To the surprise of many, last December Dolph Ziggler captured the United States title in a triple threat match against Baron Corbin and Bobby Roode. On the following Smackdown, Ziggler laid the belt down in the center of the ring, thus vacating the championship and disappearing from TV.
Rumors and sources claimed that Ziggler was legitimately leaving the company for good despite what appeared to be a storyline. However, Ziggler 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."