8 Times Dolph Ziggler Has Nearly Sabotaged His WWE Career
3. Comments About Randy Orton
One thing WWE hates as do most companies is when their employees air their grievances in public. AJ Lee infamously called out Stephanie McMahon over Twitter just weeks before her tenure with the company came to an end and none of us need reminding how her husband CM Punk burned his bridges with the promotion by airing them out on social media and in interviews. Dolph Ziggler is a competitive person and has a strong desire to reach the pinnacle of his chosen profession, and the fact that hes been unable to do so has seemingly been a great source of frustration for him. When hes in interviews, hes inevitably asked the type of questions that illicit such responses where that frustration is apparent. In an interview with MLive.com from September, 2013, Dolph had this to say:
I've made it clear; I'm not patient at all - several times. I've been very vocal about my position on the card and in the company. I'm not trying to say 'Hey, everybody sucks and I'm great!' But I love doing this, and at some point you go 'OK, It's not my time right now and I got to figure something out' And when it's time, that's when I must go out there and make as huge of an impact as I can and let everyone know 'I dare you to follow that, I dare you try something better'. And when they don't (counter or match what I'm doing in the ring) I'm very outspoken about it and it can get me into very hot water (with the company). Then you never know where we're going. Everybody can be just so outspoken about taller guys, and guys like Randy Orton being the face of the WWE, the WWE Championship. I dare you to put me in a back alley with Randy Orton or someone like that. I guarantee I'm not afraid of someone taller.
And that wasnt the first time hed specifically mentioned Randy Orton by name. He also called out The Viper in an interview with a DC radio station the year prior when he said:
So, the fact that it's now out in the open, and I'm allowed to comment on it, it actually makes me sick. I'm really happy from (sic) Randy, he's awesome, he's so good at this. It makes me mad how good he is. But the opportunities that he gets over and over again makes that chip on my shoulder feel that much bigger to me. I wanna go out there and prove that they're wrong, prove Triple H that he backed the wrong guy for the last 10 years, and no matter what, I'm going to come out on top, one way or the other.
This prompted Ziggler to take to Twitter and tell the sites that got him in trouble to at least plug the show the interview was for when doing so. His nonchalance about the whole thing is rather refreshing, but the fact that he acknowledged it means it probably was an issue. The WWE doesnt like criticism of their golden boys and theyve shown a tendency to protect Orton.
Brad Hamilton is a writer, musician and marketer/social media manager from Atlanta, Georgia. He's an undefeated freestyle rap battle champion, spends too little time being productive and defines himself as the literary version of Brock Lesnar.
