Dolph Ziggler reflected on his time on NXT and noted that he was especially impressed with Mandy Rose.
Ziggler had a substantial run on NXT earlier this year; he surprisingly appeared on the show in February and went on to win the NXT Championship at NXT Roadblock on March 8. Bron Breakker later beat him for the title on the April 4 episode of WWE Raw to end his reign.
During an appearance on Casual Conversations with The Classic, Ziggler was asked about NXT's roster and which performers impressed him. He noted that many of the superstars can do amazing things, but he was particularly blown away by the growth of Mandy Rose. He referenced his previous experience working with her in 2020 and stated that she has made leaps and bounds.
“There was tons, and I famously do not watch wrestling. But while I was there, I watched everything. So there’s a lot of times we were second-to-last match or the last match on the show for the six/seven weeks I was there. So one, just out of common courtesy, I watched the show to go, what hasn’t been done? What do I need to switch for my main event slot? But also I got to watch some performers do awesome stuff, and there’s so many ridiculously talented people that do some stuff that I could not even imagine being there to catch. But also what I really loved was I had earlier worked with Mandy, and when I knew her, she was not new, but kind of figuring out her character, figuring out some things. To watch her and her group, Toxic Attraction, stroll into that place with their entrance, talk on the mic so confidently, act like they were running the place, and a couple of the weeks I was there, they sat in the VIP lounge, sipping champagne and talking trash, I go, this is amazing. I was blown away just by the leaps and bounds she had done since I had worked with her six months earlier. So it’s things like that where that’s what I paid a lot of attention to," Ziggler said.
He also described how there's a slightly different philosophy among the competitors in NXT, and he's confident with the way that they have some amazing teachers.
"All the young up-and-comers can do the craziest stuff. They have a slightly different psychology than Raw and SmackDown, so I get that. The important part was they have some of the greatest teachers of all time, and they’re all getting it. I got to speak to them personally, just have a little talk with them, and it was mind-blowing. So many of them are genuinely half my age. They’re already doing great, and I was like, hey, when I was 24 or 25? , I thought I was crushing it as a rookie trying to figure stuff out. These are 20, 21, you can do the crazy flips and dives, and you’re being taught by Norman Smiley and Shawn Michaels hand-holding you? This is insane. What a dream come true for any of those fans that became talent. So that is a mind-blowing aspect of it, having those minds there," he said.
Rose became the Unified NXT Women's Champion at NXT Worlds Collide. More information s available here.
Ziggler recently shared his thoughts about when he'll stop wrestling. You can check out his comments here.
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