When we talk WWE and characters like Dolph Ziggler, we do it in qualifiers. “He had a good match, but.” “He sold the arm really well, but.” A guy like Ziggler can be entertaining for years, and the context around him suggests that it’s not much more than treading water; WWE fans have been trained (by the Internet, if we’re being honest) to believe that WWE creative is working against its Superstars and make everything as hard as possible. Ziggler can be great, but unless Creative figures it out and does something with him, he’s just gonna be jumping and falling for nothing.
Ziggler’s brother, Ryan Nemeth — you may remember him as FCW’s Briley Pierce — took a different perspective, and explained Dolph’s career in an interview with WrestleZone Daily. There’s still an argument of “creating art” vs. “having a job” and the question of whether or not you can do both, but check it out:
“I think that would be great if he did. It reminds me of when people, I did an AMA on Reddit, people say, ‘Does it bother you that they never give your brother the push and that creative is never behind him?’ I said, ‘You look at someone’s wrestling career with little peaks and valleys everywhere, right? The greater slope is what’s important.’ I said, ‘He’s been World Champion twice. He’s been paid sh*t loads of money to live his dream for the last ten years. I think he’s doing ok. I think the push and the creative and whatever you guys are talking about… that part of a wrestler’s life is like three hours out of the rest of the week. It’s like they’re doing video games or action figures or traveling the country to do things wherever.’ When somebody says, ‘Are you mad that he was not in his segment?’ Or, whatever. I’m like, ‘That’s like 1% of the whole thing. No, get real, grow up.’”
Nemeth is the author of the new book, Hardbody: How to Be One, which you can check out here.
As for Dolph, here he is discussing those same peaks and valleys.
