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WWE returned to the road over a week ago welcoming fans back to live shows. The July 16 SmackDown show was the first TV episode of WWE programming to have fans in attendance in almost a year and a half due to COVID restrictions.
For many stars, it was a thrilling experience as they went out and performed in front of a packed Toyota Center in Houston. While Dolph Ziggler didn't wrestle on TV, he did compete in a Dark Battle Royale Match in a losing effort after the show went off the air.
In a recent interview with Sportskeeda Wrestling's Rick Ucchino, Dolph Ziggler discussed what it was like to have fans back. He even recalled being backstage and feeling the strong energy from the crowd:
"Everyone's saying "There have been three other shows". Two of them were RAWs or whatever, We've [SmackDown] have one and I was backstage, an inch away from the curtain just feeling - It felt like it was WrestleMania. No joke." Ziggler said. "We've gotten complacent before, we've kind of been like, "Oh, we're so used to this" We're so used to our matches and going through the emotions sometimes that you go 'We missed this'. We were in front of iPads for 18 months and it was the absolute worse. You can have the Super Bowl in front of them and you can still root for them but when it's us and we feed off the emotion of the crowd and decide what to do because of that and go back and forth - without that aspect, it is just not the same. It's mind blowing"
Check out what Dolph Ziggler had to say about Robert Roode, Big E, his Money in the Bank win and more in the video above.
Dolph Ziggler competed in another dark match on WWE SmackDown last Friday
Last Friday on WWE SmackDown, Dolph Ziggler tagged alongside Robert Roode and Apollo Crews to take on the team of Cesaro, Big E and Shinsuke Nakamura in a 6-Man Tag Team match. It was a dark match where the babyfaces picked up the win over the heels.
Ziggler has yet to compete in front of a live audience on live WWE TV since fans have returned. Regardless, he is still an integral part of the WWE SmackDown Tag Team division and will sooner or later be challenging for the titles again.
Please credit Sportskeeda Wrestling and embed the video if you use quotes from this article.
