Edge and Christian welcome Dolph Ziggler to the show.

Ziggler talks about receiving a Spinebuster from Arn Anderson at WWE’s recent Starrcade event. He says that he was told weeks in advance that he’d be working with Bobby Roode at that event, but he didn’t get his hopes up because he assumed those plans would change as the event drew nearer. Luckily, those plans stuck and he and Roode were given enough time to tear the house down.

He cut a promo with Ric Flair earlier in the night which was a really cool moment for him, but Arn Anderson’s involvement in their match made the night extremely memorable. Anderson was the special guest enforcer for the match and at the end of the bout he delivered a classic Spinebuster to Ziggler, which was a moment he’ll never forget.

He jokes that he’s a bitter old man at this point and there isn’t much within the wrestling business that gets him excited anymore, but that night was filled with one memorable moment after another. There was a special feeling in the air the entire day, with legends like The Rock N Roll Express, Ricky Steamboat and Ric Flair all walking around the backstage area prior to the event.

Ziggler mentions that one of his favourite matches of all time was working with Edge for the World Title a few years ago. He says that Edge was ‘the guy’ in WWE at that time but he was in a completely different position, working with Vicki Guerrero and not really being taken seriously by the WWE Universe. At the beginning of the match the fans just assumed that Ziggler would lose rather decisively, but by the middle of the match they all knew that this was going to be a competitive match.

Edge mentions that WWE officials asked him prior to that who he wanted to work with and he chose Ziggler, which WWE officials weren’t sure about. After this one match Edge approached Vince McMahon and told him how good Ziggler is, and Ziggler’s WWE career took off shortly thereafter.

Ziggler says that over the last year or so he’s basically been working as WWE’s gatekeeper for the guys who come up from NXT. However, he points out that if he loses consistently for 8-12 months, putting these talents over when they come up from NXT means less and less every time. He points out that wins and losses don’t matter, except if you’re the guy who’s losing every single night.

Ziggler says he hates his role in WWE right now and he hates that he’s not the Champion, but he believes everyone should have that mentality. He feels like he should be a bigger part of the show, but so does everyone else on the roster. He thinks that his work rate in the ring sometimes limits him from advancing up the card because he’s seen by WWE officials as someone who can just have good matches each night and help advance other stars.

He mentions that he tried to stand out in WWE by going above and beyond in selling his opponents offence. He watched boxing knockouts and studied guys like Mr. Perfect and Shawn Michaels in order to improve his selling, and he’d make a point of going all in when he sold his opponents finishers.

He admits that he may be too selfless when calling his matches in the ring. When he has short matches and the match time gets cut, he often decides to cut out some of his cooler offence in order to ensure that his opponent gets in all of their spots. He adds that making those selfless choices might dampen people’s opinions of his performance in the ring, but those choices continue to keep him in the company’s good graces.

Ziggler informs that he loves working with WWE as they treat him well and pay him well, but for a few years now he’s been begging the company to change his role or to let him leave for a couple of months, just to let his character reset. The company continues to plead with him to stay on the road full time and since he’s a team player, he’s granted those requests every time.

With his contract now expiring again, he needs to make a decision rather soon whether he wants to stay with the company moving forward. He needs to know that the company is going to be on his side creatively if he decides to resign because as of now, it looks like his role in WWE is just to tear the house down at live events since there doesn’t appear to be anything for him to reach for on television.

That sums up this week’s episode of E&C’s Pod of Awesomeness. You can listen to the show yourself anytime here, and I’ll catch ya next week for another recap!