WWE waited too long with Ziggler IMO. Last year he was on a roll. Guy was a heat magnet. He actually made a 3 minute match with Khali somewhat enjoyable. Unfortunately, the Chosen One came in. Eh funny how things worked out. The Chosen One is basically directionless atm. WWE messed up big time by not giving him the title last year. But never say never, they gave him the ball to run with this year and he looks like he's reinventing himself with the whole Vickie/Kaitlyn angle.
IMO a couple more reigns and a couple more years Ziggler can go down as one of the memorable IC champs ever. The kid has a bright future no doubt, and don't be surprised to see him in the main event 5 years from now.
Has he brought prestige back to the belt? Well that's not entirely dependent on him. Creative has to play a role in that as well, as they're trying. But the quality of matches him and his opponents have given week after week, PPV after PPV have definitely made the IC title match something worth watching.
All in all, when you see IC Champ Dolph Ziggler on the card, you know you're in for a great match. So I'd say he's a credible champion.
In a perfect world, Mysterio should have held onto the Intercontinental Championship for another, oh, let's say two or three more months or so before he was suspended by WWE and then dropped it to Ziggler to conclude a dramatic chase of it by the tenacious Ziggler. But when Rey was suspended, that killed a lot of things and while the reigns of Morrison and McIntyre were hardly very memorable or rewarding even for them, I think in the end we got the second-best option and just perhaps the very best option after all. That time in the wilderness from fall 2009 going into his Intercontinental Championship victory over Kofi in midsummer this year actually made Ziggler better, more complete, more tested and readier. He demonstrated that he could go; his matches with Mysterio were excellent, his work with Finlay and the sluggish Matt Hardy was noteworthy; he put on a few stellar matches with Morrison (all in losing efforts), debuted his Sleeper finisher while having a very solid turn-the-corner mini-feud on TV with Kane in the winter, sort of drifted into limbo, not doing much but performed rather well in the Money in the Bank build-up and match, went over Great Khali which was a cool "coming full circle" moment for him right after Wrestlemania which saw the first seedling of a renewed push, and entered Vickie's orbit while beginning an okay little feud with Christian before finally transitioning into the Intercontinental Champion against Kofi Kingston.
Now he's battle-hardened and 90-proof proven. His series with Kofi was rock solid. He made me think Edge still had life in him with that terrific match against him. His series with Bryan put him over the top, definitively proving that he's an elite midcard worker in WWE (he could
hang with AmDrag going all-out at Bragging Rights, a real feat). He got one of MVP's better matches out of him in the latter portion of his career some weeks back on Smackdown. And his couple of matches with Kaval have been fun to watch for the most part.
To me, the reign he's enjoying now tastes sweeter because it feels more earned. Ziggler's chase of the Intercontinental Championship, which raged on for a little over a year, is one of those chases that makes the championship feel important. WWE never forgot about it, they consistently had the announcers discuss Ziggler's drive to become Intercontinental Champion. The fact that the guy absolutely deserves it and is carrying it like a real pro only makes it even better. It's fitting that Ziggler's chase story came out of the Jericho/Mysterio wars for the championship because it was similar in its defining the prestige of the championship.
![[MDB]](/d2/avatars/m/150/150696.jpg?1575274370){kind=avatar}
