The difference in crowd quality during a Ziggler match when they think he’s just kind of a “gay-bo” (their words, not mine) and when they understand he’s a face is the difference between “lower mid-card” and “Ricky Steamboat”.
Talking to my friend Kyle during this match, it’s clear that Dolph Ziggler needs to do the following things to get over with everyone: dye his roots, wear trunks with easier to understand words on them and stop humping the air. Or less. Hump the air less.
Oh no! Dean Ambrose has “mid-card champion loses on RAW”-itis! Next step is “transitional”-ism which, while not fatal, can permanently damage your career’s ability to accept transplant pushes.
***
Fandango’s gimmick works even better if you pretend he’s just an aspiring ballroom dancer who was watching Raw, realized they sometimes feature dance contests and figured he’d make his name that way because “it totally seemed like I could do the fighting part, I mean, they aren’t even punching with closed fists”.
