As I hit up the old Twitter machine a few days ago, I decided to make my promise a reality. I asked each and every one of you for my next column idea, and I am sure glad I did! Within hours, I had plenty of writing material to get me through the next week or two. Thanks to all of you for that. In trying to determine which one to choose first, it was fairly obvious from the start. WWE Extreme Rules 2020 is this Sunday. Thus, any topics relating to that specific pay-per-view event have only a limited shelf life. Makes sense.

You know what does NOT make sense – Dolph Ziggler is likely to win the WWE Championship this upcoming weekend.

Sounds pretty unlikely, right?

You’re right. It is highly unlikely.

Enter Dylan.

This dude may love Dolph Ziggler, but even he knows the truth. This is The Stud Drew McIntyre’s time. Dolph Ziggler had his shine nearly a decade ago, and it isn’t happening again anytime soon. While the feud has been pretty entertaining on short notice (Heath Slater cameo baby!), it is probably a one and done filler feud before we head to the long awaited Randy Orton/Drew McIntyre Summerslam showdown for the WWE Title. However, in a never say never kind of world, what if Ziggler had a chance at Extreme Rules? What if? What if?

Well, let’s examine the possibilities.

Dolph Ziggler winning the WWE Championship is more likely to happen than Tony Con signing off his Twitter account for a month. I mean, come on man! Sorry to steal a line from ESPN but yikes! Even though everything Tony Khan has been saying is truthful, it is a bad look. Even his diehard AEW followers have to know that. His whining, griping, debating, defending and discussing of the television ratings (and demos!) Thursday afternoons is sad. Kinda pathetic. Very worrying. I know Chris Jericho also does it, but at least he can *claim* to be acting like an arrogant, delusional heel character. Tony does not have that grrrrrrreat excuse in his arsenal. He’s doing it because he is feeling the pressure, and numbers are suddenly not going his way. Thus, to deflect and ‘win’ he is engaging with fans about how wonderful things are. A Dixie Carter move from the glorious TNA days. The lovely Jacksonville Dixie line. Hyped up the empty arena yawnfest with Jon Moxley, hyped up the freakin’ FTW Title and is now hyping up ratings whenever his program loses viewership. As Cody said, if he ever tweeted about demos, delete his account. Cody is right. Rest those Twitter fingers Tony…

Dolph Ziggler winning the WWE Championship is more likely to happen than Impact Slammiversary delivering on all the teased surprises. I have not watched a single Impact Wrestling show in many moons. Probably a year ago? Maybe two years? Not a clue. They fell off a cliff so long ago that I rarely even read the results or check out the Youtube highlights. That being said, I do see the headlines. I do see the news updates. I have seen all the cool teaser videos for this weekend’s big PPV event. I will give kudos there. Very cool video packages and tons of “clues” to decipher. Props to that…but the time for talk is over. Now you have to walk the walk, and I have zero faith in that company to do that. Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson have apparently agreed to a deal? Okay, non story there. Eric Young is a lock to pop up I am sure. Alright, didn’t care for him in TNA years ago and was shocked WWE would even bother giving him a contract. EC3 may go back. I can live with that as a payoff to all the teases but still, it’s simply one giant step back from where the man was and wanted to be (in WWE). I won’t comment on any of the matches or story lines because I honestly don’t care or even know the card. The surprise appearances though? Not a whole ton of free agent talent out there ready to make an impact so this feels likes a disappointment waiting to happen.

Dolph Ziggler winning the WWE Championship is more likely to happen than WWE having fans attend their events again. Ugh. This whole situation sucks. I touched on that in the last column, but word is that WWE wants to try and begin hosting shows for spectators. Big mistake. Bad move. Not happening. I live in Wisconsin. I doubt any of you care, but here is the deal. This week, I received emails from both the Milwaukee Brewers and Green Bay Packers informing me my tickets to scheduled games are null and void. Refund issues, apologies given, etc. Those games were for months down the road. For the Packers, it was for December. They already see the writing on the wall. heck, Philadelphia just said screw it until at least February 2021. I believe the host city of next year’s WrestleMania is also on shaky ground for early 2021. That is over six months away! Unless there is a limited capacity or major changes to the current health scare on this planet, the WWE Performance Center is “home” whether we like it or not.

Dolph Ziggler winning the WWE Championship is more likely to happen than Smackdown showing signs of improvement. One of my biggest blunders of 2019 for the wrestling industry was the blue brand going to FOX and completely stinking up the joint. I had big hopes for that huge TV move. I mean, FOX shelled out over one billion dollars for the deal. Clearly, both sides were going to do everything in their power to make it a success…clearly not. I am not even going to count their most recent shows because obviously they are in a tough spot. Long before that, their momentum was halted. Not only halted but 100% stopped. Good grief, the talent is there. Even before Roman Reigns, Sami Zayn, and others decided to stay home, the writing was NOT there to back up all the WWE Superstars busting their butts. I have surprisingly been enjoying Raw for the past year or so. More or less, I do not have many complaints about the near silent shows every Monday. Once Friday night comes though, ugh. I do not claim to have all the answers, but I can question my own enjoyment.

Dolph Ziggler winning the WWE Championship is more likely to happen than Rey Mysterio or Seth Rollins legitimately losing an eyeball this Sunday night at Extreme Rules. Look (pun!), I get the grudge match. There is definitely a BLOOD feud happening right now between Mr. 619 and The Messiah. I am all for some kind of wacky gimmick and huge ‘extreme’ fight on pay-per-view. That is Pro Wrestling 101. Now, when the basis of the match is to pull out your opponent’s eyeball, it is a tough spot for the company. If they don’t deliver on their stipulation, it is seen as a ripoff to their paying customers. If they do some kind of cinematic style gouging of the eye socket, it will be hokey and phony. The only way to actually deliver is to have one of these guy’s lose an eyeball, and well, that isn’t happening. Lose lose situation if you ask me. Both Mysterio and Rollins are future WWE Hall of Famers. They could have easily had a wild street fight and then pulled off a ‘stunt’ to write one of them off for awhile. In my mind, I am assuming Rey Rey is the one taking time off, so he’d lose. Time will tell if WWE can prove us all wrong.

Not only will we watch the big Eye For An Eye Match but also tune in to see if Dolph Ziggler can win the WWE Championship!

Oh, the horror…

Written by Justin Watry

Follow on Twitter: @JustinWatry

Email feedback: [email protected]

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