WWE star says he expected to be fired after facing Batista
On the December 1, 2008, episode of WWE RAW, Dave Bautista (aka Batista) defeated Dolph Ziggler in a three-minute match. In a recent interview, Ziggler explained why he expected to be fired after he showed up to work that day.
The 42-year-old previously appeared on the main roster as Spirit Squad member Nicky in 2006. After spending a further two years in WWE's developmental system, he received the name Dolph Ziggler upon returning to the RAW brand.
Discussing his 2008 main roster return, Ziggler said on Insight with Chris Van Vliet that he thought he was doomed after being booked against Batista:
"I want to say I wrestle R-Truth as Dolph Ziggler. I shake a bunch of hands. And then I think I have like a double count-out or roll in and beat Truth. And then I'm not on TV for a month, month and a half, and then I come back and it's against Batista and I go, 'Oh, this is my last day at work.'"
It’s been too long! @HEELZiggler joins me for our 16th interview together!
We talk about how underrated he is, why he’s the Cal Ripken Jr of WWE, the best MITB cash-in ever, his love of comedy & more! 💪
Watch/listen: podcast.chrisvanvliet.com/dolph-ziggler-… https://t.co/kilspgSgB4
As Batista was one of WWE's top stars, Ziggler felt that the company's higher-ups wanted him to lose convincingly against The Animal before getting fired:
"If you're debuting and you're fighting Triple H and winning, they got plans for you. When you're debuting against R-Truth, who wasn't doing anything on TV at the time, and you're barely scraping by, and then you go away for a month, and then they go, 'It's you and Batista, and it's one seg,' and you go, 'Okay, I got it.'"
Two weeks after the match, Batista went on to defeat Randy Orton at Armageddon 2008. Around the same time, Ziggler began featuring regularly on RAW before moving to SmackDown in April 2009.
Did Dolph Ziggler enjoy working with Batista in WWE?
The Showoff is widely viewed as one of WWE's most talented in-ring competitors. He has worked with wrestlers of all different sizes throughout his career, from Batista and The Big Show to the likes of Rey Mysterio.
10 years ago today, Dec 1, 2008, was #Raw. Batista defeated @HEELZiggler in Ziggler's Raw debut match. Congrats to Nick Nemeth for officially wrestling as the Ziggler gimmick for 10 years now, & he's accomplished a lot within these 10 years despite being told he'll never make it https://t.co/cpYMKSgwIA
Ziggler added that Batista took an unselfish approach when planning their short match before the show:
"Luckily for me, Batista is not just a sweetheart, he's great and wanted to have a good match. I'm like, 'Oh, hell yeah.' I just saw that [booking] and I go, 'Oh, this is it.' And instead, we have a really fun match."
The RAW star also gave his thoughts on why WWE's decision-makers have never considered him to be a top guy in the company.
What are your thoughts on Dolph Ziggler's career? Let us know in the comments section below.