Dolph Ziggler Reveals His Biggest Influence; Talks His Favorite Match, Ric Flair, HBK, More
Dolph Ziggler recently sat down with The Spanish Announce Table podcast. Here are some highlights from the interview.
Smackdown being at the Sprint Center: "It's really cool. I said this at a few other interviews today, but it's [cool being there]. I got to talk to Harley Race yesterday for a few minutes. One of the first ever live events that I ever went to, growing up in Cleveland we didn't have an arena. Even the Cavs had to go out to Richfield to play. And that's where my dad took me out to, was the Richfield Coliseum. And it was Hulk Hogan and Harley Race in the main event. We always see him in this area, but I don't always get a chance to say hi to him so it was good."
Who his favorite wrestler of all time is: "Favorite wrestler of all time?that's a tricky one. There's two. Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair are my two favorite of all time. Five years ago I would have said Flair. Right now I'm going to say Shawn. It changes every couple years.
"Any kind of guy that's that kind of ring general, no matter what position you're in, no matter who your opponent is, comes out having the best match, that's what I strive for every night. So those are [the] absolutely top two in my mind."
What's his favorite match of all time: "Watching? Because I got to be there and I went out in the crowd and watched it, I'm not good with numbers, you guys will know better, it was the first Shawn Michaels Undertaker match because I worked for the WWE. I was actually sitting backstage and got to go out into the crowd and watch those guys, two icons in the business, to go out there. Even without their awesome story and twenty year build up behind the scenes, that was awesome. And to know the story and know what those guys are doing, what they're capable of, that first time they went, that was one of the most special things I've ever seen in person."
What was his favorite match is that he was in: "I hate that I say this all the time, but a couple Rumbles ago, one of Edge's last matches. One of the last matches was me and him at the Royal Rumble. Maybe 25 or 30 minutes for the World Heavyweight Title and the last ten minutes of the match, whether I was someone that lost every week, I thought on at least six or seven different occasions that I had won that match. We had them on the edge of their seats for the full last ten minutes of the match up. Edge was someone who I travelled with and got to learn from. To be able to go out there against him, going head to head and holding my own against someone that great, that's what makes it that much more special to me."
Who is his biggest influence: "Might have hit it already. Just because of a talk I had with him last week at a TV, I'd have to go with Shawn Michaels. When I was in the Spirit Squad and first starting here he wasn't full time, but he was around all the time, doing some live events and doing some TVs and things. I got to constantly go what would you do in this situation? Why am I not doing this? He had been in several similar situations that I had, just trying to get ahead and trying to get to the top, and literally last week was the first time I've seen him in a while. Sat him down and got to talk to him for an hour last weekend. Vent, got to ask his advice. So I got to go with Shawn on that."
You can check out the whole interview here at the 2:27:53 mark.
Source: The Spanish Announce Table