Dolph Ziggler Reveals His Original Plan For "Quitting" SMACKDOWN LIVE & Vacating The US Title
Last year, Raw Superstar Dolph Ziggler won the US Title before leaving it in the middle of the ring and (seemingly) waking away from the company. Here, The Showoff outlines what was supposed to happen next...
Remember last year when Dolph Ziggler won the United States Championship before unceremoniously relinquishing it the following night and "quitting" the company, only to enter the Royal Rumble a few weeks later?
Well, things weren't exactly supposed to play out that way.
While speaking on a media call to promote tonight's episode of Raw, The Showoff reveals that his original place was to stay away for much longer, so his eventual return would have a much bigger impact. However, it ultimatley wasn't his call and he was brought back much sooner than he would have liked.
“So, when I begged to go away for a long time, I wanted something special to happen. I wanted to go away, work on myself, make myself stronger, make my character better. Using that entire process. And when I was inserted into the United States title match, I said, ‘What can I do, to make this match be more prestigious? “How can I steal this title away from those two other Superstars?’ And when I found a way, the reaction was there, but it wasn’t quite what I wanted.
I thought to myself as I got close to the ring, ‘Walk away and don’t say a word. That will get everybody talking. That will be similar to going away for three months, going away for six months. “Going away for a year or two. As much as I can, without giving up and breaching my contract.’ So I did what I could, and I slammed that title down and I walked out. And that was the most anyone talked about me in seven years, and I really wanted to capitalize on it. I felt special about it."
Ziggler is currently one half of the Raw tag-team champions and involved in the brand's top storyline, so things worked out okay - but one can't help wonder what would have happened if he was allowed to run with the angle and stay away for a significant amount of time.