Dolph Ziggler opens up about gaining the trust of WWE, potentially switching careers, and his own mortality.
Dolph Ziggler is one of the longest-tenured WWE Superstars on today's roster. Having worked with the company in a major capacity since 2006, Dolph Ziggler has seen many top stars come and go and has done several media tours which built a strong trust in his abilities within WWE that very few other individuals have from the global juggernaut.
In a new interview with XeniaDidThat, Dolph Ziggler explains how the trust he has built over the years has led to him developing confidence in himself and giving him a much longer leash during media tours.
“A lot of people have different -- if you've earned their trust and respect over 15 years -- I used to have to ask like, ‘Hey, I'm going on to FOX News Is this okay that I do this in two weeks?’, and I got to a point where I built the trust, they sent me on PR tours to different countries, Romania, Turkey, several different places and they trust me [to the point where for] two weeks, I'm by myself with a handler, and I'm just constantly doing PR for WWE and over 15 years, I clearly earned the ability to be like, I don't have to tell them I'm going to do something because I'm not gonna be like, Vince McMahon sucks. That's why we should get out of Syria.’ There's no reason for that. I could give an educated answer. I can make a snarky joke. I can change the subject. I can do any of it.
"For 10 years, it was myself, The Miz, Kofi Kingston, and Sheamus, they sent us to everything and we got so sharp that they go, ‘Hey, we got to get some other guys to get these reps.’ So, I'm allowed to have this long leash and do whatever the hell I want. I mean, I also back it up in the ring. So like, what are you gonna do?”
In recent years, Dolph Ziggler has shown an interest in stand-up comedy. In fact, this interview was filmed right before a show that Dolph Ziggler was doing the night of SummerSlam. When asked whether or not he would be interested in making a full-time career in comedy, Dolph Ziggler explained that he is interested in being a modern-day renaissance man and keeping himself sharp by doing as much as possible allowing for the most career opportunities as possible.
“I don't know. I have so many different interests and when I find one, I want to -- I need 10 more years of doing this before I'm good-good… You got to get better. So I do the political stuff, I read nonstop, I do all these different things hoping that one day, I can go do FOX News, maybe have a late-night talk show on the internet, maybe go do stand-up comedy, maybe have a podcast where one of these guys will tell jokes, talk about wrestling, but then we go to a stand-up tour and I just want to keep [being a] modern-day renaissance man, that just makes you a good person, I think, you're doing the most that you can because you don't know if you’ll die tomorrow, or not.”
Ziggler continued, “I want to go out [with] everyone going, ‘That dude made the most of his 24 hours.’ You brought that up a little bit ago. I don't sleep much, I haven’t for a long time, but I don't want to sit at home. I don't want to vacation. If I go to a comedy tour for 16 dates in 30 days, it's in between wrestling and I just don't go home I don't ask for time off.”
Ziggler referencing his own mentality brought up the question of whether or not he has ever thought about dying at any moment in the wrestling ring. Dolph, who at several points in the summer of 2019 got on the wrong side of Bill Goldberg, said that while he doesn't think about it often, wrestling Goldberg definitely made him think about it more.
“A lot of times you don't [think about dying in the ring] but maybe if you're in there with Goldberg, you think about it a lot more.”
Goldberg, who will wrestle Bobby Lashley on Thursday, October 21 at WWE Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia, has openly stated that he would like to kill Bobby Lashley in the ring for what Bobby Lashley did to his son, Gage at WWE SummerSlam this year.
Dolph Ziggler does not have a match at WWE Crown Jewel but is now a member of the WWE Raw brand following this year's WWE Draft.
Fightful will have live coverage of WWE Crown Jewel beginning Thursday, October 21 at 11 a.m. eastern time.
If you use any of the above quotes, please link back to this article crediting Fightful for the transcription.
