Dolph Ziggler did a Q&A with the Sydney Morning Herald while in Australia recently. Here are some highlights:
You've said you have to sell yourself as a bad guy. How does it feel to have a goal of being loathed by the public?
I love doing this, so it's a character but it's also me. I really enjoy entertaining and we have people who are getting cheered and doing the right thing, but I'm not a nice guy in person so I enjoy capitalising on that. I don't instantly hate everyone who's a good guy but when I back it up, it makes people that much angrier.
You have said before you work hard to make your character as entertaining as possible. Why is that so important to you?
In this day and age, the bad guy isn't a guy with a big beer belly who's out of shape. Half the superstars in this roster have college degrees or master's degrees and are really good at something, and my goal to be the best [involves entertaining]. I study entertainment and apply it to myself to one day become the greatest WWE superstar we have, and it's a lot of work. So I write jokes and material every day … you have to keep people's attention, one way or another.
Does it irk you when people use the term ''fake''?
I usually have a much snappier comeback for them: ''Oh, you're an accountant. Is that fake?'' At the end of the day, you're doing your job, and I'm really good at what I do. Whatever you do, take pride in it and be great at it. I pride myself on blending that line, in this day and age, of reality TV mixed with stunt work and techniques to keep [the audience] entertained. With 9000 channels and YouTube and Google, you've got to keep their attention.
Vince McMahon has labelled it ''sports-entertainment''. What, to you, compels viewers to return week after week?
One way or another, whether it's the storylines or the characters or the girls, there's something for everyone. There are [wrestlers] that so many kids can look up to: if they're being bullied at school, they can relate to him … they're people who never give up. There are 50 or 60 superstars on the main roster who people can somehow relate to, and that's why people keep coming back.
