An unexpected title change occurred on Monday night.
As seen on this week’s episode of Monday Night RAW in Grand Rapids, MI at the Van Andel Arena on the USA Network, Dolph Ziggler accepted the open challenge made by WWE Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins, who is fresh off a successful title defense over Elias at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view event in Chicago, Illinois at the Allstate Arena on the WWE Network.
Ziggler was able to beat Rollins to win the title. This marks the sixth time that Ziggler has held the title. Rollins has held the title since RAW 25 back in January where he beat The Miz to win it.
Although this has yet to be confirmed, it’s likely that the sports entertainment company books a rematch between Ziggler and Rollins for the strap at the upcoming Extreme Rules pay-per-view event that takes place on Sunday, July 15, 2018 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at the PPG Paints Arena.
What are your thoughts on this title change? Sound off in the comment section.
WWE Superstar Drew McIntyre was recently a guest on Jim Ross’ podcast, The Ross Report, in which they discussed several professional wrestling topics. McIntyre revealed that current NXT General Manager William Regal still mentored him while he was on the indies, and was a big part in getting him a second shot in WWE:
“The whole time I was gone [from WWE], I was gone for three years, he was always there for advice.” McIntyre continued, “we’d kind of speak back and forth and he always kept an eye on everything I was up to. And then, when the time came, my TNA contract was up, my wife and I decided not to re-sign.
“We tried to decide the next step, thinking, ‘is it Japan?’ He was the one that said, ‘alright, you need to have this conversation with Triple H. Now is the time to come back home.’ I got on the phone with Hunter and we spoke for about 30 minutes. And at the end of that conversation, I knew it was time to come home. He is the reason that I’m back right now.”
McIntyre then discussed his pairing with Dolph Ziggler on RAW. The former Intercontinental Champion noted he was happy with the pairing but only found out about it on the day he made his main roster return:
“I love it.” McIntyre remembered, “I got told about it when I got to TV that day. I didn’t quite know what was going on. I was a single’s babyface when I was NXT Champion there. And when I came back, I was leaning more towards the heel side with Dolph and Dolph’s somebody I go way back with and I was really looking forward to work with him.”
A lot of fans have been impressed with McIntyre since making his main roster return, and already want to see him on the main event scene as a singles competitor. McIntyre has heard these remarks, but urges fans to be patient and enjoy the storyline that is being presented right now:
“The way things have gone so far, people are asking a lot of questions.” McIntyre professed, “I know a lot of people are jumping way ahead and I appreciate all the positive things people are saying, but just remember there are 52 weeks of TV a year. Let’s just take our time and introduce the casual audience to who Drew McIntyre is now. We’re going to get there and it’s going to be a fun journey.”
As far as who he’d like to work with when he does go solo; McIntyre lists names such as Braun Strowman, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns:
“When Braun Strowman and I stepped into the ring together, I could literally feel the crowd rumble.” McIntyre explained, “and I’m just back and I still have some equity to build with those casual fans, but just from a visual perspective, I could feel them rumbling, and I was like, ‘wow, this could be something really good down the line.’
“And Roman, he works his butt off. That’s another guy I’m looking forward to getting in the ring with. Rollins is killing it every single week. When we get the opportunity, we’re going to tear the roof off. And that’s just a few obvious names of guys that are working their butt off and I’m looking forward to working with.”
You can listen to McIntyre’s interview on The Ross Report by clicking this link here.
WWE Superstar John Cena recently made an appearance at the Orlando convention MegaCon this past weekend and took questions from fans. One such question was who The Leader Of The Cenation would rather face – Velveteen Dream, Adam Cole or Ricochet.
Cena picked Dream before using a Star Wars reference, suggesting Velveteen Dream could be “the one.” Check out the video here:
Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet recently posted a photo on Twitter comparing Dolph Ziggler to Owen Wilson in Zoolander. Former WWE Champion Batista took some time to respond to the Tweet.
In his response, he noted that he always believed that Ziggler was a ‘totally misused talent’ in his opinion and always enjoyed working with him:
Vince McMahon Wishes Seth Rollins A Happy Birthday
The Chairman Of The Board took to Twitter to wish WWE Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins a Happy Birthday yesterday. The Architect turned 32-years-old:
Last month former WWE NXT Champion Drew McIntyre was called up to the main roster as a member of Monday Night RAW. Interestingly enough, he made his debut alongside Dolph Ziggler – who moved over to Monday Nights from SmackDown Live – in a tag team.
McIntyre has been expected to be a big singles star upon his main roster call-up by fans, so seeing him paired with Ziggler was a very interesting choice by WWE creative. In regards to who has been calling these shots, PWInsider‘s Mike Johnson reports it has been all Vince McMahon.
Vince reportedly made the call to bring McIntyre up from NXT and it was also his call to pair him up with Ziggler.
McIntyre previously worked for WWE back in 2007 when he was signed to a developmental deal. He went on to win the Intercontinental Championship before having a major drop-off in his career, subsequently pairing up with Jinder Mahal and Heath Slater to form Three Man Band (3MB).
He was released from the company in 2014 and returned to the independent circuit. Following stints with EVOLVE, IMPACT, and many others – McIntyre signed back with WWE in April of 2017 and was sent to NXT.
Discussion: How do you like the pairing of McIntyre and Ziggler? And where do you think WWE is going with the team?
Seth Rollins’ Special Connection To Hooters Restaurant
WWE posted a video in which Seth Rollins re-visits a Hooters restaurant in Davenport, Iowa where he once used to watch WWE pay-per-view (PPV) events. Rollins noted his heroes such as WWE Hall Of Famer Shawn Michaels and how he’d watch them on TV each month.
As the years continued, Rollins considered this more of a film study. Check it out here:
Renee Young & Dolph Ziggler Interview The Avengers Cast
WWE’s Renee Young and Dolph Ziggler recently interviewed the cast of the upcoming Avengers film “Infinity War” in Beverly Hills, California. Young and Ziggler spoke to Don Cheadle, Pom Klementieff, and Batista.
The film opens on April 27th. There is currently no news on when Ziggler and Young’s footage with the cast will air:
You guys. @HEELZiggler and I just interviewed the cast of Avengers Infinity War and they’re all so so nice and lovely and you should go watch their movie next Friday. Also @XavierWoodsPhD Don Cheadle no sold my Captain Planet reference. ??????
There were rumors that Dolph Ziggler has signed a new WWE contract worth $1.5 million earlier this year and if they were true then it would have made Ziggler one of the highest paid employees of the company.
However, as we noted before these reports turned out to be false and the former World Champion himself has denied the stories of him signing a new deal with the company multiple times in recent months.
Now a new report from PWinsider has again confirmed the fact that Dolph is yet to sign a new deal and they reveal that his current contract expires sometime this summer.
While the exact date of his contract expiration is not given, the time frame still puts things in an interesting position as Ziggler has recently been aligned with Drew McIntyre in addition to being moved to Raw.
In previous interviews, the Show Off has said that he has limited time to make a decision on his future and implicated that he is also considering other options because of his poor bookings of the past several years.
So if WWE really wants to keep him around it would make sense for them to push the former Champion in near future.
Since the move to Raw offers several possibilities for a fresh start, it wouldn’t be a surprise if we see Dolph Ziggler becoming part of some interesting storylines in upcoming times.
Former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Dolph Ziggler, who has been with the sports entertainment company for over a decade, continues to address reports that he had signed a new WWE contract that was worth $1.5 million.
At one point, many fans thought he was the future of WWE and would be the top guy for the sports entertainment company. He has had a great career and is one of the best workers that the company has under contract.
Ziggler recently spoke with WSVN-TV Entertainment Reporter Chris Van Vliet to talk about various topics. During the interview, he was asked about the rumors of his new contract. “My father called me to congratulate me on my deal that I had re-signed and I said ‘What are you talking about?’ It’s fun to have Internet rumors out there, but even if and when I do re-sign I won’t be like ‘Hey everybody, here’s the details of this contract’. There’s a short amount of time left on this contract, we’re negotiating, and we’ll see what happens.”
At last year’s Clash of Champions pay-per-view, Ziggler defeated Baron Corbin and Bobby Roode in a triple threat match to win his second United States Championship. In this interview, he was asked about why he wasn’t happy with his latest run with the title. “I’m going to guess that some plans that were made originally didn’t happen. I asked to go away for a while just to let them forget that I wasn’t doing anything of too much importance. I asked for some time off. I got kicked in the head by Jack Swagger and got a concussion when I was the champ and I was out for 2 weeks and that’s basically all the time off I’ve had. Even my stand up dates are booked around when I’m not working here. So if I’m never gone, no one can hope for me to come back. One other time I was gone for 5 weeks to film a movie.
Ziggler continued, “That was it. I never went away, I never had a surgery and I don’t want to but you can’t be missed if you are never gone and you are always here. So I asked to go away for 6 months or a year and was told no, but maybe a couple of months. Out of nowhere in this title match, I won the match. It was really fun, it was really crazy. Corbin and Roode are really fun to wrestle. I won it and I went ‘Alright, what am I going to do now?’ and I figured I would have a moment and have everyone talking about me one way or another, so I threw down the title and walked out. I thought it was great and then 3 TV’s later I was back.”
Dolph Ziggler was reported to have signed a new WWE contract in mid-February but according to Ziggler himself, that’s not the case.
Reports were Ziggler had signed a 2-year deal with WWE worth $1.5 million. In a recent interview with Fox Sports, however, Ziggler says these reports simply aren’t true.
“I would love to get into that more but based on the internet, they told you I’d re-signed and I have not,” Ziggler said to Fox Sports.
Ziggler continued to say he is still negotiating with WWE on a new deal.
“I have a bunch of things going on and I don’t like taking days off and I don’t want to leave WWE but it’s great to have some options,” Ziggler said regarding what he wants to do.
“I’ve asked before to go away for a little while just so everyone can forget I lose 99 times out of 100 and it’s never really come through, so I might have to do it on my own and see what happens.”
It sounds as though Ziggler is leaning towards staying with WWE but would like to take some time away.
Dolph Ziggler’s WWE Contract
I’ve been able to track down the two sources which each claimed they had insider knowledge of Ziggler’s WWE deal. The first news of the contract was leaked by podcaster Bill “the Hacker” Hamin. The podcaster mentioned he had insider information that Ziggler had agreed to a deal after almost leaving the company. Hamin did not report the signing as fact, however, more just as something he had heard. Hacker Hamin Media has a series of podcasts and is also associated with Vince Russo’s the Brand.
Sports Illustrated’s weekly Extra Mustard column on wrestling by Justin Barrasso on February 14th, 2018 published news that Ziggler and WWE had reached an agreement.
“Ziggler, who opened and closed this week’s SmackDown, just signed a new two-year contract for a reported $1.5 million per year.” – Sports Illustrated Extra Mustard, February 14th, 2018.
Ziggler never mentioned during the interview why he never bothered to correct the rumors until now.
– Sports Illustrated is reporting that The Big Show’s WWE contract did expire in February last month. WWE has reportedly signed him to an agents contract in order to keep him with the company and prevent him from working elsewhere. Show recently stated that he plans to be back by WrestleMania 34.
– Just prior to WWE’s Fastlane pay-per-view (PPV) on the pre-show last night, Dolph Ziggler spoke to Cathy Kelly and Renee Young to hype his involvement in the main event of the evening – a Six Pack Challenge match for the WWE Title. During his promo Ziggler seemed to take a shot at WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar.
Ziggler said that SmackDown Live has their champion who defends his title week after week, seemingly taking a shot at Brock Lesnar’s part-time status over on Monday Night RAW:
“He [AJ Styles] is definitely a fighting champion and that’s been a huge factor that I like about SmackDown Live for RAW more. We have our champion, every night defending it but that also opens the door for me to slide in there and steal it.”
We’ve noted a recent report from Wrestling Observer Newsletter’s Dave Meltzer who suggests WWE is planning to have Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn involved in the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 34. This means, despite their differences on WWE TV right now, they will not be involved in a match with Shane McMahon at the event. Per McMahon’s contract, however, he needs to wrestle at “The Show Of Shows” and needs a dancing partner.
Brad Shepard of BodySlam.net reports that current plans have the SmackDown Live Commissioner facing off against Dolph Ziggler in New Orleans, as Ziggler has never had a singles contest at WrestleMania before:
“It looks like plans have recently changed and now Shane McMahon’s match, it sounds like his opponent will be Dolph Ziggler. From what I’ve been told, that’s what they are looking to do.”
“Shane has got to have his match and Dolph has never had a singles match at WrestleMania. It will be a good match, that’s fine. Not everything I am dying to see but.. That will be something to watch for if they do go with that — we should start seeing that build soon.”
Discussion: How do you feel about a potential match between McMahon and Ziggler? How would WWE set this up? And what other options are out there for “Shane O-Mac?”
WWE Superstar Dolph Ziggler recently appeared on Isacc Wenzel’s “All Things Wrestling Radio” show to talk about several professional wrestling topics. The former World Heavyweight Champion revealed that he actually campaigned to WWE brass to remove him from television, citing that someone who loses as much as he does doesn’t deserve to be on the show. Here’s what he had to say:
“I will say that I really begged and pleaded for a couple of months off the television show,” Ziggler said. “Because no matter how good I am or what I’m up to it seems that 99 times out of 100 I would lose. I didn’t think that I deserved to be on the TV show if I was someone that was losing every night, so I asked to be taken off. I was hoping for maybe six months or a year and it ended up being four weeks.”
The four weeks Ziggler is referring to is when he vacated the United States Championship after winning the strap at WWE’s Clash Of Champions pay-per-view (PPV) this past December. He won a Triple Threat match against then-champion Baron Corbin and Bobby Roode. The following Tuesday on SmackDown Live Ziggler vacated the title after walking out on WWE. He left the championship in the center of the ring and walked away.
He was off WWE TV for several weeks before returning in the number 30 spot in the Men’s Royal Rumble in January. Ziggler is now one of six men involved in the Six Pack Challenge this weekend for the WWE Title at Fastlane. Ziggler will compete against champion AJ Styles, John Cena, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, and Baron Corbin.
It’s Tuesday and that means another episode of SmackDown Live is upon us.
Tonight (March 6), the show takes place inside the Resch Center in Green Bay, Wisconsin. WWE.com has rolled out their preview for tonight’s episode. The show has two matches and one segment set. WWE is also teasing conflict between two female superstars.
The Lowdown
WWE champion AJ Styles is set to take on one of his Fastlane opponents in a non-title bout. He’ll meet Dolph Ziggler, who got a measure of revenge on Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn last week. After losing to John Cena, Styles will look to redeem himself on the go-home show.
An old rivalry will be renewed. Randy Orton will do battle with Jinder Mahal. Back in May 2017, Mahal shocked the world when he defeated Orton for the WWE title. That rivalry sparked the return of the Punjabi Prison match. They’ll meet again tonight just five days before Orton challenges Bobby Roode for the United States championship.
Ruby Riott has been a thorn in the side of SmackDown Women’s champion Charlotte. Riott is the last member of the Riott Squad for Charlotte to take out. Before their title match at Fastlane, the two will have a faceoff.
Becky Lynch and Money in The Bank holder Carmella have been at odds on social media. Things got heated enough for Lynch to challenge Carmella to a match tonight. We’ll see how it all plays out tonight on SmackDown Live at 8 p.m. ET.
There’s no doubt that Rusev is enjoying success outside of the stereotypical foreign heel. Since aligning himself with Aiden English, fans have taken note of Rusev’s more personable character. It also helps that he has a new catchphrase.
“Rusev Day” has not only taken over crowds, but also WWE’s merchandising. The company recently stocked up on more Rusev Day calendars after the first batch sold out quicker than expected. Despite the success, Rusev hasn’t exactly been booked to thrive on SmackDown Live. Some weeks he doesn’t even make an appearance and the Bulgarian hasn’t been shy to take issue with it.
At a recent ROH event, fans were seen chanting Rusev Day. The current WWE superstar had an intriguing response:
Kevin Owens vs. Dolph Ziggler Full Match (WWE Fastlane 2016)
As we get closer to WWE Fastlane, the company has been releasing past matches from the pay-per-view. They’ve already released Paige vs. Nikki Bella from 2015 as well as Bayley vs. Charlotte and Kevin Owens vs. Goldberg from last year. This time, it’s Owens vs. Ziggler from 2016. At the time, Owens was the Intercontinental champion and put his title on the line against “The Showoff.”
John Cena defeated WWE Champion AJ Styles in a non-title match on this week’s SmackDown and per the stipulation, Cena has earned a spot in the main event of the WWE Fastlane pay-per-view to make it a Six-Pack Challenge.
Fastlane takes place on March 11th from the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, OH and will be the final WWE pay-per-view before WrestleMania 34.
Below is the updated confirmed Fastlane card:
Six-Pack Challenge for the WWE Title
John Cena vs. Sami Zayn vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Kevin Owens vs. Baron Corbin vs. AJ Styles
WWE United States Title Match
Randy Orton vs. Bobby Roode
SmackDown Tag Team Title Match
The New Day vs. The Usos
SmackDown Women’s Title Match
Ruby Riott vs. Charlotte Flair
As we’ve previously reported, Dolph Ziggler has signed a new two-year contract extension with WWE worth $1.5 million. This comes via a report from Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated. In a new report from Barrasso he revealed that Ziggler was previously making $1 million per year. WWE believes the extra half-a-million dollars is money well spent as they want to keep the 13-year veteran with the company.
For the past several months Ziggler has been rumored to possibly leave WWE, however, the company has always planned on re-signing him to a deal. The 37-year-old made the decision to stay with WWE as it better serves his brand. Also, WWE overpaying Ziggler indicates that they see him as an integral part of “the machine.” Ziggler is currently scheduled to face Baron Corbin, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn and AJ Styles for the WWE Championship at Fastlane on pay-per-view (PPV).
Ziggler recently won the WWE United States Championship at Clash Of Champions last year on PPV when he defeated Baron Corbin and Bobby Roode in a Triple Threat match. He vacated the title on the next episode of SmackDown Live before making his return to WWE TV several months later at the Royal Rumble. He entered at number 30 in the Men’s Royal Rumble match.
Despite speculation he would finally leave the company, Dolph Ziggler recently signed a new deal with WWE.
Some felt Ziggler might test free-agency or the freelance pro-wrestling market. Others felt he might leave the company to pursue other interests, such as stand-up comedy. It turns out, however, Ziggler isn’t going anywhere as a result of a “sweetheart deal” offered to him by WWE.
Dolph Ziggler’s “Sweetheart Deal”
According to a report from Sports Illustrated, Dolph Ziggler has signed a 2-year deal with the company worth $1.5 million per year. The report continues to state that while it has been reported that negotiations with Ziggler came down to the wire, he was always expected to re-sign.
Since vacating the United States championship, Ziggler was off television for nearly two months. He returned as the #30 entrant in the Royal Rumble. Following the Rumble, he was given an opportunity to earn entry into the WWE championship match at Fastlane. He was added to the Fastlane main event after defeated Sami Zayn on Tuesday night. Perhaps Ziggler’s sweetheart deal is part of WWE storyline as well.
Despite winning the US Title, Dolph Ziggler has not had the best of times in WWE recently. There have been multiple rumours about him leaving WWE, which were only supported by his attitude on social media and at live shows.
In his celebration of winning the US Title, he left it in the ring, sparking off new rumours in the WWE Universe that he’s leaving. We’re still left with the question, why would anyone do this?
However the latest rumour and speculation to have hit the WWE Universe comes from an independent wrestler known as Bin “The Hacker” Hamin. On The Locker Room Podcast, Hamin claims that Ziggler has signed a very lucrative new contract with WWE. Unfortunately, The Hacker’s source hasn’t been named, leaving this information questionable at best.
“Here’s the inside scoop that I’ve kinda been told. After Ziggler laid down the title and went away for 30 days, silently came back as #30 in the Rumble, and then tossed out kinda useless. He was already kinda two feet out the door, and it was at the 11th hour that they made him another offer he can’t refuse.”
According to The Hacker, Ziggler’s new contract includes a very large sum of money, enough to make Dolph stay and continue his role in putting people over. But there are 2 other clauses to this rumoured new contract that would make this deal even more inviting for Ziggler.
Freedom to leave a show immediately after his commitments are met.
Freedom to engage with outside projects that don’t conflict with his WWE schedule.
If the source turns out to be accurate, Ziggler will see himself as more of a free agent; it seems ideal for him. It’s perfect, almost too perfect!
Opinion:
I just can’t bring myself to trust the source. It seems too good to be true for Ziggler, and it seems as though SmackDown Live has been doing just great in the 30 day period without him. Why keep him on? There are plenty of other superstars who could take his place with less money just to put people over.
I understand that Ziggler is a reliable performer, but he seems as though he’s just the guy that introduces the main roster to stars from NXT by having a forgettable feud which amounts to nothing. So if this rumour is accurate, why keep him on?
– Earlier today SmackDown Live Commissioner Shane McMahon announced on Twitter that the Triple Threat match between AJ Styles, Kevin Owens, and Sami Zayn for the WWE Title at Fastlane will now be a Fatal Four-Way match. Next week’s SmackDown Live match between Baron Corbin and Dolph Ziggler will determine the fourth entrant. AJ Styles and Dolph Ziggler took to Twitter to react to the news:
– As he was discussing SmackDown Live’s Top 10 list on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer revealed why Tye Dillinger has been kept off WWE TV. Meltzer revealed WWE doesn’t want fans doing the “10” chant anymore:
“Dillinger is just a guy on the brand that works prelims and they put him at number 10 and it makes for a cute minute for people to chant 10, which they don’t even want people to chant anyway. That’s why they keep him off TV so much because they don’t want people chanting 10. So the whole thing is completely stupid.”
Earlier this week the WWE announced that a singles match between Dolph Ziggler and Baron Corbin would take place on next week’s episode of SmackDown Live on the USA Network in Bakersfield, CA at the Rabobank Arena.
SmackDown Commissioner Shane McMahon took to his Twitter account on Thursday morning to announce a big stipulation for the upcoming match.
The winner of this match would be added to the main event of the Fastlane pay-per-view event next month that will see AJ Styles defend his WWE Title against Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn in a Triple Threat Match. Now, the contest will be a Fatal 4-Way Match.
An unexpected end to #SDLive with a triple threat match made for #WWEFastlane…I’m going to make a bit more interesting.
– On last night’s Royal Rumble pay-per-view (PPV) pre-show United States Champion Bobby Roode held an Open Challenge for his title. Mojo Rawley ended up answering the challenge, but PWInsider is reporting that wasn’t WWE’s initial plans.
Apparently Dolph Ziggler was originally supposed to answer the challenge from Roode, however, WWE decided to have him enter the Royal Rumble match at number 30 instead. He’s also expected to appear at SmackDown Live tomorrow night.
– During the Women’s Royal Rumble match last night Nikki Bella eliminated her twin sister Brie Bella before going down to the final two with Asuka. Bella was eventually eliminated by Asuka and “The Empress Of Tomorrow” became the first-ever Women’s Royal Rumble winner.
Per a report from Bryan Alvarez of F4WOnline, Nikki eliminated Brie as a part of a storyline for Total Bellas. The Bella Twins’ brother, JJ, was also backstage at the show along with the filming crew.
After capturing the United States Championship at WWE’s Clash of Champions pay-per-view, Dolph Ziggler left the title in the ring, effectively vacating it. On Tuesday’s SmackDown Live, General Manager Daniel Bryan said he’s been trying to reach Ziggler to no avail. As a result, a tournament will be held to crown a new champion.
We noted before that Ziggler was scheduled to be off upcoming SmackDown TV tapings to sell the mystery storyline but he would still be working WWE live events. No word yet on if he will be working as champion now that the tournament has been announced.
Stay tuned for updates on the tournament when we get a look at the brackets and info regarding when the finals will take place.
Below you can watch Daniel Bryan’s US Title Tournament announcement as well as clips from two first round matches:
First Round Tournament Match
Bobby Roode vs. Baron Corbin
First Round Tournament Match
Tye Dillinger vs. Jinder Mahal
Former WWE Superstar Ryback took to his podcast, Conversation With The Big Guy, to offer his thoughts on Dolph Ziggler’s current status in WWE. You can read the highlights of “The Big Guy’s” comments here below:
Thinking Dolph Ziggler should take some time off:
“I personally think he should take a little break. I think he deserves a break,” Ryback said. “Whether he resigns or not I think he should take some time off, at least 6 months. I want to see him in the Bahamas just drinking. I say take a year off. He is still young enough.”
Why Dolph Ziggler should not to re-sign with WWE:
“I’m a big believer–when I left, and it was under different reasons, but when I left it was the best decision I had ever made because it allowed me to address my health that I put off for a long time, and physically I am in such a better place. No doubt in my mind that if I had stayed and re-signed the contract and given in to everything, I bet you my career would have been over after another year there,” Ryback said. “I would have had to of had back surgery. My back would have been done because I didn’t get MRI’s when I was there because I didn’t know how bad I was, which is a very hard-headed thing to do, but not everyone was necessarily like that, but you don’t want to know how bad you are f***ing up your body.
“Again, it was one move that really did me in, which was that back-pack stunner, but I didn’t know that, and I wouldn’t have known that had I not done the MRI’s and spoken to those who know about it. I feel that now I have a new body because of it at 36 because I took time off for different reasons, which was the best thing for me. I look healthy, lost a little weight, and I got to chill out, work out for three hours. Being that heavy takes a toll on you. I naturally have to train heavy, which I got to dial down on that and not train as heavy this year so that everything can heal up.”
Ziggler might end up regretting not leaving WWE later:
“When you are there for quite some time it’s okay to take a little break, whatever your reasons are. I always say that you work so hard in life and that everyone wants to talk about the grind, but you have to enjoy life,” Ryback said. “What is the point of making money if you can’t enjoy it? You are going to get to a point when you are 50 and realize you missed out on your best years. Not to say that you have years ahead of you, but stepping away and getting out of the bubble will open your eyes and see the light that is out there. There is always ways to make money and wrestling is always going to be there.”
You can listen to Ryback on Conversation With The Big Guy by clicking this link here.
This past Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown Live left a lot of WWE fans scratching their heads as it pertains to the status of United States Champion Dolph Ziggler. After capturing the strap at Clash Of Champions this past Sunday night, Ziggler took to SmackDown Live to ‘celebrate’ his title win with the WWE Universe, but ended up seemingly quitting WWE and relinquishing the title.
Per a report from PWInsider, it seems like WWE is really investing in this storyline as Ziggler will not be appearing on upcoming episodes of SmackDown Live, however, he will still be working live events. The belief is that Ziggler was written off TV to sell the storyline but is expected to be back soon. There are no updates as to what this means for the United States Title.
WWE’s choice of storyline comes at a rather interesting time, as talk of Ziggler possibly leaving the company has ramped up lately with his contract set to expire soon. There has been talk that the former World Champion could be headed to Japan or elsewhere since he’s been underutilized by WWE the past few years.
As noted before, Dolph Ziggler recently joined Edge and Christian for their E&C’s Pod Of Awesomeness podcast where he discussed a number of wrestling related topics. Below are some more highlights from his interview:
Zack Ryder’s weird backstage outfit:
“[Ryder] is just as weird now, just so you guys know. But he wears a suit at TVs now, so I don’t know if he’s getting groomed to be like an agent or something. There’s a lot of [purple]. He has a lot of suits now! I think there’s a suit guy that goes around here, but purple is often times almost a… I’m trying to think… almost like an H&M slim fit version of a Michael Hayes costume that you’d get.”
The recent Starrcade event:
“I walk into Starrcade and Flair is there, of course, and social media Nikki goes, ‘hey, you two guys should cut a promo! Are you ready? Okay, you do it and then he comes in.’ And I’m like, ‘what? Okay!’ So I kind of cut a Ric Flair promo in the arena in Greensboro [North Carolina], next to Flair, threw it to Flair, and then, he finished it off, and it was so cool. And then, meanwhile, I got to go out with Bobby Roode. Bobby Roode and I had plenty of time to tear it down and ‘The Enforcer’ was out there and he just did a couple subtle things that turned the crowd around.”
Having the same feeling at Starrcade as WrestleMania:
“Backstage, even before the specials guests start filling in, and [Ricky] Steamboat shows up and Rock n Roll [Express] shows up. There was already a special [feel]. In the weirdest, weirdest way, had a feel to it like a couple of hours before WrestleMania.”
How he tried to stand out after the cancelation of the Spirit Squad:
“When I was trying to get back to TV after they canceled The Spirit Squad, I go, ‘what are things that no one’s doing? Okay.’ At the time, it was really cool to be Randy Orton. And by that I mean short buzzcut, black trunks (almost Austiny), and everybody was, like, working, but everybody wanted to be tough. Everybody wanted to be straightforward. Nobody wanted to give anything. And I went, ‘how can I stand out?’ I went pink trunks, I dyed my hair blonde and grew it out. I said, ‘okay, nobody wants to do that? I’ll go above and beyond. And I started watching genuine boxing knockouts. And I would try to take where your knees buckle and apply that only to finishers, or, like, the strongest false finish of a match. At the beginning, I was kind of trying to be Mr. Perfect and do everything big. But then I go, ‘okay, hang on. Now we’ve got to make things count.'”
You can check out some more highlights from the same interview including Dolph Ziggler hinting at possibly leaving WWE here.
Dolph Ziggler recently spoke to ESPN to promote this weekend’s WWE SmackDown Live-exclusive Clash Of Champions pay-per-view (PPV). Ziggler discussed the importance of WWE’s work with Tribute To The Troops and his shot at winning the Triple Threat match for the United States Championship against Baron Corbin and Bobby Roode. Here are the highlights:
The importance of WWE’s Tribute To The Troops:
“The other WWE stars, we were constantly texting each other all day long to see who’s doing what, and where we are going. Who’s going in a helicopter and who’s shooting guns. It’s just a fun day for us, just to give back to those men and women.”
“Hey, listen, it’s actually really easy for me. I don’t have a wife or kids at home. A lot of these soldiers do, and they’re away from their families so much. They talk about how WWE was their family ritual — how they’d all sit down and watch the show or go to an event. Those conversations make me realize how much they’re missing everyone back home. That means a lot to me that our product can be what reminds them of home.”
His chances of winning the United States Title this weekend:
“Bobby Roode has been around a long time, but he’s still new to the WWE. Baron Corbin is young and also somewhat new to the WWE, but he’s picking it up really fast and is really good at what he does. And I have been around seemingly for 20 years.”
“I know how good I am. The world knows how good I am. I love doing what I do, and no one else can do what I do. Hopefully I walk out of there as champion and shove it into everyone’s face one last time.”
You can read Ziggler’s full interview with ESPN by clicking this link here.