Dolph Ziggler’s career has been in a bit of a rut lately. But the addition of a manager could help turn things around and make him a major player on SmackDown Live.
Down in NXT, Andrade Almas just won the NXT Championship at the most recent Takeover event. This was a well deserved victory and escalation to the main event scene for Almas because he is one of the best in ring workers, and his current gimmick with Zelina Vega as his manager has been on fire lately.
However, if you rewind back to before Vega was his manager, Almas was lost in the shuffle in NXT. His face run fell flat as no one got invested, and he lost to just about everybody as a heel that just partied too much.
Now, compare that story with Dolph Ziggler and the two are almost identical. Both are incredible in ring performers who fell flat as faces yet still lost once they turned heel. The only difference is that Almas was able to turn it around with the addition of Vega as his manager.
After that formula worked so well for Andrade, it may be time for Dolph to implement the same strategy. Dolph has found himself losing to the likes of Bobby Roode and Shinsuke Nakamura, and he has seemingly lost his way with his crazy gimmick impersonation/no gimmick gimmick.
Andrade Almas had Zelina Vega help him find his way back to winning when he was lost, now Dolph needs someone to help him find his way back to winning. This could go hand in hand with his new gimmick as his manager could deal with the press, interviews, entrances, etc. as Dolph focuses on being the best in ring performer in WWE history (his words, not mine).
This could definitely work for a Superstar like Dolph because he has had success in the past with managers like AJ Lee and Vickie Guerrero. He had multiple title reigns and even won a world championship under their guidance, so a manager could get Dolph right back into title contention.
The question now becomes: who should Ziggler’s manager be? If you just look at the options on SmackDown Live, Carmella would probably be the best pick because she is great on the mic and is all about the glitz and glam, which she could handle to help Dolph solely focus on wrestling. This may cut into her in-ring time, which could be a mistake.
Another option would be Lana, who is a natural on the mic and already proven manager in WWE. But things did not work out so well last time these two were paired together, and I don’t want to go through that mess again.
However, if we venture outside of SmackDown Live, there are some pretty good options. Dana Brooke, who had a relationship with Dolph in the past, would be a good fit since she is still green in the ring and could focus on managing rather than wrestling for awhile.
Other options would be recent NXT call ups like Liv Morgan or Mandy Rose, or we could reach down into developmental and pluck somebody like Aliyah, who is great on the mic but hasn’t proven herself in the ring yet. Again, finding time for these superstars to continue wrestling while managing Dolph may be an issue.
Whoever the manger is, she (or he) could compliment and save Dolph Ziggler’s new gimmick (or lack there of) and bring him back to relevance on SmackDown Live.
