Pros and Cons of Dolph Ziggler’s WWE Survivor Series Challenge

Dolph Ziggler just challenged the entire Raw roster to step up and face him for his Intercontinental title. What are the pros and cons of this move?

Dolph Ziggler, the current Intercontinental champion of SmackDown Live has issued a challenge to the entire Raw roster on Tuesday. This turned quite a lot of heads. The move gives creative a number of options as well. The Raw roster is filled with talent and most of them have nothing special to do. This could be the opportunity they have been waiting for.

On the flip side, one might question the need for a move like this. Weren’t there any worthy challengers on the SmackDown roster itself? Why not use the title to showcase someone like Apollo Crews instead?

With that in mind let’s get into the pros and cons of this scenario.

Pros of the Challenge

The move certainly creates an instant buzz around the Intercontinental title. There aren’t any other singles star build with enough credibility to challenge Ziggler. The only exception was Miz and they just concluded their rivalry. So, the move can add some suspense to the Intercontinental title picture, and help to elevate the prestige of the title as an inter-brand battle begins to unfold over it.

This will also give an opportunity for some of the poorly managed, talented performers on the Raw roster. Imagine Sami Zayn stepping up to Ziggler. A match between those two would be nothing short of spectacular. Neville is another intriguing option. The former NXT champion has had nothing of relevance going on for him at the moment. Stepping up to Ziggler might do wonders for him.

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Cons of the Challenge

The challenge, logical as it is, still raises too many questions. I already raised the biggest question at the top of the article. Couldn’t SmackDown have used one of their own talents as a challenger? It can be argued that there isn’t anybody worthy of the title at the moment. But that is not an excuse for not building someone up for this purpose. Why not have Randy Orton or Luke Harper or even Bray Wyatt himself challenge Ziggler? These guys are not in the title picture at the moment.

Another problem with this angle is maintaining continuity. If Ziggler loses, then the IC title goes to Raw. What happens next? Raw boasts two mid-card titles, but all SmackDown has is just the WWE title to fight for? If Ziggler loses somehow, isn’t he entitled for a rematch? Where would the rematch take place? At Raw or SmackDown? Regardless, that would already mean people from one brand invading another brand. We already saw Orton do this just weeks after the Brand split.

The truth is, as exciting as Survivor series is going to be, it is still too early for the brands to be challenging each other. But there is no other place like Survivor Series to do this either. One can digest the idea of that. But if people start invading brands often in the name of a title feud merely 5 months after the brand split, it becomes a problem.

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One can be critical about the choice of this particular booking decision. However, regardless of the arguments, this move has created a buzz around the IC title. If the challenger from Raw remains a mystery till Survivor Series that adds some suspense as well. The outcome of the match, however, may have long-term implications.