Dolph Ziggler spoke to Fox Sports’ podcast The Buzz with Jimmy Trania last week, and the former WWE World Heavyweight Champion was very candid in his opinions and pulled no punches on what he really thinks about some hot topics in WWE right now.
One example was when the Show-Off spoke about Roman Reigns and his main-event spot at Sunday’s WrestleMania, and while Ziggler was complimentary, he is of the opinion that he deserves the same opportunities the former Shield member has got:
All of those Shield guys, who came in protected, have done nothing but deliver, in my opinion, and I am a harsh critic of everyone. I wish I could be in the main event. I feel that I am better than Roman Reigns, but you know what? He hasn’t wrestled as long as I have. And if he does anything that comes up short of delivering, I’ll be all over his case and I’ll be the first one to go on Twitter and go, ‘Yup, told you it should’ve been me.’
He is also fairly self critical of his showing in January’s Royal Rumble pay-per-view, which of course Reigns’ won to earn the right to face Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania Sunday:
I was pissed. I was out there for a minute at the most and I was so disgusted with myself and so disappointed with the position I was in.
His stance in this interview is also slightly different to previous takes as he is careful in turning complaints into statements where he places the criticism on himself to make the best of what he has been given to work with:
You don’t just go to your bosses and say, ‘This sucks, I’m supposed to be winning everything.’ If you have an awesome idea or a story, or something great, you go, ‘Hey, how about we do this,’ but when the story is not you, you have to find a way to make it work.
Ziggler also mentions how being a fan of the business helps him get over his personal frustrations:
I’m a bitter, chip-on-my shoulder guy who doesn’t care about anybody else, but there’s a little bit of that tiny wrestling fan inside me that gets excited to see Sting for the first time ever at a WrestleMania. Or to see if Undertaker’s going to have his entrance or to see if I can go out there and, not just outdo myself and have fun, but it’s like wow, millions of people watching, 80-something-thousand people are in attendance at this event. This is a huge monumental deal. And no matter how jaded or bitter you are, it’s a very special thing, no matter who you are or what match you’re in to, take a look out there for five seconds and look around and go wow, I’m a part of history.
Check out the full podcast here if you guys are interested.
