Ziggler’s Absence Highlights Lacking Content on RAW

The May 13 edition of RAW was lacking, highlighted mainly by the absence of World Heavyweight Champion Dolph Ziggler. Suffering a concussion during Smackdown the week before, thanks to a stiff kick from Jack Swagger, the WWE is definitely feeling the loss in many ways.

Without the few minutes of promo and 15-minute match Ziggler has made customary over the past few years, RAW was reaching for quality content. Other quality workers the likes of Antonio Cesaro, Daniel Bryan and Kofi Kingston aren’t enough to deliver a quality program. They need guys that appeal to both women and men and that can be used in a variety of ways. While Bryan is entertaining and solid on the mic, he’s not Ziggler. The same thing goes for Kingston and Cesaro, who are more amazing workers than entertainers.

In the longer term, Ziggler’s injury eliminates the three-way ladder match for an already weak card at Extreme Rules. Those who were on the fence about purchasing the pay per view may have made up their minds thanks to Ziggler’s injury.

The injury also addresses a thin roster in terms of charismatic heels. With CM Punk on hiatus, the WWE relies heavily on Ziggler as a cool bad guy that can wrestle. Who replaces Ziggler in the wake of the injury?

No one.

Although Dean Ambrose has that kind of ability, he’s not quite there yet. Ryback will never be a viable heel and even Mark Henry, easily the top heel in the company, doesn’t fill Ziggler’s niche.

The faster Ziggler comes back, the better. There isn’t anyone on Smackdown that can carry his load. While Swagger and Alberto Del Rio are entertaining, they’ve proven what they can do with the world title. Already more charismatic than the both of them and a better performer, Ziggler hasn’t reached his potential ceiling yet. That’s perhaps the worst thing about his injury. With an already lack of content, the last thing the WWE needed was to lose someone who cannot only eat up valuable minutes, but someone who is developing into a possible mega star in the process.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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