There have been all sorts of rumors on Dolph Ziggler and why he was not on WWE television from late December until his return at the Royal Rumble and return to SmackDown Live last month. His absence was even more baffling because there was no real explanation on why he vacated the United States Champion when he “quit” in December.
Ziggler recently told the “All Things Wrestling Radio” podcast he asked to be pulled from WWE television and his idea was to be off TV for six months or a year. “I will say that I really begged and pleaded for a couple months off the television show, because no matter how good I am or what I’m up to, it seems that 99 times out of 100, I would lose. I didn’t think that I deserved to be on the TV show if I was someone that was losing every night, so I asked to be taken off. I was hoping for maybe six months or a year, and it ended up being four weeks.”
Ziggler tried to tie some loose ends on social media by explaining that management brought him back and he was able to negotiate his way into Sunday’s Fastlane main event for an opportunity to challenge for the WWE Championship. On TV, WWE hasn’t done much to explain why Ziggler returned after “quitting” and vacating his U.S. title.