Dolph Ziggler spoke with IGN.com to promote Monday’s 1,000th RAW episode. Here are some highlights:
IGN: Last time I spoke to you, it was before your Royal Rumble WWE Championship match against CM Punk. You lost that match, but this time around you’ve got something big to brag about as a Money in the Bank match winner from last Sunday’s Pay Per View. How does it feel?
Dolph Ziggler: To be honest, it’s hard to explain. Everyone in that match, and in every Money in the Bank Ladder Match I’ve ever been in, has sacrificed their body purely to entertain the fans. And to get a shot at the World Heavyweight Title or the WWE Championship. I’m a little banged up for it and I’m happy with my performance. But I’m never satisfied. Having that contract now only drives me to come up with an awesome, show-stealing way to cash it in. And now I’m thinking ahead to being one of the greatest champions of all time. But I’m never satisfied and I’m lucky enough to have come out of that match with that contract.
IGN: How do you feel about the “Let’s Go Dolph” chants that have cropped up over the past few months? Does it feel good?
Ziggler: I’m a little torn about it because on one hand that means I’m not doing my job and selling myself as a bad guy. But for some reason, the people at our arena shows and our live events and Pay-Per-Views are rooting for me, I would have to say, because I’m just really good at what I do. Whether I win or lose or whether I’m a good guy or a bad guy.
IGN: Well, that perfectly blends into my next question, which actually comes from Twitter, but I think sums up a lot of people’s feelings about your work. How are you still alive?
Ziggler: [laughs] You know, all I can say is that I’ve always seen myself as an entertainer. I’ve always wanted to be a Superstar and Sports Entertainer. And a lot of people ask me when I’m going to take it easy in the ring, now that I’ve been around for a while and gotten some fans behind me. Or now that I’ve won Money in the Bank and won the contract. The answer is never. I’m never satisfied. I’m never going to tone it down a notch or just “go through the motions.” That would keep me up at night. And I already can’t sleep at night. I go out there to do everything 100% every time. And when I put my body on the line, it’s to entertain the fans. Because I have to. I have to be the best.
IGN: Speaking of being a long time fan of wrestling, it looks like you’re about to enter a program with Chris Jericho. Are you excited?
Ziggler: I don’t know where we’re going to go with it right now. He came out on Monday and interrupted me and…you know, believe it or not, whenever I get to talk, I also just get to tell the truth. Mick Foley came out a few months ago and all I did was tell the truth about him. Jericho came out and interrupted me, which was a very Jericho thing to do, and it was supposed to be my big moment. I was just finally grabbing the mic for the third time in years. And I was a huge fan of his when I was growing up, but all I did was tell the truth and ask him “When’s the last time you won something? Or did something important?” And now I would love to see what he has to say back to me on Monday. Because I left him speechless. I’m the first guy in forever to do that.
IGN: You also host an internet clip show over at WWE.com – WWE Download. Has that been a gratifying experience for you since, like you said, you don’t get handed the mic that often?
Ziggler: That show’s been like a dream come true for me. I love this business and I’ve wanted to be in it since I was five years old because I love entertaining. And I give everything I can in the ring, but, like you said, I’ve only been on the mic three times in several years. And so I started writing down everything I can think of when I watched these garbage internet clips of people doing the stupidest things. And I would just write the first things that came to mind. And so I would write the show and then when we tape the show, I get to do a little bit of improv with the stuff too. So it’s been a blast. I think it’s a great show. And like Twitter, it’s great for a guy like me who doesn’t get to talk on the microphone all that much on RAW and Smackdown. I think it shows that I can talk, that I can host a show, that I can be in a movie or a TV show. Whatever it takes, I think it shows I can deliver.
IGN: So you actually write WWE Download?
Ziggler: They usually send me clips and they give me one or two points that they want me to hit on, and then I just started writing jokes for it. The way you’d write jokes for the Tonight Show or a Tosh.0 or something like that. And a couple times, when I’ve had a bad week at work, I just go and write a monologue where I pick on Alberto Del Rio and wonder why I’m not in his place and stuff like that. And I always try to find a way to make it entertaining.
