Why WWE Might Be Keeping Dolph Ziggler Off Television

In case you haven’t noticed, Dolph Ziggler hasn’t appeared on television in over a month. His last appearance was on SmackDown LIVE on July 4, competing in an Independence Day Battle Royal for the chance to challenge United States Champion Kevin Owens at WWE Battleground. Interestingly, he was the first competitor to be eliminated.

Before that, he was losing regularly to Shinsuke Nakamura. So what happened to him?

Dave Meltzer noted this week on F4WOnline.com’s Wrestling Observer Radio that Ziggler has been off television because WWE just has nothing for him creatively. He’s in the same situation as fellow SmackDown LIVE Superstars Erick Rowan and Luke Harper, who have been off television due to creative.

In Ziggler’s case, we might have an answer as to what’s next for him. The news comes from the Bryan Alvarez’ Filthy Four Daily show with Tom Lawlor on F4WOnline.com while discussing this week’s episode of SmackDown LIVE. When Lawlor brought up Ziggler, Alvarez provided a small bit of information.

“Dolph Ziggler is probably going to be repackaged if you must know,” Alvarez said. “I don’t know what he’s going to do, but he’s going to be repackaged … whatever that means.”

It’s not known what the repackaging will mean for Ziggler. He could be paired up with a valet, get a gimmick change, or simply moved to Raw to try to set up some different rivalries for him. Whatever the case may be, it sounds like there’s some sort of change coming for him.

Despite his absence from television, Ziggler did wrestle as recently as two weeks ago. In WWE’s final event at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan on July 29, Ziggler and WWE Champion Jinder Mahal lost to Randy Orton and Shinsuke Nakamura in a tag team match.