5 Major consequences if Dolph Ziggler becomes WWE Champion at Extreme Rules

Dolph Ziggler wasn't a name that we expected to be challenging for the WWE title at this point in 2020. Drew McIntyre has had two major opponents so far in his WWE Championship reign - Seth Rollins and Bobby Lashley. Despite the former losing at WrestleMania 36, he was a name that made sense as Drew McIntyre's first WWE Championship opponent.

Bobby Lashley lost at WrestleMania 36 as well, but his pairing with MVP made him a legitimate challenger at Backlash. So far, Drew McIntyre has had two great title defenses on PPV and is set to have a WWE title defense against another man who he has a history with - Dolph Ziggler.

The ShowOff Dolph Ziggler has been written off already and he's viewed as a "filler" opponent for Drew McIntyre until SummerSlam 2020. In all likeliness, he is, but given that we're in the pandemic era of wrestling, we shouldn't be too surprised to see WWE pull the trigger in the weirdest way, possibly ending Drew McIntyre's WWE title reign prematurely.

Either way, here are five major consequences if Dolph Ziggler beats Drew McIntyre to win the WWE Championship at The Horror Show at Extreme Rules:

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#5. A new Dolph Ziggler and a new direction

If WWE goes in the unlikely direction of Dolph Ziggler as the WWE Champion, it'll be clear that a big change is coming. Not only will we see an overall change in the direction of the main event scene on RAW, but we could see Dolph Ziggler have another major career resurgence.

It's tough to rule out Dolph Ziggler sometimes when he's had many incredibly memorable moments over the years. While he's proven to be a World Championship-caliber talent, he hasn't had consistency or momentum in almost four years now.

However, we won't be seeing the same Dolph Ziggler if he wins the WWE title. It'll likely result in a big character change.

#4. A transitional reign for Dolph Ziggler

While there's a possibility of seeing Dolph Ziggler win the WWE Championship, can we realistically see a scenario where he's the WWE Champion for a long time in 2020? The answer is a resounding 'no'.

There's no denying how good Dolph Ziggler is in making others look good. The issue for him is that he's so good at it that it's been detrimental to his character over the years.

If WWE pulls the trigger on Dolph Ziggler as WWE Champion, then it means that it's going to be a transitional reign to get the title on another babyface (or even heel).

The issue with this is that it's hard to see any other babyface on RAW apart from Drew McIntyre as the right WWE Champion at this time. An argument could be made for Kevin Owens, but nothing in the way he's been booked seems to suggest that he's being prepared for a WWE title reign.

Kevin Owens is long overdue for a World title reign, but apart from him, the only three stars on RAW with enough momentum to be WWE Champion is Drew McIntyre and Randy Orton, who's a heel.

#3. Social media backlash

This one is quite an obvious consequence of Dolph Ziggler potentially winning the WWE Championship. The last time a title change was this controversial in WWE was at Super ShowDown in Saudi Arabia this past February, where Goldberg defeated 'The Fiend' Bray Wyatt in the main event to capture the Universal Championship.

Somehow, that title change still makes no sense, especially given how it all unfolded, but this won't be taken very kindly either. Despite the ratings not being the best, the consensus seems to be that Drew McIntyre is the right guy to be the WWE Champion in the pandemic era of WWE.

Everything about him makes him a legitimate World Champion and while Dolph Ziggler was worthy of the World Championship he won in 2013, it's safe to assume that the reaction to him becoming WWE Champion in 2020 will be an overwhelmingly negative one.

It's not something WWE won't be used to, but this isn't the time they want to be dealing with overwhelming fan backlash.

#2. Further deterioration in ratings

It would be admittedly harsh to blame Dolph Ziggler for a drop in ratings, but it's hard to deny that putting the WWE title on him would likely cause a further dip in ratings. Drew McIntyre, even as the "right" man in the pandemic era can't do much to save the ratings from dipping.

This is adding to the fact that RAW has been consistent in its quality since Paul Heyman's removal as Executive Director (which we still feel was a bad decision in hindsight). The big question is as to how much WWE is looking at the ratings right now.

Having no crowds has undoubtedly been detrimental to the product because professional wrestling became what it is due to the crowd reactions. From the look of things, WWE is planning to try and get crowds back by the end of September. But given how the pandemic is increasing in the United States, it could take a lot longer. Until then, the ratings could keep deteriorating - even more so if Dolph Ziggler is the WWE Champion.

#1. Drew McIntyre's momentum and push destroyed

Drew McIntyre has been built over two years

The biggest risk for WWE in putting the WWE Championship on Dolph Ziggler is derailing the momentum of Drew McIntyre. The reigning WWE Champion has been slowly pushed and protected for months in his bid for the WWE Championship.

His moment at the Royal Rumble 2020 was one to remember and we can only imagine how great it would have been had WrestleMania 36 been in the Raymond James Stadium with a sold-out crowd.

He's been Vince McMahon's personal project, with Paul Heyman being instrumental in his rise to the top as well. However, despite the unforeseen circumstances, WWE was right to pull the trigger on Drew McIntyre when they did.

If they end his reign prematurely to Dolph Ziggler of all WWE Superstars, they're risking the possibility of all his momentum being destroyed. While there's no doubt that McIntyre could regain his momentum at a later stage, it would be unfair to pull the proverbial rug from underneath him in the name of a surprise title change.

Edited by Zaid Khan