WWE's annual SummerSlam Pay-Per-View happens live this Sunday, August 18th, and features Daniel Bryan vs. John Cena for the WWE Championship, CM Punk vs. Brock Lesnar, and Dolph Ziggler and Kaitlyn taking on Big E. Langston and AJ in a mixed tag match.

I recently spoke with the WWE's resident "Show Off," Dolph Ziggler, about his upcoming SummerSlam match, how great it would be if it was just him vs. AJ in a one-on-on encounter, his love of live-tweeting, and the art of getting cheers while still being a jerk.

: Hilariously, the hottest question going in all my interviews as of late is whether or not I'm going to change it. It's too funny. I think - and because it's Twitter, which I also love to talk about - that in this day and age is that the reason I put "heel" in there is to let everyone know that I'm a jerk. So they get it. And so if they're going to start getting behind it like they have been, slowly, for about two years now, let 'em. I'm still going to be a heel. I'm still going to be me. I'm not going to be one of those guys who changes and all of a sudden I'm shaking hands and kissing babies. I'm going to go out there and be the jerk that I am, but be entertaining while I do it. So I'm staying heel. As far as I know.: I'm a huge fan of comedy. I write material whenever I can. Like when I have a day at home. I'll sit by my pool, read, and write material for possible stand-up stuff. Or Twitter stuff. Whatever pops my head. I try to make it a PG-ish joke and throw it out there. And one of my favorite things to do is live-tweet anything. Especially since, in the WWE, I don't get a lot of microphone time. And when I do it's usually telling everybody that I'm a show-off or that I'm going to win some match. So whenever I get a chance to be entertaining, be myself, put some jokes out there, I love it. I live for it. I have a blast just doing a Q&A on Twitter because I can just throw out quick zingers or make fun of people - real quick - to their face. Just on the spot. And live-tweeting RAW was one of the [laugh] more fun moments that I've had. I definitely expected a call from the office afterwards.: Yeah, for sure. I've actually done stand-up a couple of times now. I go out to LA - maybe for one week a month I'm out there - just watching shows and studying things and trying to get up and get five minutes on a mic. But because it's not just something I wanted to do on a whim, like the way I make quick remarks on Twitter, I want it to be good. I've been a huge student of comedy for twenty something years. I love it. I want to know why people are getting laughs. Why this joke works and why that one didn't work. It all comes back to helping me be a better WWE Superstar. So I love it. And I actually was going to be on Mick Foley's show for SummerSlam. He was going to let me do five or six minutes. But because of how the show is scheduled - like, it's the night of SummerSlam - it may not be doable. But in the five nights I'm in LA, I will be getting up on stage once or twice. Of course, I'm not going to tell anybody where though. Not yet. Not yet. I have to get a couple more under the belt first.: You know, how great would it be if it was me vs. AJ?: It would be incredible. If this was a different day and age where the Divas were allowed to step into the ring with the Superstars. Man, I would find a way to make that so entertaining one way or another. I bet it would even wind up being people's favorite match of the show. You know, in that category. But it is the time we live in now, so it's not happening like that. But we do have a lot of animosity for each other so at least I can try and take it out on Big E. Even though he's so strong and anything I do to anybody usually has little to no effect. Oh man, but me vs. AJ. That's...and then Kaitlyn goes to spear her but she moves out of the way and I get speared. That would be so great. Anyway, I think me being able to take out some measure of revenge on Big E. and Kaitlyn to be able to get back at AJ - somehow, the four of us all want a piece of the other one. And at least it puts us on this awesome card on this awesome show. As a part of the "Biggest Part of the Summer," in LA, in front of a sold out Staples Center. And people coming from all over the world to check it out. I'm excited just to be on this loaded card and be able to have a match.: I feel like I have. I mean, look, anything's more than zero. But, I'm starting to get some. You know, a couple sentences here and there. And I feel like once we close out this chapter in my life and once me and Big E. are done, I feel like it can become "Okay, let's give this guy a mic and see what he can do. See who he can entice into the ring with him." And not only have I proved that I'm one of the best wrestlers in the world, I can prove that I'm one of the best on the mic.: You know what, I can see that. I can see that argument. The thing is, in the WWE, we have the WWE title, the World title, the United States title, the Intercontinental title, the Divas title, the Tag Team titles. And I feel like, in this business, when Mr. Perfect had that Intercontinental title, that was the belt we saw as the stepping stone to becoming "the man." The franchise of the WWE. I think in this day and age, I see the United States title as the steeping stone to the World title. And you see the World title is just - just - a notch below saying "This guy, he's going to have a chance to be WWE Champion. And be the face of the company." That's how I see it. That might not be exactly the way it goes, but it is a little bit of a "workhorse" championship title. But I pride myself on being a workhorse. And I pride myself on being able to go out there with anybody, and if we're given 30 minutes, it'll be the best 30 minutes you saw. Having that title around my waist, two times now, with zero positive defenses, literally keeps me awake at night. I literally do not sleep because of that. Two times now. Zero defenses.Honestly I thought, when I had to stay off TV for about five weeks, I didn't think that when I came back it was going to be one of those "Triple H tore a quad and he came back and the whole place erupted and blew the roof off" because I wasn't one of those guys who's been here for fifteen years. But I also thought it would be like "Hey, that was our guy before and I'm so glad to have him back." And when I came back they were kind of like "Yeah, meh, there he is." So I thought "Okay, alright, another challenge for me." I had to earn that respect back. This is the era where everyone wishes the "Attitude Era" would come back and that those guys were so much better than us. And it's just nostalgia, because the guys we grew up watching will always be legends in our minds.So I thought, I had to get back to - not getting people behind me - but getting back to what I do best. And that's going out there and stealing the show. Having everyone believe that every injury that happens to me in that ring is real and that they feel it through me. And usually it is. And of course the Chicago crowd is one of the best crowds you can get. They've been behind me for years, whether I'm in the opening match or a World title match. And they were behind me at Payback right from the beginning. I actually went out of my way to stick it to them at the beginning. To get some boos. To let them know "Hey, I'm the bad guy here." And then, slowly throughout the course of the match, with the beating I took - and usually I take a beating anyway - but this was more of a vicious, targeted beating than other times. They started to come around and go "Wow, this guy won't go away." And that's kind of like how I live my life in this career. From being a caddy, and then a cheerleader, I wouldn't go away. I told myself that one of these days I was going to be the guy that Vince handed the ball to. And I'm slowly but surely getting there.

SummerSlam goes down live this Sunday, August 18th on Pay-Per-View, and features John Cena vs. Daniel Bryan, CM Punk vs. Brock Lesnar, and Dolph Ziggler and Kaitlyn vs. Big E. Langston and AJ.Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler , IGN at mattfowler , and Facebook at Facebook.com/Showrenity