WWE Superstar recently did an interview with Metro UK, where he talked about his early gimmicks in WWE where he used to be a caddie and a cheerleader, and overcoming all the fan ridicule that came with it.
Check out the highlights below.
Dolph Ziggler on being a cheerleader and a caddie early in his WWE career:
“There’s good and bad to me being a caddie and a cheerleader. For five years, I had a reputation of just being some loser no matter how good I was at wrestling. That didn’t drive me to be better, because I just always wanted to be awesome at my job. I drove myself from five years old wanting to be better. Being in the ring with Chavo Guerrero, riding up and down the road with Chavo Guerrero, it was an awesome experience for me. That really helped me out. And then being in the ‘Spirit Squad’, where some nights I’m in the ring with Shawn Michaels and Triple H, and some nights I’m in the ring with Roddy Piper and Ric Flair.”
Dolph Ziggler on fan ridicule of his earlier WWE gimmicks:
“All the ridicule that you take from that – being beaten up – you lose a lot of credibility from the fans watching. I was gaining so much knowledge that there’s a reason I’m so good now. I had to fight for three or four years with people chanting ‘Nicky’ or ‘caddie’ while you’re trying to advance your career. Some people behind the scenes see that and hear that, and go, ‘Well they can’t take them seriously’. And I go, ‘Well that wasn’t my fault! You brought me here like that.’”
Dolph Ziggler on learning from WWE legends:
“It’s good and bad, but those experiences – it’s priceless. It was like being in a ring with all those legends and getting a bit of knowledge from each and that’s absolutely why I’m so good today.”