Rumor has it that The Miz is being used as a red herring and Dolph Ziggler is expected to face someone else at WWE SummerSlam. The question: Who?
The past week of WWE television has done a lot to shape the SummerSlam card as we know it. With the Biggest Party of the Summer taking place a week from this Sunday, both Raw and SmackDown Live revealed several matches set to take place on the show. One of the latest matches that was announced on the blue brand was The Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler, a rivalry that has heated up over the course of the last few weeks.
However, it looks like WWE is expected to cool down the match before either competitor makes it inside of the ring. Rumor has it that according to The Wrestling Observer, the match is expected to get changed in a last minute surprise. It is unknown just how we are going to get to the change, but it is currently penciled in for The Miz to get replaced some time before the bell rings.
Before any speculation arises regarding Shawn Michaels, The Wrestling Observer also made sure to point out in their report that HBK will not be the replacement. Granted, the way rumors and hearsay work, “it’s definitely not HBK” could easily mean it’s definitely HBK, and it would make sense given their segment on last week’s SmackDown Live. But alas, it looks like the Hall of Famer has hung up his boots for good this time.
If all of this to be believed, let’s have some fun with the report by speculating who could be replacing The Miz at SummerSlam.
Johnny Gargano
The night before SummerSlam, former NXT Champion Johnny Gargano will face the current champion, Adam Cole (Bay Bay) in their third straight TakeOver encounter in hopes of recapturing his black and gold belt. Most fans and critics expect Gargano to lose.
If the Rebel Heart does end his feud against the Undisputed Era leader with another loss, it very well could signal the end of the triple crown winner’s nearly four year run in NXT. By that sword, it could lead directly to Gargano’s introduction to the WWE main roster.
There would be few better ways to debut Gargano on the WWE main roster than by introducing him as a last minute replacement for The Miz against Dolph Ziggler. Imagine the pop he would get once his music blasts through the speakers at SummerSlam in front of the same Toronto crowd who saw him tear the house down the night before at NXT TakeOver.
Plus, best of all, win, lose, or draw, starting his WWE main roster run with a strong match against Dolph Ziggler – both men have movesets and styles that could compliment each other well in the ring – should be a great way to show new fans what he’s made of.
Goldberg
As originally noted by The Wrestling Observer, this is the big rumor going around as to who is replacing The Miz at SummerSlam and by the sword, is probably the most likely option listed here. Granted, it’d make sense; Goldberg is not as random of choice in reality as it sounds on paper. When mentioning part timers who hog the spotlight from current stars like himself, Dolph Ziggler did name drop Goldberg, so a surprise SummerSlam match could be the payoff for that.
Whether a part timer should take a current star’s spot to defeat another top star on a top PPV is up for debate (a top debate, it sounds like), but if one thing is for sure, Goldberg needs to wash the taint away from his match at Super Showdown vs. The Undertaker.
Personally, if you ask me, I don’t think he ever should have taken that match since his Mania 33 match vs. Brock Lesnar worked as a perfect sendoff for him, but the fact remains that he did and that match was poorly received. Some are calling it the worst match of the year so far. It’s unfortunate for Goldberg, really. Judging by his recent tweets, he’s still beating himself up about it and just wants our last image of him in a ring to be a fonder one.
He might just do that at Dolph Ziggler’s expense.
Roman Reigns
So Roman Reigns almost got murdered the other night on SmackDown Live, which is not a sentence I ever expected to type out, but here we are. The suspects continue to reel in and the angle is expected to lead to a match at SummerSlam. One name thrown out there is Buddy Murphy while another is Daniel Bryan. However, one name we should not overlook as a possibility is Dolph Ziggler.
Him and Roman Reigns have history dating back as recently as a few weeks ago, when Dolph wrestled Roman on orders from The Big Dog’s then-archrival, Shane McMahon, who Dolph had briefly maintained a working relationship with.
Even though Dolph lost that match, it could be explained that Dolph was harboring some resentment for Roman Reigns over the lost or was having one of those “IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ME!” moments against the company’s poster child, and thus attempted to enact revenge. Attempted murder would be an extreme length to go over losing a match, but hey, stranger things have happened in the wrestling world.
As a result, Roman Reigns would have to demand to replace The Miz at SummerSlam to exact revenge of his own, which would not be a horrible thing to see. Dolph and Roman have only wrestled one-on-one a handful of times and they have good chemistry that could play out well for a great SummerSlam match.