Dolph Ziggler's thoughts on the part time debate

[Rysenberg]

Speaking to XFINITY by Comcast, Dolph Ziggler revealed that he is none too pleased with WWE opting to utilize part-time talent in the premiere matches at WrestleMania instead of regulars—four of the six wrestlers advertised in the top three billed bouts are part-timers. When asked whether he is annoyed or inspired by this fact, he replied "it's both."

"It really pisses me off," Ziggler noted. "But, it also is good business. Every year a part timer comes back, but there’s a reason that they’re back. Whether it’s the fans want to see them, if they’re a draw, if they’re a movie star, there’s a reason that they’re back. They’re not back just to do it. There’s business to be had. And it pisses me off and it motivates me a hundred percent. It makes me want to be that guy that they’re begging to come back. I appreciate it, it’s just good business. When people come to Wrestlemania to see the Rock and the Undertaker and they leave that Wrestlemania thinking, “Wow, that Dolph Ziggler stole the show. I can’t wait to tune in to ‘Raw’ to see what he does next.” That’s how I’ve lived my entire career."

"The Show-off" also offered his two cents on his affiliation with Big E Langston and AJ Lee, saying it's "crazy" that he's now a locker room veteran assisting young talent.

"As the roster is changing and we have less guys from the late 90s, unless they’re on a light schedule, I’m good enough to be giving back to young up and comers," said Ziggler. "And it’s really cool to have someone like an AJ and a Big E. I really appreciate that they want the best, they want to know what’s going on, they want to know why I did things in a match. It helps that they were childhood fans. AJ’s dream as a child was to be a WWE Superstar. I was five-years-old and I wanted to be a Superstar. We have that bond. It makes it that much more rewarding. And we’re just getting started. Once Wrestlemania comes and goes we’ll have more time to settle in and I think you’ll see a nice trio of great talent that could be the future of the business."

Ziggler seems like such a chill guy. Every interview he does is great.

 

[Roi]

Great interview..It seems like punk but he has also a business point of view.
Punk thinks he has reached the top and nothing can makes him better.He cannot improve .While Dolph thinks that he can improve and reach the top ... And that usually makes the difference between the legends and the superstars.
He said they are not broking up In a while ..

 

[Cloud]

Great interview and as noted above DZ has a moan but appreciates the business aspect of it. Which is fair enough.

 

[Crayo]

Another good interview. He shines in these. He comes off as a guy who uses the crap going on around him to motivate him to do better, instead of moaning about it and doing nothing. More need to be like him.

 

[Stopspot]

This is the way to react to legends coming back. To compare him to the two other wrestlers who have commented on this recently (Punk and Miz) Punk seems too bitter whilst Miz seems to be a bit too much of a fanboy (but who wouldn't when given the chance to work with Flair?). Dolph seems to be in the perfect middle ground. Both annoyed but positive about it as well as motivated.

 

[seabs]

How is this different from what Punk said? It pisses him off but he'll admit it's good for business. Hell even Punk said "OK that's the deal I've got to get" as in it's motivating him to improve himself to get that deal.

 

[Irwin R. Schyster]

It honestly must be frustrating for the full timers. I mean, just think about you being at a job, working your ass off 8+ hours a day, and someone comes in, works part time, and gets all the spotlight.

It would certainly give me the same two responses, that I would be both pissed off at it and also inspired to do what it takes to someday be that person who can be at the top at a part time level.

I just think it sucks because it takes away from these guys that are trying to work there way up. Most of these part timers have already been through their prime, made their way up, and are established wrestlers. Just unfair to kinda push the rest of the roster in to the dark while these guys come to reclaim their glory days....

For me, the only exception would be the Undertaker. It's a great 'tradition' to have him appear at WM each year and have someone challenge the streak. Unfortunately, though, with his streak comes predictability, because, as awful as the writers can be, I don't think they are stupid enough to tarnish his streak, so we already basically know the outcome of the match.


It reminds me of when Hogan first went to TNA and was hiring all his old friends and pushing the younger talent away. There was no need to have these guys, who already made their way up, taking the spotlight. Someday, these younger guys are going to take over (in WWE's case, most of them have), so to focus on guys who were already up there, I never agreed with it. Ratings boost, great, but, if you need to get older guys to get more interest or a boost in the ratings, maybe try to write better storylines. Back then, you didn't need to get big name guys from the past to step in because wrestling was awesome and popular with the current guys.

Not saying it is BAD to bring back precious wrestling stars, I enjoy it myself. Just don't forget about the current guys.

 

[Crayo]

My opinion on it is quite simple. If they're huge stars like The Rock and Brock Lesnar, then I'm fine because if you asked me a year before they both returned if I would want them to return, I would have yelled at you for ages shouting .

They're both thoroughly entertaining and can be used to propel younger talent to the main event. However, if I knew they were going to be used to be fed to Cena and HHH then I wouldn't have wanted them to return. Rock/Cena needed to happen, but it doesn't need to happen twice at Wrestlemania and then probably a third time at Extreme Rules. Brock/Cena was fine, but the booking of that match wasn't. Brock/HHH is unacceptable.

I don't think you can compare it with Hogan's rehiring of older talent, because Brock and Rock aren't exactly old and are both in great shape, and are still HUGE draws. They need to be used to make the younger talent become main event guys, and they're simply not doing that, so I can understand why guys like Ziggler & Punk are frustrated. They work a lot of dates and get no credit for good ratings or good buy rates, and then the main spots on the biggest show(s) are taken by guys who aren't putting hours in on house shows etc.

It's a half and half thing.

 

[BaraaKhalaf92]

Nobody should disagree with having legends on the show, it's making the show more entertaining and more watchable, guys like HHH, Brock, Taker and Rock definitely brings something that no one on the current roster can bring.

The problem with me is that they shouldn't rely so much on them, The Rock main eventing 3 WMs (yes including WMXXX)) in a row is too much imo, and his spot should be used to put some young talent over,
Part times coming back for limited appearances is without a doubt good for business, but for them to main event shows and win titles, it's definitely too much imo.

 

[Swift]

I agree that they can be used to put over, but it's not all that simple. You can't just put a guy in front of The Rock and expect people to buy into said person.
Besides Punk and Cena (and probably Orton), I don't see anyone who would be able to go up against The Rock and not get buried by the crowd.

 

[Crayo]

How is this different from what Punk said? It pisses him off but he'll admit it's good for business. Hell even Punk said "OK that's the deal I've got to get" as in it's motivating him to improve himself to get that deal.

Double standards right? The Punk haters are far more annoying than Punk marks now imo.

 

[Swift]

And same with Brock, the dude is a fucking monster. It would be hard for someone to go up against him and be taken seriously, especially with casuals. The pop he got when he returned was incredible, not only because he was back but because he was going to kill Cena. I doubt the crowd would have reacted the same if it was Ryback, Barrett or anyone else in the ring about to get f5'd. It still be cool, sure, but it wouldn't be "monumental".

 

[Swift]

Double standards right? The Punk haters are far more annoying than Punk marks now imo.

I keep hearing about these Punk haters, but how many of them are there really?
In this forum alone I only know of D'Z and myself. Stopspot, Senhor and a few others who find him annoying still like his work and seem to be subjective and don't just "h8".
Most forums I see are essentially ALL Punk marks. Lol.
Not saying there aren't any Punk haters, obviously there are but I don't think it's as widespread as you make it out to be. He's still the IWC darling, probably only second to DB and The Shield.

 

[Crayo]

I keep hearing about these Punk haters, but how many of them are there really?
In this forum alone I only know of D'Z and myself. Stopspot, Senhor and a few others who find him annoying still like his work and seem to be subjective and don't just "h8".
Most forums I see are essentially ALL Punk marks. Lol.
Not saying there aren't any Punk haters, obviously there are but I don't think it's as widespread as you make it out to be. He's still the IWC darling, probably only second to DB and The Shield.

Think you're new to the IWC. He's in no way shape or form the IWC darling any more. I'm not going to out Punk haters, even though you're a self-confessed one, but they are as bad as Punk marks. Regardless of the number ratio between them, hating on Punk for no reason is the same as overrating Punk or loving him for no reason. In some ways it's worse. If you dislike a performer, then don't involve yourself so heavily with him. You constantly feel the need to enter every Punk thread and hate on him, why? Are you jealous? Does it bother you that he is liked? What is your actual problem? If his fans annoy you, then ignore them, or correct the wrong things they say (if they're actually wrong and not opinions), but disliking a performer because of the fans is immature at best.

 

[Aids Johnson]

Came in ready to tell @Dolph'sZiggler to just post it in the punk thread 1:

I love the response from DZ, more about him being motivated to be the one fans care about (as opposed to CM's scarcasm about being a 15 day a year worker for more pay)