Dolph Ziggler is a decorated WWE Superstar after over a decade with the company, but not all of that decoration.
When speaking to Chris Van Vliet of WSVN-TV ahead of WrestleMania, the former World Heavyweight, Tag Team, Intercontinental and United States Champion Ziggler spoke on his brief United States Championship run that saw him abandon the title, only to return to TV weeks later with no explanation.
"I'm going to guess that some plans that were made originally didn't happen. I asked to go away for a while just to let them forget that I wasn't doing anything of too much importance. I asked for some time off. I got kicked in the head by Jack Swagger and got a concussion when I was the champ and I was out for 2 weeks and that's basically all the time off I've had. Even my stand up dates are booked around when I'm not working here. So if I'm never gone, no one can hope for me to come back. One other time I was gone for 5 weeks to film a movie. That was it. I never went away, I never had a surgery and I don't want to but you can't be missed if you are never gone and you are always here. So I asked to go away for 6 months or a year and was told no, but maybe a couple of months. Out of nowhere in this title match, I won the match. It was really fun, it was really crazy. Corbin and Roode are really fun to wrestle. I won it and I went 'Alright, what am I going to do now?' and I figured I would have a moment and have everyone talking about me one way or another, so I threw down the title and walked out. I thought it was great and then 3 TV's later I was back."
Ziggler would go on to say on TV that he gave up the championship in order to gun for the WWE title, a goal that would not be reached.
You can see the full interview between Ziggler and Van Vliet above.
