WWE had a curious reason why they thought Dolph Ziggler wasn’t World title material

Dolph Ziggler has had a fascinating WWE career.

Despite being given an all-time bad character name, saddled with tough gimmicks like Spirit Squad member and Kerwin White’s caddie, and booked to have crap dropped on him by John Cena, he’s held gold 13 times and is a Triple Crown champ.

In addition to those issues, critics will point to deficiencies in his game like overselling or a repetitive promo style, or things outside his control like his height, as a reason why he’s remained outside the main event for much of time in WWE.

But in an interview with TalkSport, Ziggler revealed an odd reason management once gave him for why they weren’t behind him as a top guy. It explains that one month in 2011 when he inexplicably rocked short dark hair.

“One time a long time ago, I was told the reason I’m not credible for world championships – this is 10 years ago, maybe longer, whatever – the reason I’m not credible enough to be winning world championships is because of my hair. Not because I get beat up, not that I lose every match, not that I don’t talk – it was because of my blonde hair. So it got cut short and dyed black and I was serious, I went out there and beat the hell out of Santino and it was the dumbest thing I’ve ever done. I didn’t want to do it. I said this isn’t me, we can find a way to introduce more of my shooting background and things – nope. That’s what they wanted [the hair cut]. Then after three weeks they said ‘oh, our bad.’ Sometimes people don’t see [it]. How about I just beat some people up sometimes? Or won a couple matches? Or talked? Or talk like I am right now and defend myself and say hey, I should be out here tying people in knots, winning world titles, getting on the microphone, hopping on a jet, doing a press conference and strutting away with Ric Flair! And they go yeah, but… I dunno. We should just cut your hair. So I tried to get out of it as much as I could, but sadly, I guess that’s the vision that they have and you have to go with that and try and fight them every single day and I do fight the good fight behind the scenes and in the ring every damn day.”

WWE is a weird place, y’all.

See if Dolph and his flowing blonde locks can win the WWE title for the first time in his career on Sunday night at Extreme Rules.