Dolph Ziggler's Intercontinental Championship Reigns, Ranked Worst To Best
Dolph Ziggler has an interesting reputation with WWE fans. To some, he is underrated for what he offers, and to others, he is overrated and over-hyped. Regardless of fan opinion, Ziggler has amassed a good amount of championships during his WWE run, the most of which has been the Intercontinental Championship.
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Ziggler has won the Intercontinental Championship six times over an eight-year period, with certain reigns of his being shorter, longer, and involving more memorable matches and feuds than others. He is now a tag team wrestler with Robert Roode, but for a large part of the 2010s, Dolph made a name for himself with the Intercontinental Championship.
6 Second Reign
Dolph's second reign as Intercontinental Champion was his worst due to how short it was and the way the rivalry he was involved in was handled. Dolph defeated The Miz at SummerSlam 2014 to win it, with the match itself being a good choice to open a pay-per-view such as SummerSlam due to its quick pace and sequences.
Following that victory, Ziggler would only hold onto the Intercontinental Title for 35 days, dropping it back to The Miz at Night of Champions, the next pay-per-view after SummerSlam. It appeared that WWE was playing hot-potato with the title to prolong Miz and Ziggler's feud at the time, which cheapened an otherwise prestigious title for that time.
5 Fifth Reign
Fast-forward two years to 2016 and Dolph and Miz were feuding exclusively on SmackDown. While this portion of their years-long feud was handled much better here than in 2014, Dolph's victory over Miz at No Mercy to win his fifth Intercontinental Championship was very short-lived as well.
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Dolph saved his career to win, in kayfabe, and this particular match showed why he can put on a very good match with the proper storytelling and opponent. However, Ziggler only held the Intercontinental Title for 36 days. In November, on the 900th episode of SmackDown, with an assist from Maryse, Miz won the title back. This is another instance of hot-potato booking.
4 Fourth Reign
Ziggler's fourth reign was his shortest at 22 days, although the match where he won it was a modern-day classic. At Tables, Ladders, Chairs, and Stairs, Ziggler and the late Luke Harper opened the show with a Ladder match, which was memorable for its sequences and use ladders. Both Ziggler and Harper were bruised from the impact of the ladders on their bodies, but Dolph was able to overcome that and win.
Despite Ziggler validating his claims of being a show-stealer to a large extent that night, this reign was concluded by Bad News Barrett in a two-out-of-three falls match on the first RAW of 2015. Ziggler spent 2014 trying his hardest in his matches to make the Intercontinental Title live up to its high standards, but the booking was not in his favor as far as lengthy reigns.
3 Sixth Reign
Ziggler held his sixth and most current Intercontinental Championship as an ally of Drew McIntyre during his feud that summer with Seth Rollins. Ziggler won it on an episode of RAW in June with an illegal roll-up, retained it the next week against Rollins by a disqualification loss thanks to interference from Drew, and proceeded to hold it for 61 days, his second-longest reign overall.
During their summer feud, Dolph and Seth had such a good series of matches that WWE chose to have them headline that year's Extreme Rules in July in a 30-Man Ironman match for the title. Dolph retained, thanks in large part due to Drew, in sudden-death overtime. Dolph's time to drop the Intercontinental Title came at SummerSlam to Seth Rollins the next month in a match that could be considered one of the better opening matches in SummerSlam history.
2 First Reign
Dolph's first and longest reign of 153 days started on an episode of SmackDown in August 2010, dethroning then-champion Kofi Kingston with help from Vicki Guerrero. Dolph would begin his run of great quality matches during this reign, continuing his feud with Kofi over the title into SummerSlam and Night of Champions, retaining at the latter with help from Guerrero again.
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Ziggler fended off the challenge of Kaval at Survivor Series, retained against Kofi and Jack Swagger at Tables, Ladders, and Chairs in a Triple Threat Ladder Match, and then dropped the title back to Kofi on the first SmackDown of 2011. This reign allowed Dolph to show his skills early on and get the fans to root for him, despite being a heel, for his impressive in-ring work.
1 Third Reign
Dolph's third reign, when he won the Intercontinental Championship back from The Miz, did not last too long at 56 days. However, he had a reign that included some very good matches and short feuds. Ziggler transitioned from his feud with Miz to a feud with Cesaro in a face vs. face feud, with the story being about whom the better in-ring technician was. Dolph and Cesaro fought in matches during this time that, for purists, were the highlights of the shows the matches happened on.
One such match was a two-our-of-three falls match at Hell in a Cell. Another memorable and underrated match, also featuring Tyson Kidd, occurred on an episode of SmackDown in a triple threat match where Ziggler retained. On the next RAW, Ziggler dropped the Intercontinental Title to Luke Harper, starting their short feud.
