After winning the Intercontinental Title at Smackdown’s No Mercy event earlier in October, superstar wrestler Dolph Ziggler is set to stay in the WWE for a substantial amount of time.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Before going into his match against then champion The Miz, the Show Off believed that a defeat may force him to retire. He first signed with the WWE back in 2004, and believed that his 12 year career may be coming to an end.
However, Ziggler came out of the match as the victor. Even though he won the match, the Cleveland-born wrestler admitted that he had been making backup plans for a life outside of the ring, according to Sky Sports.
During a conference call prior to the WWE’s UK tour in November, Ziggler told journalists, “I’d been in talks with an agent for about a year and told him to have a couple of things ready after the date after the No Mercy pay-per-view just so I had my bases covered.”
“But while I was prepared to go, I sure as hell never wanted to go,” Ziggler said.
While the 36-year-old wrestler did not want to leave the WWE, he does understand that he is part of the entertainment industry.
“WWE is a business but [WWE chairman] Vince McMahon is a human being and if I went to him and said I need to leave because I can’t go higher on the card, I believe he would understand and let me go,” Ziggler said.
He continued by saying, “I could go and do other things, too – I am fortunate that I have a stand-up career, while I have also gone on Fox News to talk politics, something I study, write about and have lots of ideas about. But I am still prepared to be the best WWE Superstar I can be and I want to keep doing this.”
In July’s WWE brand extension, the Superstars were drafted exclusively to either Raw or Smackdown. The wrestlers will not be allowed to appear on both, but the situation has given him a boost.
“I said the brand split would be a chance for a lot of up-and-coming guys to get a chance to be on television, get a few minutes of microphone time or introduce themselves,” Dolph said.
“I didn’t see it happening for me but it has actually given me a chance to be myself and not memorize something or say a catchphrase. It has been real and reinvented me,” he said.
Are you excited that Dolph Ziggler will be staying with the WWE?
[H/T Sky Sports]
