Road to Wrestlemania 31: Dolph Ziggler

Dolph Zigglerhad an up and down year in 2014. Weve seen him job to the likes of Batista to make them look better, weve seen him capture the IC title on multiple occasion bringing back prestige to the championship, weve seen him on the verge of the main event scene and weve seen him fired.Wrestlemania 31 is on the horizon and Dolph Ziggler will be looking to make a huge impact and prove what hes capable of. Lets take a look now at Zigglers Road to Wrestlemania.

#1 How was 2014 for Ziggler

2014 was an important year for Dolph Ziggler that helped him reclaim some much needed momentum. The beginning of 2014 saw Ziggler relegated to being a glorified jobber with no proper feuds/storylines.

A solid performance at Money in the Bank and an injury that put IC champ Barrett out of action helped to turn things around. Battleground saw the beginning of a feud between Miz/Ziggler which saw Dolph capture the IC title at Summerslam. Ziggler even helped to regain some of the IC championships prestige through a series of amazing title match ups against the likes of Cesaro, Tyson Kidd, Bo Dallas and Miz.

Ziggler then had his stand out moment of 2014, when (through the help of Sting) he pinned Rollins at Survivor Series to become the sole survivor (for a 2nd time in his career) and put The Authority out of power. This put Ziggler on the verge of become a solidified main event star.

Thanks to Rollins though, The Authority found themselves back in power and fired Dolph Ziggler along with Ryback and Eric Rowan. All three would soon get their jobs once again thanks to Sting.

Following a poor performance in the rumble (due to creative), Ziggler has now found himself back into the IC title picture.

#2 Momentum heading into Wrestlemania 31

Ziggler gained a lot of momentum after Survivor Series, however, a lot of this was lost due to the questionable firing angle and a poor rumble performance because of creative desire to make Reign’s look strong.

Following this, Ziggler challenged Daniel Bryan to a match at Wrestlemania 31 via twitter which got fans excited. However, likely due to a lack of space on the mania card, Ziggler has instead found himself fighting for the IC title in a multi-man ladder match that Bryan will also probably join.

The IC title has gained a lot of exposure recently and Ziggler has been gaining some more momentum himself again.

#3 What to expect from Ziggler at Wrestlemania 31

The IC ladder match that so far includes Bad News Barrett, Dolph Ziggler, R-Truth, Dean Ambrose, Luke Harper and Daniel Bryan, Stardust are expected to officially join soon. A star powered line-up like this and that match is sure to steal the show.

Also, watch for Dolph Ziggler to have another breakout performance. It’s also likely that Ziggler could even walk out as a champion although there are many other solid candidates such as Ambrose or Bryan.

Regardless of whether Ziggler wins the title or not, he will thrive in the ladder match environment and do what he does best, steal the show.

#4 Immediate aftermath following Wrestlemania

Where Ziggler will go after Wrestlemania is anyone’s guess. An exciting option would be to start the tantalising singles feud between Ziggler-Bryan that couldn’t happen at Wrestlemania 31.

A face v face feud for respect with each guy trying to prove whose best would be absolutely amazing. A match could occur at Extreme Rules followed by a rematch at Payback. Both men could be involved in the Money in the Bank ladder match that leads to a final showdown at Summerslam.

A storyline involving Ziggler and Bryan would be incredible. The feud could even involve the IC title if one of those men wins the championship at mania, to further bring prestige back to the title.

#5 Future stock/card position leading to the Wrestlemania 32

Ziggler has consistently proven that he deserves to be in the main event scene but has also been consistently held back by WWE creative for whatever reason. One problem is the surge of top babyfaces already that are being pushed instead such as Roman Reigns, John Cena, Daniel Bryan and Dean Ambrose.

One option would be to turn heel but Ziggler is immensely popular with the fans right now and that could kill some momentum.

Hopefully, 2015 will see Ziggler given more opportunities and pushed into the main event scene. Maybe we could see Dolph Ziggler v Daniel Bryan at Wrestlemania 32 instead. Could it even possibly be for the WWE Championship? We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.