During a recent episode of the E&C Pod of Awesomeness,
Dolph Ziggler admitted that he hates that he is in a tough spot in
WWE right now. He added that he wants to be the top guy of the company, and feels that everyone should have that mentality. However, he also understands that there are so many others backstage who feel the same way, and want to have that top spot in the company.
Ziggler mentioned the phrase "curse of the worker," which describes someone who has longevity and can work with anyone, but gets relegated to just that without having long periods of time as "the guy" in WWE. Former WWE Tag Team Champion Bubba Ray Dudley discussed this term, as well as his thoughts on Ziggler's WWE career, on a recent episode of
Busted Open Radio.
Bubba Ray agrees with Ziggler's term, as well as the stigma that comes with it.
"It's the truth. You never want to have that stigma," said Bubba Ray. "You never wanna be known as, 'He's a good little worker.' Because when you are a good little worker, the 'curse of the worker,' that's the role that you fit in. A boss looks at you as, 'Ok. He's the guy that I can put in any role at any given time. And since there aren't a lot of guys like that, you get put in a weird spot. That spot is, your gonna make a very, very good living, we're gonna keep you around for a long time, but you're never gonna be 'the guy.' Maybe, every once in a while, we'll shuffle you up to the main event, but it's only gonna be for a cup of coffee and a biscuit, and then we're gonna double park you back on the back burner for when we need you again. And that is what Dolph Ziggler has been going through for a long time."
Concerning Ziggler's last contract renewal, Bubba Ray firmly believes that Ziggler had "one and a half feet out the door, and at the very last second, Vince probably step in and gave him stupid money, and that's why he stayed."
At this point, Bubba Ray feels that Ziggler cannot do anything right now to get him out of this quicksand. This is because WWE nowadays is about waiting for Creative to have something for you, compared to the old days when people thrived to get over with the crowd, which boosted their status in the company. A prime example of this, as they discussed, was Ziggler winning the World Heavyweight Championship in the most thunderous MITB cash-in to date, and received that reaction even as a heel, but shortly went back to filling the "curse of the worker" role again.
Bubba Ray feels that the best option right now to help Ziggler's career would be to compete for House of Hardcore, and Ring of Honor as a second choice.
"Dolph Ziggler in a place like House of Hardcore would be amazing," said Bubba Ray. "I would love to see Dolph in a House of Hardcore, my second choice would be a Ring of Honor, but I definitely think once he gets out there, and allowed to be the version of Dolph Ziggler that he knows he can be, and the version that we've seen glimpses up in the past, [he'll do well]."
The biggest issue with Ziggler, Bubba Ray feels, is that Dolph has been around for too long in the WWE. He feels that the good news is that Ziggler would get paid a lot of money for a long time working in WWE, but the bad news is that "he'll never main event WrestleMania." Bubba Ray feels that Ziggler should leave WWE and revive is name in other promotions. Bubba Ray added, "He's still going out there and trying to steal the show every night, so he's still passionate about it. He's just so unhappy. He's stuck in a perpetual state of mediocrity. He's in what I like to call wrestling quicksand: every single time you try to get out, you get sucked back down lower. And after a while, man does that get frustrating."
