Before becoming TNA World Champion, Nic Nemeth was WWE’s Dolph Ziggler. During his time in WWE, Nemeth had a brief tenure with WWE World Heavyweight Champion. In a new interview with Sports IllustratedNemeth says then-WWE Chairman Vince McMahon thought it would wipe the slate clean after his losing streak.
“Like when I became world champion, in my first match, I remember Vince telling me one day, ‘You finally cash in on this contract, you’re not going to lose every night,'” Nemeth said. “‘Everyone forgets about it. Everything is out the window. And you’re the world champion.'”
Unfortunately for Nemeth, the world title victory did not end his bad luck.
“I take it. I was world champion. And the next Monday I lost a match by five minutes,” Nemeth said. “(I lost to) Jack Swagger and I was like ‘what are we doing here? Like what?'”
Nemeth realized he had no control over his direction in WWE and learned to go with the flow of things. After all, professional wrestling is entertainment first and competition second.
“So once you realize it’s Hollywood, it changes every day. Sometimes it’s not up to me,” Nemeth said. “And me, at this point, it’s, ‘I want to show off. There’s no motivation, there’s no extra things, I don’t stop, I don’t give up, I don’t let myself get anything other than a 10 out of 10.”
Nemeth was released from WWE in 2023 where he became champion in NJPW, AAA, and finally TNA Wrestling.
