Dolph Ziggler Recalls Thinking He Would Be Let Go From WWE After 2008 Match With Batista

Dolph Ziggler tells the story about the time he thought he was going to be canned from WWE in 2008

Throughout his near 20 year career in professional wrestling, Dolph Ziggler has been through quite a few ups and downs. Although Ziggler started off his WWE career in a faction like the Spirit Squad, the ‘Showoff’ would go on to become a two time World Heavyweight Champion and a six time Intercontinental Champion.

Ziggler made his WWE debut under the Dolph Ziggler moniker in late 2008 after spending more time in FCW following his run with the Spirit Squad. In a new interview with Chris Van Vliet, Ziggler recalled thinking he would be canned from the company when he found out his return match was with Batista.

“So, a lot of people think that’s the debut but that’s when I come back. I wanna say I wrestle R-Truth as Dolph Ziggler, I think I have a double count out or i roll in and beat Truth… and then I’m not on TV for a month or 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.’ If you were a new young guy, you don’t know what’s going on… I don’t have a legacy, I don’t have friends in the meeting, I don’t know what I’m doing. They gave me this weird name that I tried to fight them on and my debut was a count out win against R-Truth, who is beloved, especially by me. If you’re debuting and you’re fighting Triple H and winning, they’ve got plans for you. When you’re debuting against R-Truth, who wasn’t on TV at the time, and you’re barely scraping by and then you go away for a month and they tell me that it’s you and Batista and it’s one segment… Lucky for me, Batista is not just a sweetheart, he’s great and wanted to have a good match. So, I just saw that and I go ‘Oh, this is it.’ Instead, we have a really fun match. It was like eight or ten minutes but it was kind of a good match, but he’s going on to a pay-per-view in a world title match, so he definitively beats me, totally get that. But I don’t have to check the wanted ads next Monday.”

Ziggler recently called out Conor McGregor after the news of the WWE/UFC merger broke. Fans can learn more here.

Batista and Netflix recently teased the very real and not fake release of his comedy special. Fans can find out more by clicking here.

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