Dolph Ziggler Talks WWE Contract Status and AEW Ahead of 2019 Royal Rumble

Dolph Ziggler is officially on "hiatus" with WWE. 

“Technically, I am still under contract, yes, but I am not scheduled to be at the Royal Rumble,” Ziggler told Chris Van Vliet. “For now, I am on a hiatus with WWE. It took me like 10 years to get a weekend off, and this is it. So we’ll see where it goes. Like I said, there's a handshake...different thing than what's on paper. I’ve given everything, and we’ll see if there is more for me to give. I’ll be happy to be a part of it.”

Ziggler has not been on WWE programming since Dec. 28, when he suffered a loss to Drew McIntyre in a steel cage match. He has continued wrestling during live events, so it's possible this is all part of a planned break ahead of Sunday's Royal Rumble.

Ziggler lives in the Phoenix area, and there's a real chance he did this interview under a cloak of kayfabe. Having him enter the Rumble and be the one who eliminates McIntyre would make some sense from a storyline standpoint. 

Ziggler said WWE wants to keep him around for the long term as a wrestler. As for the possibility of Ziggler leaving WWE for startup AEW, he did not seem to hate the idea. 

“I wouldn’t say I’d be like a next big signing, I would be the big signing, I would have to say," Ziggler said. "But I have some other things going on at the moment, but that should always be an option for anybody, especially someone who, maybe, someone like me who has been around a long time. It’s like if Drew McIntyre says I was riding his coattails, maybe I gotta get the hell outta here, you know? So, you never know. I think it would be great. I think it would be a great addition to that company, which seems to be for true wrestlers who love the sport and the business. It’s a great idea.”

That said, Ziggler is a WWE lifer. He's been with the company since 2004. Even his quote opening up the possibility of joining AEW mentioned McIntyre's name.

It's always difficult to parse where the kayfabe/real-life line is drawn in interviews like this, but the overwhelming odds remain in WWE's favor.