WWE fans may recall Dolph Ziggler won the U.S. title in this past December’s Clash of the Champions in a fatal three-way against Baron Corbin and Bobby Roode. Days later, Ziggler threw the belt down in the center of the ring during Smackdown, thus vacating the championship and disappearing from TV.
Ziggler soon made an unannounced return as the last entrant in January’s Royal Rumble, only to be quickly eliminated by Finn Bálor. On the All Things Wrestling Radio podcast (available at spreaker.com), the former world heavyweight champion addressed his brief departure from the ring, as well as issues he’s had regarding his win/loss record.
“I will say that I really begged and pleaded for a couple months off the television show because no matter how good I am or what I’m up to, it seems that 99 times out of 100 I would lose,” Ziggler told host Isaac Wenzel about his time away and return. “I didn’t think that I deserved to be on the TV show if I was someone that was losing every night, so I asked to be taken off. I was hoping for maybe six months or a year and it ended up being four weeks.”
Despite this turmoil and rumors Ziggler would walk away from WWE, the 13-year veteran recently signed a new two-year contract with the company for a reported $1.5 million per year. He most recently competed on this week’s Smackdown Live where he faced WWE Champion AJ Styles, which soon changed into a fatal five-way match won by Sami Zayn.
