Dolph Ziggler’s WWE Booking Leads to Illogical Elimination Chamber Match

Dolph Ziggler’s WWE Elimination Chamber 2017 match is confusing, which doesn’t pair well with his current booking on SmackDown.

The understatement of 2016 is that Dolph Ziggler lost a lot of matches. The big ones were maybe the most noticeable of them all, as he couldn’t win unless his career was on the line at a pay-per-view. Other than this, he lost to the Miz, Dean Ambrose, AJ Styles, and others a handful of times.

So, in early January, the trigger would finally be pulled on Ziggler’s heel turn. He destroyed the minuscule Kalisto with a superkick, sending these two into a feud. However, Apollo Crews quickly joined the mix, and got beaten down himself.

To continue Ziggler’s heel turn, he continued to lose matches and vent his frustrations by brutally attacking Crews and Kalisto with steel chairs. It turned his depressing losing as a babyface to a sore loser character which made plenty more sense. The guy can’t stop getting pinned for a three count, so he’s had enough and is taking out his anger.

That leads us into the Showoff’s Elimination Chamber pay-per-view match. He’s set to be in a two-on-one handicap match, something that usually features the heels on the side with more Superstars. However, he’s going to be the one going solo against Crews and Kalisto, which is where the logic ends.

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Handicap matches are meant for the babyfaces to overcome the odds of having to go up against multiple competitors. It’s what made Ziggler’s comeback from being down 3-1 in the 2014 Survivor Series match great, and how Roman Reigns lost the United States Championship to Chris Jericho. Even Tye Dillinger has had to inadvertently face four members of SAnitY at once in singles matches. In just about every case — except Reigns’ — the fans get behind the good guy as he tries to conquer a challenge that seems impossible. Sometimes, it works. Other times, it doesn’t, but that’s just the nature of how these matches are booked.

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So when Ziggler steps into the ring with Crews and Kalisto, who are we supposed to be cheering for? Even though he’s a heel, Ziggler has shown that he has a tough time fending off these two Superstars at once. The crowd even chanted for him to continue hitting them with chairs on the most recent episode of SmackDown. That was due to the fans being more invested in the former Intercontinental Champion than two mid-card faces, who no one has been given a reason to care about.

This also plays into the story being all about Ziggler. Crews and Kalisto aren’t really going anywhere and probably will be sent into the great abyss, also known as the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, at WrestleMania 33. If these two had been presented as threats over the past six months, maybe this would be different. But the spotlight has been on Ziggler here, who now has to prove he can defeat two people at once.

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When this match takes place at Elimination Chamber, don’t expect the fans to side with Crews and Kalisto — expect it to be Dolph Ziggler as he tries to use his inner John Cena. It’s fair to ask if he even turned heel?