Dolph Ziggler On His Relationship With Vince McMahon, Learning From WWE Legends During Spirit Squad Run

In a recent interview on Out of Character with Ryan Satin, Dolph Ziggler discussed learning from his Spirit Squad experience in WWE, his relationship with Vince McMahon, and much more. You can read Dolph Ziggler’s comments below.

Dolph Ziggler on learning from his Spirit Squad experience early in his WWE career: “Being in the ring with Shawn Michaels, Vince McMahon, Triple H, Roddy Piper, Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes – anyone you can imagine – getting those few minutes on TV, that juicy TV time, is amazing, and you learn. But our live events on the weekends, where we got Ric and Shawn and Hunter rotating in and out, tagging against us three or four nights a week in the main event of the show, that is where you learn so much. You get to that point and those long main event matches. Because of that Spirit Squad one year, I am 10 times better than I should’ve been, no matter how hard I try, because of that experience with all those legends. There’s no way you can ever replicate that in a school or even on television.”

On sharing his knowledge with younger talent in WWE: “I love passing that on. I really do. There’s no reason to be a negative bitter A-hole and then not give back to everybody else. I know what I’m doing better than almost everybody in the business, and I can give out lessons — maybe they take it, maybe they don’t — but being in the ring with Street Profits, Dominik [Mysterio], it’s so fun to know that you’re helping and you’re not trying to sabotage. If we go to the back, Vince ain’t yelling at Dominik for screwing up. It was me. I screwed up because this is in my hands, which I have waited my whole life until about five years ago for everything to be in my hands. I work for it and prove it. So, I love when it’s all on me to make everything special.”

On what his relationship is like with Vince McMahon and Vince’s trust in him: “There is a trust that so few of your favorites have that I have. It’s wild because, without complaining, I’m not the main event guy at the moment. And a lot of times, when it comes down to something special, I’m the guy just a match away or so. But I know from that relationship – you have to earn it. It’s not just, I earned this a few years ago and now I’m fine. You gotta re-earn it every day, and I do. If I mess up, which I do all the time, I say, ‘I screwed this up. It’s on me. I will fix this for next time.’ But even though those years, I’d say of the 15, eight or nine of them felt like, ‘Man, Vince hates my effin’ guts. What the hell is happening here?’ Then there’s those five or six where you go, ‘I get it now. He’s pushing me. He’s challenging me’ because only I can do these things, and I’m very blessed to be doing them.”

If using any of the above quotes, please credit Out of Character with Ryan Satin with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.