'You never know when a match is going to break out in the ring' - Dolph Ziggler

Dolph Ziggler

Former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Dolph Ziggler, in a recent interview spoke about the influence of comedy in wrestling and about replacing his ring gear.

Is it harder to wrestle a stiff opponent, or do a comedy show for a non-English speaking crowd: “I’m used to getting beat up, physically, so maybe comedy in front of a non-English speaking audience. That’d be a tricky one. I’ve taken so many Brogue kicks to the face that one more would maybe put me out of my misery on one of those shows.”

How his background in improv comedy has translated over to wrestling: “It’s great, especially on any of the live events. Monday, we have Monday Night RAW and we have tight time schedules and we have to go to commercials. We have to figure it all out down to the second. And on our live events we get to go out there, have fun, give back to the crowd, give back to the WWE Universe, take our time, and have some fun back and forth. That’s where that [the background comes in]. Anytime you step in the ring, improv is going to happen. Someone’s going to get hurt. Something’s not going to go the way you think. Something’s not going to be how you planned out in your head and you have to react quick and I pride myself on being able to make snap judgments. Whether it’s saying something funny, doing something funny, putting myself in the right position, and that’s honestly, it can only help being good at improv, being able to go hey, listen, this guy can’t go, you have a new opponent right now and being able to work with them right then and there and I pride myself on that.”

Has he ever misplaced his ring gear and had to use someone else’s: “Oh, no way. I love what I do too much. By the way, I’m a little bit OCD when it comes to my boots and tights. I don’t care about anything else. Shoes, clothes, underwear, that’s all replaceable. You have your boots and you have your trunks at all times. You never know when a match is going to break out.”