Dolph Ziggler acknowledged his “go-away” heat by saying that he’s good at his job, and WWE wants to keep him around.
Ziggler has been a member of the main roster since 2008, and he has practically done it all in the company. He is a Triple Crown Champion, and he has often been a featured competitor on WWE TV.
Speaking with Graham “GSM” Matthews of WrestleRant earlier this year, Ziggler discussed his “go-away” heat, which became apparent in the aftermath of his NXT Championship win. He stated that, to a degree, he understands because he’s been around for a long time. He then jokingly apologized for being good at his job.
“There’s times where it’s like, and I even get this too, it’s like, ‘17 years, Dolph. Just go away, or go somewhere else.’ I get it, I get it,” Ziggler said. “I’m sorry I’m really good at my job, and they wanna keep me here. I’m sorry that that affects your life that way, but I kind of understand.
“But when it comes down to being the NXT Champion, whether you’re mad about me being the champ or not, long term, I hope what I can bring to the brand is more longevity and more people going, ‘Okay, I gotta make sure I tune in on Tuesday night. I might see Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode, and I might see AJ Styles’, and not just we built these stars, and now we’ll use them to make NXT better.”
The former World Heavyweight Champion continued by describing how his time in NXT encouraged him to step his game up because the young talent there is hungry. He also emphasized that he wanted to help spark more interest in the NXT product so that more people would watch it.
“It’s, NXT’s a freaking awesome show anyway,” Ziggler said. “I famously do not watch wrestling, and the five weeks I’ve been there, I’ve been blown away because sometimes you get complacent on the main roster, even someone like me, who every night, I go, ‘I can’t go to sleep if I didn’t outdo everybody else on the show.’ But you get a little complacent, you can see it. You see these up-and-comers who are ready to go and don’t give a damn. They’re like, ‘Hey, big fan, watched you growing up. I’m here to take your spot on a year.’ You go, ‘I better step my game up.’
“So it’s like whether you hate that idea that I’m there, that an ‘old guy’ like me, by the way, I look fantastic for 41, an old guy like me has the NXT Title. But hopefully the 30% out there are going, ‘Where are they going with this?’ And ‘Dolph’s been around forever, and he should be champion, so I guess I can’t be super mad about this.’ Then you get, ‘I know, Breakker’s just gonna beat him at Stand & Deliver and it’s just a win.’ Buddy, trust me, Breakker is gonna be fantastic. I don’t know that he’s ready to beat me yet.”
