Dolph Ziggler On His NXT Feud With Bron Breakker, Was Blown Away By Mandy Rose’s Progress There

Dolph Ziggler had a run in NXT earlier this year where he battled Bron Breakker, and he recently talked about his experience on the brand. Ziggler appeared on the brand in February through April, winning the NXT Championship from Breakker before he lost it back on the episode after NXT Stand & Deliver.

Speaking with The Wrestling Classic for their Casual Conversations show, Ziggler talked about going down to NXT and working with Ziggler, as well as being impressed with the talent that was there including Mandy Rose, whose progress he highlighted. You can see some highlights below:

On how he ended up going to NXT: “YOu know, it was kinda cool. Because with this business, some days you open your phone and you’re like, ‘Hey, you’re going to London tomorrow at 6 AM’ and you go, ‘What? Okay…’ And you go. This was one of those things that for a month or two ahead of time, they were like, ‘Could you see working with Breakker? What do you think here? What do you think about this?’ And I was like, ‘Oh, this is exciting and fun, and I can get a little different take on my character.’ I go, ‘This’ll be really cool.’

“And it ended up going so well, and working so smoothly with Breakker who was very, very — like, comically new. Only a handful of matches. For that to go as well as it did and have that chemistry and camaraderie that we had. We ended up extending it like three more weeks than we were going to, and making a bigger issue out of it which I think helped him and helped me. So what a win. [Bron was] very easy to work with, very exciting to go to NXT and just show off. And then, I’m so used to getting booed. And to be cheered by them, I was like, ‘All right, okay!’ And you get a little more leeway at the time to lay into your character kind of your own way. And it was nice to just have that different perspective about it.”

On if there was anyone else in NXT who stood out to him: “There was tons. And I famously do not watch wrestling. But while I was there, I watched everything. So, there’s a lot of times we were second-last match or the last match on the show for the six, seven weeks I was there. And so one, just out of common courtesy I watched the show to go, ‘What hasn’t been done? What do I need to switch for my main event slot?’ But also I got to watch some performers do awesome stuff. And there’s so many ridiculously talented people that do some stuff that I could not even imagine being there to catch.

“But also what I really loved was I had earlier worked with Mandy [Rose]. And to see — when I knew her, she was not new, but kind of figuring out her character, figuring out some things. To watch her and her group Toxic Attraction stroll into that place with their entrance, talk on the mic so confidently, act like they were running the place — and a couple of the weeks I was there, they sat in the roof, in the VIP Lounge just sipping champagne and talking trash. I go, ‘This is amazing.’ I was blown away just by the leaps and bounds she had done since I had worked with her six months earlier. So it’s things like that where that’s what I paid a lot of attention to.”

On the different mindset on NXT than on the main roster: “All the young up-and-comers can do the craziest stuff. And you know, hey have a slightly different I don’t know, psychology than Raw and SmackDown, so I get that. The important part was they have some of the greatest teachers of all time, and they’re all getting it.

“And I got to speak to them personally, just have a little talk with them, and it was mind-blowing. So many of them are genuinely half my age. They’re already doing great, and I was like, ‘Hey, no wait. When I was like 24, 25, I thought I was crushing it as a rookie trying to figure stuff out. These are 20, 21 — you can do the crazy flips and dives, and you’re being taught by Norman Smiley and Shawn Michaels hand-holding you? This is insane. What a dream come true for any of those fans — or that became talent. So that is a mind-blowing aspect of it, having those minds there.”

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