Dolph Ziggler Talks When He Found Out About 2013 WWE MITB Cash-In, Dream WrestleMania Opponent
Dolph Ziggler spoke with 98.5's Wrestling Inside the Ropes about when he found out about cashing-in for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship back in 2013, how he thought it might have taken place one night prior, and who his WrestleMania dream opponent is.
In 2012, Ziggler defeated Christian, Cody Rhodes, Damien Sandow, Santino Marella, Sin Cara, Tensai, and Tyson Kidd to win the Money in the Bank contract. He would take until the RAW after WrestleMania 29 before finally cashing-in and receiving one of the loudest pops in WWE history. Ziggler was asked when he found out it was time for his opportunity.
"Before I answer directly, I'll answer politically," Ziggler began. "Because it's such a weird business when you think you're wrestling someone that day and find out a couple hours later it's different, then another hour later it's different. Things change so much in those days, so, I was told I was doing something special that day, but nothing much more. Even then, sometimes when you have an important match or a big segment on the show it gets cut before the show. I was told to standby for the most part. ... In this business you don't think anything is happening until it actually happens."
Even though it provided a memorable moment on that April 8 episode of RAW, Ziggler thought it had potential to happen the night before at WrestleMania, due to the crowd chanting his name during Alberto Del Rio and Jack Swagger's title match.
"The night before at 'Mania, I was also sitting by waiting just in case they say, 'Hey, grab Dolph, we're going with this' because we do fly by the seat of our pants," Ziggler said. "And I did hear those reactions?where during a World Title match that I wasn't involved in?75,000 people were chanting my name and I go, 'Man, maybe Vince is gonna say let's go for it right here,' so that's why I stayed and I was a little disappointed when nothing happened. But the next night was amazing."
With it being WrestleMania season, Ziggler was then asked who he'd like to take on and he immediately went into why he'd like to take on Kofi Kingston.
"It would have been a really cool answer if I would had said Kofi Kingston any time before three weeks ago," Ziggler responded. "The fans know what he can do, I know what he can do, we had a best-out-of-500 series for about five years, five years ago. I know how good he is and what kind of matches we can have, if there's a story there. For years we never had any story it was just like, 'Hey, there's two guys who will have a good match' and they would put us out there a bunch.
"But knowing we have that invested time and the world is?myself included?catching 'KofiMania' and the cool thing about that is the locker room is behind Kofi as much as the fans are, if not more. Because we know what he's done over the years, so I think it would be pretty awesome if it was me vs. Kofi. Of course, I'd be the bad guy, it's who you are in real life really matches up better at WWE. I would love to see him come within an inch of becoming World Champion and I screw him out of it and then have us fight for it or something. That or 1997 Shawn Michaels and see if he can hang with me."
You can listen to Ziggler's full interview below.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Wrestling Inside the Ropes with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.