Dolph Ziggler on What Drove Him to be Better, Fighting Back Against Fan Ridicule for His Caddie and Spirit Squad Gimmicks

– Metro UK interviewed WWE Superstar Dolph Ziggler ahead of this weekend’s Extreme Rules event. Ziggler will face Drew McIntyre for the WWE Championship at Sunday’s event. Below are some highlights.

Ziggler on being a caddie and a cheerleader earlier 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 fighting back the 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.'”

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.”