WWE Releases Veteran Superstar After Nearly 20 Years With Company

Dolph Ziggler joined WWE in 2004 and has won multiple titles.

By Brian Jones

A longtime WWE veteran who won the World Heavyweight Championship twice is no longer with the company. According to Figthful Select, Dolph Ziggler was one of the few WWE Superstars who was released from his contract. The other Superstars who are leaving are Mustafa Ali, Emma, Aaliyah, Rick Boogs, Shelton Benjamin and Elias. 

Fightful Select said that Ziggler was looking to leave WWE years ago, but he got talked into staying with the company. Originally, Ziggler's deal was set to extend into next summer. When the news was announced, John Cena showed love to Ziggler by mentioning he competed in 1,554 matches during this time in WWE. 

Earlier this year, Zigger was a guest on INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet and he talked about trying to find his role in WWE and being thrust into the World Heavyweight Championship match against Sheamus at No Way Out in 2012.

"I go every day. I can try and whittle them down, and maybe in five years; they'll go hey, we got to let this guy go over. Or hey, in five years, this guy is ready. I know he's not our top guy, but when this guy has knee surgery, he can slide right in there," Ziggler said, per Yahoo. "And I go, that'll be my chance, so just always be ready for that. And that happened a couple of times…I got put into a world title match against Sheamus.

"It was in the Northeast somewhere a long time ago. I'm basically wrestling on Superstars or getting beat by somebody in a couple minutes. Sheamus is World Heavyweight Champion and crushing everybody, and I don't really talk on the show, anything. I get, 'Who is it? Del Rio or Khali?' Somebody gets taken out. And they go, 'You're gonna wrestle him,' and we get one week build, and it's like, I don't even know what the goal is, just like I'll see you, I don't know.  So I go, this might be really bad, no one might care, I don't know. If you check the footage, 19,000 People are chanting my name against the established World Heavyweight Champion. I'm a bad guy who doesn't talk and loses every single match."

Ziggler began his run in WWE in 2004. During his time with the company, Ziggler won the NXT Championship, the Intercontinental Championship six times, the United States Championship twice, the tag team championship four times and the World Heavyweight Championship in 2011 and again in 2013. 

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