You're Fired

Dolph Ziggler at Wrestlemania Axxess in Phoenix

By Chad Smart
On the 600^th episode of Smackdown, we saw Edge get stripped of the World Championship, fired, re-hired and win the World Championship back.  On the other side of the ring, Dolph Ziggler was awarded the title, lost the title and was fired.  This means at the Elimination Chamber pay per view, Edge will be defending the title against four other wrestlers instead of five. Unless, Dolph finds a way to get rehired and finds himself back into the match.

Are we wrestling fans really supposed to believe Dolph is fired from WWE? Once Smackdown General Manager Teddy Long fired Dolph, wouldn’t the anonymous Raw GM computer send Dolph an email and hire him?  Dolph has been on Raw the past couple of weeks, and while his win-loss record wasn’t the greatest, he still showed himself to be a worthy competitor and would make for a good addition to the roster.

Vickie Gurrero at Wrestlemania 26 Axxess

If the Raw computer doesn’t hire Dolph, even with Teddy Long back, doesn’t Dolph’s girlfriend Vickie Guerrero still have some power to reinstate Dolph? If she doesn’t, what will be the point of keeping her around on Smackdown?  Is there some other young wrestler she’s going to hook up with as her new boy toy?

Back to the “firing.”  Even with Dolph taking to Twitter and playing up his firing as legitimate, when was the last time someone got fired in wrestling and was actually, you know, fired? The fired angle has been done so many times in wrestling it’s lost any real meaning.  There are two possible scenarios that could come from this that I wouldn’t mind seeing.

The first would be Dolph coming back wearing a mask.  Dusty Rhodes did this when he became the Midnight Rider. Andre the Giant became the Giant Machine.  Brian Pillman was the Yellow Dog. Even Hulk Hogan used this gimmick as Mr. America.  I’m a sucker for this storyline. But given the creative aspect of today’s wrestling writers, I have doubts it could be built up with any interest. It’d probably last until the next pay per view and then Dolph would be unmasked and shuffled back into the pack like nothing happened.

The other scenario is someone takes Dolph’s place in the Elimination Chamber match.  As of Saturday afternoon, wwe.com is reporting the match will only have five participants, but I can see someone getting added at the last second. Kevin commented on Undertaker being added, but with the build up to his return on 2-21-11, I can’t see him being an unannounced participant. The potential two names I’d like to see are either a returning Christian or Alberto Del Rio.  Christian coming back could add a new dimension to the title match at Wrestlemania. Alberto Del Rio put Christian on the shelf, and Christian and Edge are former tag team champions. I could see either Christian winning or having Edge eliminate him last to retain the title and somehow this leads to a triple threat match at Wrestlemania between Del Rio, Edge and Christian.  I have trouble seeing a straight up one on one match between Del Rio and Edge as being Wrestlemania worthy. 

The other scenario is after beating Kofi Kingston earlier in the night, Del Rio decides he wants to be in the Elimination Chamber so he can win the title and go into Wrestlemania as champion.  Del Rio gets eliminated from the match and loses his guaranteed match at Wrestlemania that leads to either a triple threat or fatal four-way match being set up at Wrestlemania. This is simply fantasy booking based on my opinion Del Rio isn’t ready for a Wrestlemania world title match.

Maybe a collector's item since he's "fired"

So it appears WWE has done a good job of creating interest in what will happen at the pay per view and what will become of Dolph Ziggler. I offer this advice to Dolph; if you want your job back, simply buy a ticket for Smackdown every week and constantly interfere in Edge’s matches. After a few weeks he’ll get fed up and demand Teddy Long reinstate you so he can have another match with you. It was that simple for John Cena to get his job back. It will probably work for you as well.