WWE superstar Dolph Ziggler spoke to TalkSport to hype his Horror Show at Extreme Rules showdown with Drew McIntyre for the WWE championship. Highlights from the interview can be found below.
On why he hasn’t revealed the match stipulation yet:
I mean, this is a pretty simple thing. He gave me the option to pick it. I don’t want to pick any dumb thing that’s ever been done before. So what, I say ‘table match!’ and he just throws me through two tables? How does that help me?! Or ‘chairs match!’ and he just picks up three chairs, swings them and breaks me in half?! How stupid would be I be because one, I don’t have to announce it. So why would I let him prepare? If you look at this like a sport, which I do, why would I let him prepare for it when he’s clearly a 1,000,000-0, walking, cyborg monster guy – especially over the last six months to a year – I need every possible little nitch that I can poke out and also being in his head by not letting him know. He has to prepare to everything and anything. I know what it is, and if I get the lawyers to sign off on it, it is something that has never been done before and I have a more than legitimate chance of becoming WWE champion.
Says the stipulation is close to being approved:
I can assure you I have already thought of it and it is this close to being legalised and signed through. I have to make sure it follows WWE guidelines, but yeah. If you watched the show you’d think I have no chance [smiles] but knowing that I have the stipulation – and it’s 99 percent all the way through – I’ll be disappointed if I don’t walk out of there WWE champion.
How Drew McIntyre has changed since his return to WWE:
We texted once in a while, but the last I really saw of him was when he left. It’s easy to forget about people [in this business]. So there was one or two texts in a couple of years maybe, that was it. Seeing him and seeing that he had changed – most importantly – his mindset… so many of us, good guys or bad guys, we’re lucky to be doing this. We’re lucky to be here. There’s a thousand people that want every single person’s spot on this roster and somehow we are here.And when you get past that you go ‘how can I make this business better when I leave?’ Here’s what I can do, here’s how I can make my mark, here’s how I can walk back and face everybody and tell them to follow that. He had this laser focus, a new mindset. ‘Maybe I don’t get a third chance. I got to make this count, I got to do everything in my power to be my best and to give them no excuses to have any reason to not give me the ball.’ And he’s done it. He’s rocked. He’s dominated.
I jumped on a bunch of grenades for us when we were tagging together. I would take the reins and jump in front of him and get blasted by somebody so he could get the win, but also, I guess it’s a blessing and a curse how much of a team player I am. But I knew what he wanted to do and I knew what a great introduction that would be to be with me because I was lucky enough 15 years ago to go up and down the roads with Chavo Guerrero. Even though I was a caddy and I wasn’t treated as anything other than a loser on the side, but I got to get that psychological game going very early on and learn from one of the greats.