Dolph Ziggler recently spoke with Ring Rust Radio about the Intercontinental Title Match at WrestleMania 31, Daniel Bryan and more. You can listen to the interview above and check out some highlights below:
Restoring prestige to the WWE Intercontinental Title:
Well to restore prestige, you’d have to do something similar to what I did a couple of months ago. I finally beat Miz for the title, and then constantly, The Authority wanted to take it off me. So it became that much more exciting because every Monday, every Thursday, every weekend, every pay-per-view I was defending that title. They were trying to stick it to me, and you didn’t know if I was going to win it or if I was going to lose it because the odds were stacked against me. Or you thought that whether they are trying to take it off him or not, it’s constantly being defended, and I think that was the right track in starting it to get seen as the workhorse title that gets put on the line all the time.
Brock Lesnar is not always around, this could be the up-and-coming title, and for a couple of months I defended that thing 20 times and that’s the absolute way to get that title more prestigious. It’s obviously on the back burner right now; there’s other stories going on, it’s not the top story right now, and I’m not going to pretend it is. My goal is when I’m given an inch I try to take a mile. So when I had that title, I was always wanting to defend it, tell Triple H to call whoever he wants, have him at ringside, because the more I defended it, it slowly began to gain prestige as a title that wasn’t just a workhorse title, but a title that was going to be defended sometimes, and that’s what needs to happen.
The IC Title Ladder Match at WrestleMania 31:
Here’s the deal, ladder matches are crazy; the Intercontinental title is starting to barely mean something again, not just to me, but the fans. I’ll say what I always say going into WrestleMania: You’re going to see Sting, you’re going to see Brock Lesnar, you’re going to see John Cena, so my goal and the chip on my shoulder’s goal is to have you talking about my match the next day. I promise you, there are so many hungry guys in there who want to prove to everyone just how damn good they really are. It’s going to be hard for me to keep up, but trust me I will.
Using social media to campaign for a WrestleMania match with Daniel Bryan earlier this year:
I randomly suggested it. I was pissed at my Royal Rumble match, I was pissed. I felt bad about Daniel Bryan with the entire world behind him and getting shot out after a couple of minutes. So I thought I have this chip on my shoulder, he’s got a chip on his shoulder, why the hell don’t we show people who the real main event match should be? If you want to pretend that there is no story, what are you kidding me? This guy went from nothing to being the biggest chanted name in this business; he changed history in the main event of WrestleMania that he was not supposed to be in.
I, on the other hand, on a slightly smaller scale, was told that I would never be champion. I would never be Money in the Bank winner, I would never have the chance to be on top here, and damn it I earned it. I said, You know what? Daniel without these people behind you, I don’t know what type of situation you would be in right now, maybe mine, but if you want to prove who is better, this isn’t about who can steal the show—this is about who the real main event is in this business should be.
I sure as hell wasn’t going out there to shake his hand and shake his hand after. I was out there to kick his ass and prove that I’m the best. It’s unfortunate it didn’t happen because there was a little buzz all based on me suggesting to him let’s show the WWE Universe what a main event should be, and I dare someone to try to follow that. It didn’t happen, but I don’t quit. I come up with my own stuff on my own time before, that almost turned into something, so that means maybe next time it will turn into something.
