WWE Rumors: Did John Cena ‘Bury’ Dolph Ziggler? Former WWE Writer Suggests He Might Have

It seems like it was ages ago when John Cena and Dolph Ziggler were both in WWE’s main event scene, feuding from late 2012 to early 2013 as two of the company’s top stars. Fast forward to the present, and Cena is one title away from breaking Ric Flair’s record of 16 World Championships, while Ziggler hasn’t been on television for a while, and loses far more often than he wins. And if you ask former WWE writer Kevin Eck, this is all because of backstage politics, specifically Cena being unhappy with Ziggler’s performance during their onscreen rivalry, and allegedly letting WWE Chairman Vince McMahon know how unhappy he was with the “Showoff.”

Speaking on veteran wrestling journalist Wade Keller’s podcast, Eck explained why current Money in the Bank briefcase holder Baron Corbin has to perform well in his upcoming SummerSlam match against John Cena. At the time of their feud, Dolph Ziggler was, like Corbin is today, Mr. Money in the Bank, and while Dolph was ultimately able to cash in his contract and win the World Heavyweight Championship from Alberto Del Rio, he was arguably in a less favorable spot than he was during his feud with Cena.

“In the beginning, John was all for it,” Eck told Keller, as quoted by WrestlingNews.co.

“John wanted to work with Dolph. And they did the house show loop together and as the heel, the heel traditionally calls the matches and John was letting Dolph call the matches and er… he wasn’t impressed.”

According to Eck, John Cena gave his assessment of Dolph Ziggler to Vince McMahon, and that’s what might have soured the WWE chairman and owner on Ziggler, to the point that he made the decision to quickly end the Cena-Ziggler rivalry.

“Vince told us in a booking meeting one day: ‘God, I think we’re doing a disservice to John, this is bringing John down’ and so Dolph was moved out of that program.”

As recently noted by the Inquisitr, it’s been more than a month since Ziggler was last on SmackDown Live programming, and the reason for this is WWE not having anything for Dolph to do on television. He still works house shows for the company, but beyond that, he’s mostly riding the figurative bench as far as TV appearances go, just like fellow blue brand mid-carders Luke Harper, Erick Rowan, and Tye Dillinger.

According to Wrestling Inc., Ziggler’s last TV match was the Independence Day Battle Royal on the July 4 episode of SmackDown Live, with his last singles action being a loss to Shinsuke Nakamura on June 20.

Ex-WWE writer Eck’s allegation that John Cena “buried” Dolph Ziggler isn’t the first time Cena has been accused of holding a wrestler back. Earlier this year, former WWE wrestler Alex Riley said that an incident with Cena had “changed the path” of his career, and while he chose not to go into detail, his claim corroborated a prior allegation from another ex-WWE talent, Tyler Reks, who claimed in 2015 that Cena treated Riley in a way that was “totally uncalled for.”

[Featured Image by WWE]