Dolph Ziggler reflects on his career ahead of Stand & Deliver.
In early February, Dolph Ziggler appeared on NXT 2.0 and one month later, he became the NXT Champion by pinning Tommaso Ciampa in a three-way that included Bron Breakker. Ziggler’s NXT Title will be on the line April 2nd when he meets Breakker in singles competition.
Dolph has been a part of WWE since 2004 and is a Triple Crown Champion in the company. Despite his tenure, Ziggler feels he’s still growing as a performer and expressed to Sports Illustrated that the majority of his run has not worked out. He adds that no matter what his situation is, he’s always ready to perform at a high level.
Realistically, 16 or 17 of my past years with the company haven’t worked out. Let’s not even discuss my win-loss record. But I know who I am. I’m barely six feet tall and barely 200 pounds, but I am constantly growing as a performer. Sometimes I’m not on TV for weeks. Sometimes I’m in quick matches. But I’m always ready to go 30 minutes in the main event for the world title. And now that I’m the champion, I’m not in a position where I need to do a little more cardio and get in even better shape. This was already my life. I was ready and I still am ready. I’m not here trying to turn it up. I’m shredded as hell and already turning it up.
Since 2019, Ziggler has been teaming with Robert Roode and they’ve won the SmackDown and Raw Tag Titles together. Ziggler mentioned that if their current situation was happening in IMPACT Wrestling, he’d be backing Roode.
Ziggler credited his partner for taking losses for him and hopes Roode gets a chance to shine in a singles role again one day.
If this were Impact, I would definitely be cornering him, and I would be happy to do it. He has my back, and I have his. When he was in Impact, Roode was doing much better than me. I complain all the time I don’t have a great win-loss record, but he is taking so many losses for me. He doesn’t get nearly talked about enough, and WWE has so much talent that it’s easy to slip between the cracks. But he’s better than me. He’s more ripped than me. He’s extremely smart, too. At some point, I hope he throws me through the barbershop window and we get to beat the hell out of each other.
The NXT Stand & Deliver card will have an addition to by the conclusion of tonight’s NXT 2.0. Cameron Grimes, A-Kid and Roderick Strong are going to be in a Triple Threat to determine who gets the final spot in the North American Title Ladder match at Stand & Deliver.
