Dolph Ziggler & Charlotte Discuss "SummerSlam," Conor McGregor

WWE superstars Dolph Ziggler and Charlotte recently sat down with Inquisitr to promote “SummerSlam” this coming Sunday. They discussed a number of topics, including Conor McGregor’s comments about WWE, being in the main event, their respective matches at “SummerSlam,” and more.

Below are some excerpts from the interview:

Mark Suleymanov: Speaking of tapping out, Charlotte, your dad Ric Flair recently said that you, Dolph, are one of the few that could take on Conor McGregor in a real fight after he bashed the WWE roster. What was your reaction to McGregor’s comments and Flair’s endorsement?

Dolph Ziggler: “First of all, McGregor’s comments were probably just trying to get more people to watch his pay-per-view [fight vs. Nate Diaz at UFC 202]. That’s great, that’s smart. Whether it’s a joke or not, you act serious, then we take it seriously. If I wanted to get people to watch SummerSlam, I wouldn’t badmouth somebody’s life choices for the last 10 years. Flair, I grew up watching him and all the hard work he put in and to kinda it a joke and say those guys aren’t tough? Those guys are some of the toughest guys I’ve met in my entire life and a lot of them are behind-the-scenes and I look up to a lot of them. I made a little joke back that said ‘yeah, I’m one of the smaller guys on the roster and if I lost 40 or 50 pounds, I’d still be bigger than him.’ So even if he’s really good at what he does – which I’m sure he is – I’m also really good at what I do, I just happen to do it and get punched in the face a lot less for real.”

Mark Suleymanov: Dolph, the last few years you have been up and down as far as the card. You have been in the main event, you have been in the opening match. And as far as your SummerSlam history, you’ve had classics against Mysterio and Jericho and some mixed tag team matches. So what’s it like for you to have this prime spot on such a huge show?

Dolph Ziggler: “It’s great because, I mean, whether I’m fighting Miz for the Intercontinental title, opening the show, or one of my first ever pay-per-view’s against Rey Mysterio… it was a dream come true… that was probably eight or nine years ago. It means a lot to me because it’s great. Everybody asks ‘hey, what are you doing different, this is so great?’ I go, ‘I’m not doing anything different, I just have a different opportunity because of the brand split, because of someone going this way and someone going that way. I get to step and be myself, especially if you’ve watched SmackDown Live the last few weeks, I’ve gotten to be myself. The guy who doesn’t think anybody is better than him and is out to prove it every single day. Whether it’s in the ring, outside the ring, online, in interviews, anything you want… I’ve always been like ‘I dare somebody to outdo me.’ As soon as they do, I’ll step aside but it hasn’t happened yet.”

Mark Suleymanov: With the WWE Draft giving everybody more of an opportunity on both shows, Charlotte, what does it mean for you — with so many women taking over WWE — doing so well and be on your own show and make your impact even stronger since you’re confined to one show?

Charlotte: “Well, one, splitting up the women, I think, opens doors for people who haven’t necessarily had the opportunity to shine in the last year. But, you know, I wanna be the best and being on RAW without our group of women pushes me to work harder. With the brand split, obviously, RAW wants to be better than SmackDown. SmackDown wants to be better than RAW. So it just makes you up your game a little bit.”

Mark Suleymanov: It’s like competition within competition?

Charlotte: “Yeah, for sure. But we want to have the best matches, be the best female. The girls on SmackDown want to be the same. I think it’s good.”