WWE: Can Dolph Ziggler actually stay relevant this time?

Dolph Ziggler made a surprise re-debut on WWE TV by attacking Kofi Kingston, but what will make this return any different from all the others?

WWE can try to sell it to fans however they want, but we’ve seen this story before.

Dolph Ziggler returns to WWE TV with a slight variation of his work horse gimmick. He ends up in a few big matches which remind fans why they supported him all these years. Everyone starts to get excited for Ziggler to finally get another massive push.

Then, his storyline ends. Ziggler exits stage left. Wash, rinse, and repeat in a few months.

That’s been WWE’s M.O. with Ziggler for awhile now. No matter how well his gimmick goes over, or how much he connects with fans, he ends up disappearing from TV as quickly as he re-appeared.

Now, that’s not to say that this phenomena is anyone’s fault really. Ziggler has a comedy career, and WWE has more storylines to build. The two don’t necessarily seem to align.

Nevertheless, repackaging Ziggler and selling him to fans like he’s undergoing a new and exciting gimmick change every time he returns is ridiculous at this point. In fact, having Ziggler slightly change his standard unappreciated wrestling star gimmick every time he comes back is pretty absurd in and of itself.

Take this most recent re-debut of Dolph Ziggler for example. Last time we saw Ziggler, he was feuding with Drew McIntyre. He had switched from being his typical underappreciated heel character to seemingly be a face ready for a bigger push.

Now however, Ziggler returns off of a multiple month absence as a heel once again, attacking Kofi Kingston. Ziggler then proceeds to cut a promo about how he should have received Kingston’s massive push.

Basically, that means we just went full circle. Without any real compelling storyline reasoning, Ziggler reverted back to a version of his old character off-screen, and then was immediately thrown into a WWE Championship feud as a heel.

Instead of constantly giving fans this kind of runaround treatment, why not just have Ziggler start off how we last saw him in WWE? Is there any particular reason a face Dolph Ziggler couldn’t have re-debuted next week to insert himself in the chaotic United States Championship picture for a feud with Samoa Joe?

WWE should have proven already with superstars like Brock Lesnar and Chris Jericho that fans can appreciate and remember a gimmick that a superstar had before leaving TV for a few months.

There really is no need for these countless reboots. All those reboots seem to do is push fans away from fully investing in Dolph Ziggler when he returns, ironically ensuring he stays in his underappreciated hard worker gimmick both inside the storyline and outside of it as well.

If this most recent re-debut is going to go differently than any of Ziggler’s past storylines, then this needs to be his last reboot. No matter how many more times he takes a brief departure from WWE TV, he needs to return to continue this same story arc, no matter where it ends up.

It’s the only way that WWE can ensure that fans remain excited and interested in seeing Dolph Ziggler, as opposed to lamenting how great he could be with a consistent and cohesive push.