. ****



Dolph Ziggler vs Kofi Kingston
From Capitol Punishment 2011 and the US Title is on the line. Good god how many times have these guys faced each other? The scary thing is that they would still face off many more times. I did like the story of these guys knowing each other so well as there were a ton of counters in this match. This was a lot of fun and we even got a few false finishes. The ending was a little confusing as the crowd didn't really know what happened, but it was still an awesome contest. The best they've had together. ***3/4



Dolph Ziggler vs John Morrison vs Alex Riley vs Jack Swagger
From Night of Champions 2011 and the US Title is on the line. I think Riley was the favourite to win this one at the time which seems ridiculous talking about it today. That poor guy went nowhere fast. Pretty unpredictable match that was a lot of fun. Swagger and Ziggler teased a break up but that never went anywhere in the future. Short and sweet match that had some good false finishes. ***1/2



Kofi Kingston & Evan Bourne vs Jack Swagger & Dolph Ziggler
From Vengeance 2011 and the Tag Team Titles are on the line. These two teams also had a match at the Hell in a Cell PPV, but I prefer this one overall. A great tag match and they were given enough time to work. Both teams have great chemistry with each other and all four guys performed very well (yes even Swagger). An exciting finishing sequence caps it off perfectly. ***1/2



Dolph Ziggler vs Zack Ryder
From TLC 2011 and the US Title is on the line. Yes I know that this would be more fitting for a Zack Ryder Greatest Hits, but I don't think he's ever gonna get one so Ziggler can have this one. This match was built very well as everyone had been dying to see Ryder win the Title for months, so when they finally pulled the trigger on him it was a great feel-good moment. The match itself was a lot of fun as well which obviously helped. Great job from both guys. ***1/2



Dolph Ziggler vs CM Punk
From Royal Rumble 2012 and the WWE Title is on the line. I think this is the first time Ziggler competed for the WWE Title so it's a pretty big moment for him. I would have had their November 2011 match here too but it's not on the Network. This one was going brilliantly until the finish which was a bit overbooked for my taste with the Laurinaitis storyline, but it was still a great back and forth contest and Ziggler looked like he had a chance of winning it. Great stuff. ***3/4



Dolph Ziggler vs Sheamus
From No Way Out 2012 and the World Title is on the line. This was originally meant be Sheamus vs Alberto Del Rio, but he was injured so Ziggler took his place which ended up being for the best in my opinion since they Ziggler gave Sheamus a great match that Del Rio never could. I think they caused a few heart attacks with the first few seconds of the match as it was almost a repeat of the 18 second Wrestlemania match. A great match that made Ziggler look like a real contender and the crowd absolutely loved him. Plus that facebuster from the top rope looked awesome. ***3/4



Dolph Ziggler vs Christian vs Tyson Kidd vs Tensai vs Cody Rhodes vs Damien Sandow vs Santino Marella vs Sin Cara
From Money in the Bank 2012. I remember at the time thinking that if either Tensai or Santino won the match, I'd go crazy with anger. Luckily that never happened. Christian and Ziggler were the clear favourites here, and Ziggler finally looked like he was heading to the top with his big win. Unfortunately that didn't work out too well for him. Tyson Kidd was impressive here, showing off his in-ring technique, and gave an awesome sunset powerbomb to Ziggler. Santino's fear of heights was a funny moment. An awesome ladder match overall. ****



Dolph Ziggler vs Chris Jericho
From Summerslam 2012. Definitely the best choice for the opener of the show as they got the crowd fired up nicely. There wasn't a lot on this show, but these guys stole it anyway. The story was that Jericho couldn't win the big one and Ziggler wanted to prove it by beating him. Ziggler was proven wrong as Jericho got the victory in the end. Nice nearfalls and great chemistry with these two awesome athletes. Jericho may have won, but Ziggler still looked great. ***1/2



Dolph Ziggler vs Randy Orton 
From Night of Champions 2012. These guys had quite a few great TV matches together and now they finally had the chance to show off on PPV. This one is pretty infamous for Orton giving the finger to the pro-Ziggler crowd. Thankfully they were given a lot of time to work and we got a great match because of it. It did have quite a slow middle portion but it more than made up for it with an exciting final act. Ziggler lost again, but he looked good doing it. ***1/2



Dolph Ziggler / Wade Barrett / Alberto Del Rio / Damien Sandow / David Otunga vs Randy Orton / The Miz / Kofi Kingston / Kane / Daniel Bryan
From Survivor Series 2012. This is Ziggler's team vs Mick Foley's team. It was originally meant to be Foley's team vs CM Punk's team but they chickened out and made Punk defend his WWE Title instead. The final two came down to Orton vs Ziggler and it looked as if Orton was about to get a win over Ziggler once again, but the powers that be decided to make Ziggler the sole survivor as he got a clean pin on Orton and looked awesome in the process. A very fun elimination match that got better as it went on. ***1/2



Dolph Ziggler vs John Cena : Ladder Match
From TLC 2012 and Ziggler's Money in the Bank briefcase is on the line. This is Ziggler's first and only time in the main event (not counting Rumbles) and he made sure to make a statement while he was there. I was terrified at the time that Cena would take the briefcase, but thankfully that never happened. This wasn't the spotfest you would expect from a modern ladder match and they mainly focused on counter wrestling and weapon shots, and it worked very well as we got an awesome match out of it. Ziggler defeats Cena and has one of the biggest moments of his career. ****



Dolph Ziggler vs Alberto Del Rio
From Raw April 8th 2013 and the World Title is on the line. Ziggler is finally cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase on an injured Del Rio who was just in a match and the crowd is going absolutely wild. Everyone wanted to see Ziggler win here and when Del Rio locked in the armbreaker I think everyone (including myself) was screaming no into their TV. Luckily Ziggler got out of it, hit the zig zag and became the new World Champion. Obviously it wasn't much of a match, but it was a spectacular moment with an amazing crowd and it is worth watching countless times. For that I'm gonna give it  ***



Dolph Ziggler vs Alberto Del Rio
From Payback 2013 and the World Heavyweight Title is on the line. It's a shame that Del Rio couldn't really keep his heel heat after this night because he became the most hated man in the WWE after this match. I think we were all expecting a good technical match at the time, but we got so much more than that. We received the best double turn since Wrestlemania 13 and some epic storytelling. Ziggler came out looking like a guy who wouldn't go down without a fight and Del Rio looked like a beast who would do anything possible to win the Title, even if it meant injuring a man. This was something different and it was awesome. The work to Ziggler's head was sick and made him very sympathetic. A fantastic match. ****1/4