Dolph Ziggler Talks Being A Heel Again, His Political Leanings, Being Col. Sanders, Twitter, More
WWE Superstar Dolph Ziggler was recently interviewed by Big Communications in Birmingham, Alabama before a live event. You can check out the highlights here:
On his personas inside the ring:
"This is already shaping up to be, very quickly, a different year for myself. For the longest time I was the bad guy that you enjoyed watching, one way or another, and the last few years I've been the good guy you kind of enjoy having around. We'll see if I'm starting to go back to my old ways. When I was first learning – wrestling training, when I was first learning how to fall down and [the trainer] goes, 'You're a natural jerk, I'm just gonna train you as the bad guy.' It made sense."
Putting on a memorable match:
"A lot of the stuff I do, and a handful of others, base it on the crowd's reaction and what's happening. Sometimes someone like myself will be getting cheered when they're not supposed to be, or getting boo'd when I shouldn't be, and you have to find a way to work around it. I've been wrestling since I've been five-years-old. That's been my life one way or another, whether it's been with WWE for the last 12 years – and with WWE I've been very fortunate to do a lot of charity work. Whether it's Make A Wish, Tribute To The Troops, we're constantly doing things to give back."
Why he loves Twitter so much and marketing his brand:
"I really enjoy Twitter so much because as a fan when I was growing up I could read a wrestling magazine and maybe write a letter and hope someone would read it. They would never read it. Now you can basically text anyone in the world in a public forum and they might write you right back."
Playing Col. Sanders in the KFC ads with The Miz:
"I couldn't believe the work and dedication that comes into this very hallowed character. Just getting fitted for a whig a few hours was very serious business. It was so fun, I got to wrestle a match as the Colonel, got to be the Colonel."
When is his memoir coming out:
"I don't know about a memoir, but my brother and I are working on a funny two – I lean a little bit Republican and he leans a little more Democrat, and we're both somewhat in the entertainment business. So we're looking somewhere in the next year to have a book published on our thoughts on — approaching everything."
Interacting with children backstage:
"Backstage there will be a couple of kids that you high five, or they're scared to say hello to you because they've seen me on TV, and same thing happened when I met Chuck Norris a long time ago. I have a weird travel day and you can't find your rental car, lost your bags, you get to the show and you see kids that are there excited to see you. It'll erase everything else that happened that day."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Big Communications with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Source: Big Communications