Trivia / Dolph Ziggler

• Breakup Breakout: After his initial run was aborted, he re-debuted in the Spirit Squad — the infamous male cheerleader stable. Reportedly, that stable was meant to push one guy (Kenny) in particular — but when the dust settled, not only is "Nicky" the only one to win any singles gold (including the World Heavyweight Title), he's the only former member of the Spirit Squad who was still employed by WWE at all. Additionally, none of the other members of the Spirit Squad have a page on TVTropes, nor is there a page for the stable itself. The reason for this is simple: while the stable was originally meant to push Kenny, it worked to his disadvantage and he became forever associated with the gimmick, mainly because he was the leader. Thus the audience never took him seriously. Nicky was repackaged completely as Dolph and for the most part is completely unrecognizable unless you look hard enough. As for the other members, Kenny (real name Ken Doane, briefly known as Kenny Dykstra) competed in the indies and Mikey (Raymond Michael Brendli) competed in Ring of Honor as Mike Mondo. Mitch (Nick Mitchell) retired in 2006, and Johnny (Jeter) followed suit in 2008, only coming out of retirement twice in 2014^note he, Kenny, and Mikey reformed the Spirit Squad for Chikara's King of Trios tournament and 2019.
• Creator Backlash:
  • Did not like the month in 2011 where he abruptly cut his hair short. According to Evan Bourne, there was a collective Oh, Crap! when it was done and they realised how similar to each other they looked. Ziggler later compared the experience to when Bender had to chop his antenna off on Futurama.
  • His first run as World Heavyweight Champion, which lasted all of eleven minutes. As well, his first two runs in WWE as Kerwin White's Caddy and Spirit Squad member Nicky.
• Creator's Favorite: Ironically considering the below, the storyline involving Lana, Rusev and Summer Rae was reportedly "Vince's baby", according to the latter.
• Creator's Pest: Vince McMahon and Triple H weren't fans of his, feeling he was trying too hard to be Shawn Michaels. They were especially critical of his promos and ring work. Pat Patterson lobbied for Dolph to cash his MITB briefcase in at WrestleMania, but Vince refused and only let it happen on Raw to pop the crowd.
• Dye Hard: The platinum-blonde isn't natural. Neither is the "Evan Bourne's big brother"-looking dark brown. The truth is somewhere in the middle; he's actually a dirty blonde.
• Executive Meddling: The infamous short haircut in 2011 was the result of this. He was told short hair would make him more credible.
• Playing Against Type: He played a clean-cut babyface in developmental - most of his time on WWE TV has been as a cocky arrogant heel.
• Real Life Writes the Plot:
  • A storyline that was heavily hinted towards Maria turning heel and becoming a power couple with him had to be ended once Maria was cast in the Celebrity Apprentice. Thus they were broken up to write Maria off TV for a few weeks.
  • He went out of action in May 2013 due to a legit concussion sustained during a match with Jack Swagger. This may have led to WWE's donation to former wrestler Christopher Nowinski's Sports Legacy Institute, which conducts research on sports-related injuries, especially concussions. It might also have led to a post-Extreme Rules concussion angle with Triple H, who a night after being knocked out with a sledgehammer to the face, he collapses during a match due to post-concussion syndrome. It most certainly had an effect on Ziggler's storyline from WWE Payback on.
• Romance on the Set: Rumor has it that Ziggler and Dana Brooke have been an item since the latter was still in NXT, while Mandy Rose has been in a more openly known relationship with him. Even as far as some under-the-table WWE relationships go, it's been kept very low-key, which is ironic considering Dolph's onscreen character and reputation. He previously dated Nikki Bella^note In her autobiography, she detailed their relationship, although she used a pseudonym to refer to him as 'Brad' and claimed he cheated on her with another woman on the roster. Fans guessed it was Angela Fong but nothing was ever confirmed., and Sunny claimed they had a brief fling.
• Wag the Director: He was so furious at being told to lose to Brock Lesnar in less than a minute that he threatened to quit. They compromised by giving him a little offence, and having him still antagonise Brock after.
• What Could Have Been:
  • An early gimmick they had in mind for him was to be Kurt Angle's protegee - since he had an amateur wrestling background. It ended up not happening and he debuted on TV with the Spirit Squad.
  • As tragic and as sad as Eddie Guerrero's passing was, without it, Chavo Guerrero might have stayed as Kerwin White, Nicky might have been his caddy for several more months or years, and Dolph Ziggler's career as we know it now might have never happened.
  • It was originally Dolph that was gonna turn face, get Ric Flair as a manager and start using the Figure Four Leglock as a new finisher, instead of The Miz.
  • It was rumoured that he was meant to win the Intercontinental Championship from Rey Mysterio in 2009. But then Mysterio got suspended and dropped the title to John Morrison, who Ziggler feuded with for a while but did not win the title from.
  • Kevin Owens was meant to feud with Kofi Kingston over the WWE title in 2019. However, he pulled out of the planned Crown Jewel PPV in Saudi Arabia - and Dolph was chosen as his replacement.