Dolph Ziggler Returning To SmackDown Live Next Week

Nearly two months after vacating the United States Championship, Dolph Ziggler returns to SmackDown LIVE next Tuesday.

During last night’s show, it was announced that Ziggler will face Baron Corbin next week.

HE’S BAAAAAACCCCCCKKKK! @HEELZiggler returns to action against @BaronCorbinWWE NEXT WEEK on #SDLive! pic.twitter.com/b1ORMpdtQP

— WWE (@WWE) February 7, 2018

This will be the first time Ziggler has appeared on SmackDown LIVE since the storyline where he seemingly walked out and left the United States Championship in the ring in December.

Though it will be Ziggler’s first time back on SmackDown LIVE, it won’t be his first appearance in a WWE ring since then. He was a surprise entrant in the Royal Rumble, coming in at No. 30 and getting eliminated by Finn Balor after two minutes.

Ziggler captured the United States Championship at Clash of Champions in December, beating Corbin and Bobby Roode in a Triple Threat Match. On the following episode of SmackDown Live on December 19, Ziggler held a celebration which was a retrospective of his WWE career; he said that the fans did not deserve him and placed the title belt in the ring before leaving. A week later, SmackDown LIVE General Manager Daniel Bryan said that Ziggler was nowhere to be found and had indeed vacated his title so that a tournament to crown a new champion would be held (which was won by Bobby Roode).

The Rabobank Arena in Bakersfield, California will host next week’s episode as SmackDown continues building to their March 11 Fastlane pay-per-view.