2-time World Champion wanted to leave WWE for a year after losing to The Miz
Speaking on the latest episode of Corey Graves’ After The Bell podcast, Dolph Ziggler revealed that he wanted to lose against The Miz at No Mercy 2016 and leave WWE for at least a year.
Heading into the match, it looked as though Ziggler’s time in WWE was set to come to an end after he agreed to put his career on the line against long-term rival The Miz, who held the Intercontinental Championship at the time.
However, WWE’s decision-makers opted for Ziggler to win the Title vs. Career match, even though he made it clear that he wanted a different outcome.
"I said, 'I have to leave now. Am I not going to re-sign a contract or am I going to fake an injury? But I have to leave.' I find out I'm going to be putting my career on the line against The Miz, one of my favorites. I go, 'This is perfect.'” [H/T Fightful for the transcription]
Ziggler said he assumed he would lose the match before taking a break from WWE, but he ended up winning and having a five-week reign as Intercontinental Champion before dropping the title back to The Miz on an episode of SmackDown.
“Anybody who looks back, I promise you, I wanted it to be my last match at least for a year or something. It was an awesome reaction and a fun time, but the next day we went back to me being Dolph Ziggler and sadly we didn't capitalize on it. So, I needed to get out of there.”
While Dolph Ziggler continues to feature prominently as a member of the SmackDown roster, Kurt Angle now works behind the scenes in WWE as a producer. Check out Angle's exclusive interview with Sportskeeda's Gary Cassidy below!