Arn Anderson On Why Dolph Ziggler’s Never Been a Top Guy, Being Too Outspoken, Says Ziggler Will Walk Away One Day

On a recent episode of his ARN podcast, Arn Anderson discussed why Dolph Ziggler’s never been pushed to be a top guy in WWE. Ziggler’s been a mainstay of WWE for years now, but even though he has had a couple of World Title reigns (specifically with the World Heavyweight Championship), he’s never been kept in the main event scene for a sustained amount of time. Anderson said that it’s due in part to the fact that Ziggler is too outspoken and has a tendency to anger management by sticking to his guns on things. He also suggested that Ziggler’s in a position where he’ll be able to just walk away one day when he’s tired of things in WWE.

Highlights from the discussion, and the full video, are below:

On WWE’s refusal to give Ziggler a sustained push: “I think, you know, Dolph’s got a set. And he doesn’t mind saying what he thinks. And even though he’s right most of the time, that’s the wrong thing to do once you walk up in gorilla. Well, the reality is that the company wants blind devotion. Dolph had an opinion for the longest time — ten years ago it was the fact that Dolph, who throws a hell of a superkick, the office did not want him using the superkick because that was Shawn’s finish. But Shawn was retired, Shawn was gone, you know? You can’t retire moves. How many superkicks do you see today, for God’s sake? Probably one in every single match, in every company. So you know, that was a heated issue years ago. But Dolph, you know, he had an opinion and he would voice it.”

On Ziggler’s worth ethic: “The guy — it was never a question amongst all the producers, he worked his ass off. And once we got to Gorilla, no matter if he agreed with what was going on or not, he would go out and give you 100%. So, I’m a big fan of Dolph Ziggler’s, and I think he’s one of those guys — you may bitch about him when he’s on the card. And I’m sure a lot of guys, you know, all the higher-ups in the office and certainly, the boss, you know, got tired of dealing with Dolph. But the fact of the matter is, Dolph is right a lot of the time. And he’s been one of those performers that has just over the years, made everybody better than what they were. And the question as to why he wasn’t one of the top, top guys, I certainly don’t have it. It wouldn’t have bothered me at all.”

On when Ziggler will walk away: “The reality is one day — and you mark my words. Dolph is a wealthy man, I know that he’s made a lot of money for a long time even not being in the top, top spot. I got a feeling Dolph’s frugal, I got a feeling he has made some investments and he’s smart. And one day he’ll go, ‘Oh, you want to give me some more s**t about something else. You know what? See ya!’ He’ll thump down the steps and take off his boots and walk out the door and you’ll never hear from him again and he will accomplish what he wanted to in the business, left on his own terms.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit ARN with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.