History Wrestling / DolphZiggler

* LevelGrinding: From Kerwin White's caddy to Spirit Squad tag team champion to giving Wrestling/{{Batista}} a half-decent challenge in his debut as Dolph Ziggler to facing down Wrestling/ReyMysterioJr and Wrestling/JohnMorrison for the Intercontinental Championship on several occasions to being a multi-time Intercontinental[=/=]United States champ and 15-minute awarded World Champion with stellar matches against the likes of Daniel Bryan and Edge under his belt to stealing the show every week, practically ''making'' a storyline with Wrestling/ZackRyder halfway via the Internet, wrestling double duty on consecutive pay-per-views, pinning Wrestling/RandyOrton in the middle of the ring, having a feud with (and becoming the latest to retire) Wrestling/ChrisJericho, and of course, becoming Mr. Money in the Bank in 2012 and closing the final pay-per-view of the year by '''[[CueTheFlyingPigs beating]] Wrestling/JohnCena''', and has now cashed said Money in the Bank to become the World Heavyweight Champion. Yeah, his career up to 2013 was basically one big level grind.

* TheLeader: Not in {{Kayfabe}}, surprisingly, but in real life Ziggler can actually display [[HiddenDepths surprising leadership skills under pressure]]. Notably, the 2015 Elimination Chamber match went OffTheRails when Wrestling/WadeBarrett hurled Ziggler against the door of Wrestling/MarkHenry's pod, accidentally knocking the plexiglass out. Without much else he could do, Henry came storming out of his sundered pod to lay about Barret (who'd been provoking him and everyone else in the chamber), but soon found himself completely lost since he wasn't even ''nearly'' meant to be in the match yet. After Barrett was eliminated, Ziggler could be seen getting the remaining guys (Henry, [[Wrestling/RonKillings R-Truth]] and Wrestling/{{Ryback}}) and the ref into a loose circle under the guise of a face-off (or possibly the wrestlers feeling out possible [[EnemyMine alliances of convenience]] as the commentators suggested) and [[IndyPloy rapidly improvising a new plan for the rest of the match]]. It still wasn't an especially highly-regarded match, but Ziggler's quick-thinking still managed to mostly salvage what could have ended up as a complete fiasco.
* LevelGrinding: From Kerwin White's caddy to Spirit Squad tag team champion to giving Wrestling/{{Batista}} a half-decent challenge in his debut as Dolph Ziggler to facing down Wrestling/ReyMysterioJr and Wrestling/JohnMorrison for the Intercontinental Championship on several occasions to being a multi-time Intercontinental[=/=]United States champ and 15-minute awarded World Champion with stellar matches against the likes of Daniel Bryan and Edge under his belt to stealing the show every week, practically ''making'' a storyline with Wrestling/ZackRyder halfway via the Internet, wrestling double duty on consecutive pay-per-views, pinning Wrestling/RandyOrton in the middle of the ring, having a feud with (and becoming the latest to retire) Wrestling/ChrisJericho, and of course, becoming Mr. Money in the Bank in 2012 and closing the final pay-per-view of the year by '''[[CueTheFlyingPigs beating]] Wrestling/JohnCena''', and has now cashed said Money in the Bank to become the World Heavyweight Champion. Yeah, his career has basically been one big level grind.

** The one he delivered to Wrestling/AJLee on the 11/19/12 ''Raw''. After AJ stormed into the men's dressing room to try to browbeat him for his attack on her recent affair/crush Wrestling/JohnCena earlier in the night which resulted in Cena getting a torn meniscus, Dolph interrupted her before she could get started, calling her out on her {{Clingy Jealous| Girl}} {{Yandere}} tendencies as well as the fact that she's a dime a dozen kind of girl (which is somewhat rooted in truth, as she has been referred to as a "GirlNextDoor" in the past and her current character is very reminiscent of crazy {{fangirl}}s and their fanfiction {{Mary Sue}}s). This resulted in AJ, unable to take the verbal heat as usual, going crazy on him until Cena got involved and took a beatdown from Ziggler for his trouble.

* MrFanservice: '''Oh, yeah.''' When you're a clear categorical standout in the [[TheBeautifulPeople world of chiseled faces and washboard abs]] that is ProfessionalWrestling, that's saying ''a lot.''

Ziggler is the current Intercontinental Champion in his sixth reign, defeating Wrestling/SethRollins to earn the belt. He's also a two-time World Heavyweight Champion, two-time United States Champion, and one-time WWE Tag Team Champion (as a member of the Spirit Squad).

Ziggler is a two-time World Heavyweight Champion, two-time United States Champion, one-time WWE Tag Team Champion (as a member of the Spirit Squad), and five-time Intercontinental Champion.

* ArtifactTitle: Still goes by [=@HEELZiggler=] on Website/{{Twitter}}... despite having turned face. This is because if he changes his handle, he'll lose his verification.

** The Zig Zag, which [[IThoughtItMeant has nothing to do with tropes.]] It's a jumping reverse bulldog...lariat takedown...thing.

** Didn't invoke his rematch clause for the US title, asthe very next week he became number one contender for the WWE Championship.

** The [[FinishingMove Zig Zag]] is a jumping reverse bulldog that looks kind of cool and has a quick, snappy motion to it a bit reminiscent of moves like the [[Wrestling/RandyOrton RKO.]] Unfortunately, if the opponent can find something sturdy to hold onto - like, say, a ring rope - Ziggler will lose his grip and usually land on the back of his [[MichaelCole skull]].

Ziggler is a two-time World Heavyweight Champion, one-time United States Champion, one-time WWE Tag Team Champion (as a member of the Spirit Squad), and five-time Intercontinental Champion.

** Wrestling/ShinsukeNakamura since he debut in ''Wrestling/WWESmackDown Live'' until WWE Backlash

** During their heel run as The Authority, Wrestling/StephanieMcMahon and Wrestling/TripleH have almost obsessively made Ziggler their butt monkey. They either placed him in handicap matches, forced him to defend his title when he's in no condition to do so (although the referee always gives Ziggler the option to forfeit the match, [[DefiantToTheEnd which he never does]]), and overall just made Ziggler work harder than anyone else on the roster (Ziggler defended the Intercontinental Championship 12 times in roughly 3 1/2 months during the 2014 calendar year-- in almost the exact same time frame, Wrestling/BrockLesnar defended his WWE World Heavyweight championship... once).

** Whilst the WWE doesn't bring up his time in the Spirit Squad on television - even though he technically won a title ([[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/wwe-world-t.html WWE World Tag Team Championship]]) during that stint - it has been acknowledged by WWE.com on various times as a joke.

In September of 2008, he re-introduced himself as Dolph Ziggler (literally - he spent the first few weeks in this persona introducing himself backstage). He's [[LevelGrinding slowly but surely moved up the ranks]], including notable feuds with The Great Khali, Wrestling/JohnMorrison, Wrestling/ZackRyder and most famously Wrestling/{{Edge}}, a feud in which he managed to become World Heavyweight Champion for less than fifteen minutes. Long known for his association (and on-again, off-again romance) with Wrestling/VickieGuerrero, he was then managed by Wrestling/AJLee up to July 2013, at which point he dumped her after she cost him his World Title match against Del Rio. Afterward, he held the blue Money in the Bank briefcase for nine months through 2012 into 2013 (and carried it wherever he went), and with it, an opportunity to cash it in for the World Heavyweight Title—which he successfully did the night after ''[=WrestleMania=]'' to become a two-time World Heavyweight Champion. He would ultimately drop the title back to AlbertoDelRio two months later, turning face for the first time in his career in the process.

** Relationship-wise it seems to be costing him a title match somehow. If you're his girlfriend and you do this, he'll want nothing more to do with you romantically. If you're a fellow WWE superstar, he'll try to tear your head off (even as a {{face}}).

* LikesOlderWomen: [[{{Pun}} Zigzagged.]] Mainly associated with Vickie Guerrero, but has also been seen (or rather, [[YourCheatingHeart caught]]) with the young, beautiful [[Wrestling/{{ChickBusters}} Kaitlyn and AJ]], and was briefly a pair with Maria Kanellis prior to the Vickie thing.

* ShipTease: At one point with [[ChickBusters Kaitlyn]] - [[YourCheatingHeart while he was still Vickie's on-screen boyfriend.]] Ever since his and Vickie's "breakup", they've also had a couple of moments. For example, the match he had with Jack Swagger over Vickie's managerial services seemed to be set up as two men fighting over a woman in the classical sense - especially when Ziggler won the match and Vickie rewarded him with a SmoochOfVictory.

** Eventually, on the October 5th 2016 edition of SmackDown, Wrestling/TheMiz would feature clips of both these gimmicks in his anti-Ziggler video entitled "The Success of a Failure".

** Wrestling/ShinsukeNakamura since he debut in WWESmackDown Live until WWE Backlash

* DiscontinuityNod: After he was {{Kayfabe}} fired in the 600th episode of ''[[Wrestling/{{WWESmackdown}} [=SmackDown=]]], Ziggler makes a hilarious LeaningOnTheFourthWall post on his Twitter account which, among other things, mentions how he "used to caddy around and actually went through a rigorous gymnastics and cheerleader training".

* ArtifactTitle: Still goes by [=@HEELZiggler=] on {{Twitter}}... despite having turned face. This is because if he changes his handle, he'll lose his verification.

* CardCarryingVillain: One of the few active wrestlers to use 'insider' jargon in the context of his gimmick. If you look at a lot of his ring costumes nowadays, you'll notice the word {{Heel}} (usually accompanied by a [[{{Twitter}} Hashtag]]) printed somewhere. Hell, even his username on Website/{{Twitter}} had "HEEL" (yes, in all caps like that) in it at one point - just in case you still didn't know what side of the fence he stood on.

** The [[FinishingMove Zig Zag]] is a jumping reverse bulldog that looks kind of cool and has a quick, snappy motion to it a bit reminiscent of moves like the [[RandyOrton RKO.]] Unfortunately, if the opponent can find something sturdy to hold onto - like, say, a ring rope - Ziggler will lose his grip and usually land on the back of his [[MichaelCole skull]].

* LevelGrinding: From Kerwin White's caddy to Spirit Squad tag team champion to giving Wrestling/{{Batista}} a half-decent challenge in his debut as Dolph Ziggler to facing down Wrestling/ReyMysterioJr and Wrestling/JohnMorrison for the Intercontinental Championship on several occasions to being a multi-time Intercontinental[=/=]United States champ and 15-minute awarded World Champion with stellar matches against the likes of Daniel Bryan and Edge under his belt to stealing the show every week, practically ''making'' a storyline with Wrestling/ZackRyder halfway via the Internet, wrestling double duty on consecutive pay-per-views, pinning RandyOrton in the middle of the ring, having a feud with (and becoming the latest to retire) Wrestling/ChrisJericho, and of course, becoming Mr. Money in the Bank in 2012 and closing the final pay-per-view of the year by '''[[CueTheFlyingPigs beating]] Wrestling/JohnCena''', and has now cashed said Money in the Bank to become the World Heavyweight Champion. Yeah, his career has basically been one big level grind.

* AffablyEvil: One of his original gimmicks as a heel was going up to people, shaking their hand and saying "Hi, I'm Dolph Ziggler." His entrance [=TitanTron=] even showed for a while footage of him meeting Wrestling/KellyKelly, who looked not at all offended and even delighted to be shaking his hand.

** Didn't invoke his rematch clause for the US title, as he the very next week became number one contender for the WWE Championship.

In September of 2008, he re-introduced himself as Dolph Ziggler (literally - he spent the first few weeks in this persona introducing himself backstage). He's [[LevelGrinding slowly but surely moved up the ranks]], including notable feuds with The Great Khali, Wrestling/JohnMorrison, Wrestling/ZackRyder and most famously Wrestling/{{Edge}}, a feud in which he managed to become World Heavyweight Champion for less than fifteen minutes. Long known for his association (and on-again, off-again romance) with Wrestling/VickieGuerrero, he was then managed by Wrestling/AJLee up to July 2013, at which point he dumped her after she cost him his World Title match against Del Rio. After holding the blue Money in the Bank briefcase for nine months through 2012 into 2013 (and carrying it wherever he went) and with it an opportunity to cash it in for the World Heavyweight Title—which he successfully did the night after ''[=WrestleMania=]'' to become a two-time World Heavyweight Champion. He would ultimately drop the title back to AlbertoDelRio two months later, turning face for the first time in his career in the process.

* GenreSavvy[=/=]GenreBlindness: More like a 80-20 split in favor of the former; Dolph realized that since he already had the World Title MITB briefcase, he's already guaranteed a title shot whenever he likes and can skip the Elimination Chamber PPV entirely despite being a former Heavyweight Champion. FridgeLogic may occur to some fans who realize Dolph could potentially have two shots at the World Title at Wrestlemania if he wins, but the FridgeBrilliance kicks in once you realize that not only is it one of the most lethal, risky matches in WWE, Dolph would also be going up against ''five'' other world champions, [[Wrestling/{{Sheamus}} two]] of [[Wrestling/RandyOrton whom]] he's had a notoriously bad track record against.

Ziggler is a two-time World Heavyweight Champion, one-time United States Champion, one-time WWE Tag Team Champion (as a member of the Spirit Squad), and five-time and current Intercontinental Champion, having won the title from Wrestling/TheMiz on ''No Mercy 2016'' pay-per-view.