In Appreciation of Dolph Ziggler (and why it means so much to meet him this week)

I don’t look up to many people. That’s a perk of standing 6 feet and 5 inches in stature. In all seriousness, I have always been the type to want to carve out my own path instead of looking to others for guidance. While there are some I would consider mentors or heroes, people like my parents, teachers like Mr. Clifton, Mr. Pfeffer, and Dr. Tuttle, I don’t make much of a habit of looking up to people I don’t personally know. That said, there is one notable exception.

Any time my students or other acquaintances find out that I am a fan of WWE, the second question (after the “You know it’s fake, right?”) I get is “Well, who’s your favorite wrestler?” I don’t know who they expect me to say, but when I tell them Dolph Ziggler, I often get responses ranging from amused to bewildered. The follow-up question is “Why?” My usual go-to is “Because his career mirrors my own life in many ways” and then I mumble something to change the subject. It’s a lot more than that, though. I’ve never felt such a personal connection to the success of someone else, but the more I think about it, the more I understand it. Dolph Ziggler is every one of us.

Dolph Ziggler is every one of us who has ever been set up to fail.
Many of us have entered a new job in which we, quite honestly, are not expected to succeed and have not been given much guidance to do so. I have walked into classrooms with no curricula, literal mounds of trash, and various dead animals and was basically told to figure it out. I wanted to quit. More accurately, I wanted to crawl into the fetal position and cry. But you will never get to where you want to be by giving up. Sometimes, you have to make something out of nothing. Dolph Ziggler is proof of that.

In 2005, Nick Nemeth was brought up to the main roster to be the personal “caddy” for a white golfer who neither golfed nor was white. I don’t think Shakespeare or Hemingway could have pulled a captivating endgame from that premise. After a couple months, Nemeth was gone. When he came back, he was repackaged as Nicky, a member of a five-man cheerleading group, the Spirit Squad. Again, not a lot of forward traction, especially when he was treated as maybe the 4th best guy out of the group. Once again, he was sent back down to developmental. When he returned, he was Dolph Ziggler.

You can tell if WWE has big plans for someone based on how they are introduced to the audience. John Cena took Kurt Angle to the limit. The Shield debuted on Survivor Series by interfering In the main event. Kevin Owens left John Cena in a heap. Dolph Ziggler was introduced to the audience… by quite literally introducing himself to everyone he came into contact with. Most guys get easy matches on tv to introduce them to the audience. Dolph Ziggler had to step into the ring with Batista. This should have failed.

Someone who was introduced as basically a joke on THREE separate occasions shouldn’t last more than a year. Dolph Ziggler has been there for FOURTEEN. The guy saw what would have been a dead end gimmick and by hard work and talent has been rewarded with reigns with nearly every title he could win. He looked his fate square in the eyes and said “I’m too good for that.” That attitude has inspired me to reach personal and professional heights that didn’t seem possible.

Dolph Ziggler is everyone who has ever been passed over for the latest and greatest and is the wingman who makes everyone else look good.
Most of us have been there. The promotion, the relationship, the thing we’ve waited FOREVER to achieve, and it’s about to be ours when riiiight at the worst possible moment, someone less deserving swoops in and gets it. I lost on my first dream job at the last second due to nepotism. I’ve had relationships turn on a dime because someone else entered the picture.

My bias may be showing here, but I don’t care. Coming out of Survivor Series 2014, Dolph Ziggler was set up perfectly to be the next WWE Champion. I understand that the WWE is very much like a movie and different people are given different roles, but he should have been the leading man at that point in time. He got passed over for a new toy. This happened far too often. For a two year stretch, DZ was used almost exclusively as the vehicle for getting the new toys set up to succeed. Sheamus (post-Mohawk), Nakamura, Corbin, Roode, etc…all of them rose by climbing the back of Dolph Ziggler. It’s great to be a valuable piece (that jack of all trades at work, the understanding friend), but there are moments where you want more. As a fan, I want the best for Dolph.

Dolph once had a shirt that said “It’s too bad I’m too good”. It’s funny and almost sad because it’s true. Because Dolph Ziggler has been so good at making his opponents look like gold in the ring (by using his own athleticism to make their moves look lethal), it’s been his job to make them look good. Guys get a bigger reaction to hitting their big moves on Dolph because he makes those moves count. Every now and then it would be nice for them to repay him the favor, though.

Dolph Ziggler is hope. Dolph Ziggler is despair.
We all want to believe that things are going to change in our lives, that finally THIS opportunity is going to be the one that’s different. We go into it with the notion that it may not go our way, but that doesn’t stop our heart from hoping. We finally get to that moment where we give our best effort to that opportunity, only for it to not go our way. Even though we were prepared for the worst, it doesn’t cushion the blow as much as we would like for it to do.
As a longtime fan of Dolph Ziggler, I am conditioned to expect the worst in big matches. Once every year or two, Dolph will find his way into a match for the WWE Championship, the title I always dreamed of holding as a kid and to me, THE measuring stick in all of pro wrestling. Though Dolph is a two-time former world champion, it was not that particular title. Every time he finds his way into one of these matches I live vicariously and hope beyond hope that he has been chosen for this opportunity to bear that flag as champion, and every time it *almost* happens but doesn’t. I know Nic Nemeth the person is probably content with the chance to live his childhood dream and pursue his other passions (comedy, political commentary) while earning an income that as an educator I could only dream of, but I will always cheer for him to reach the top. With DZ and in life, through every disappointment, there is hope that next time will finally be the time.

When Jakob Meets Dolph
This Wednesday, I have the opportunity to come face to face with someone I look up to when I see Dolph's comedy tour and participate in the VIP meet and greet in Appleton, Wisconsin. Though I’ve seen him wrestle live a few times (I was actually there when he lost the World Title in 2013) and we’ve interacted on Twitter, I’ve never gotten to meet the guy. I don’t know how much of this I’ll get to say to his face, but I am so thankful for his example of hard work, perseverance, trusting your ability, and making something out of nothing. It is an example I try to follow every day as a man, as a teacher, as a grad school student, and as a friend to others. Following his career has had a significant impact on the person I am today, and whether or not I ultimately reach the pinnacle of success in my field, I will continue to press onward no matter what.