Former WWE Superstar Nic Nemeth recently revealed why he was ready to leave WWE even before he got released last year. In fact, the Superstar formerly known as Dolph Ziggler had been planning for life after WWE for months. Nemeth had been with the promotion for almost 20 years.
RELATED: WWE Hall Of Famer Goldberg Names Surprising Wrestler He Wanted To Lose To
Nic Nemeth was a mainstay in WWE, but he eventually decided he needed to move on from WWE. On a recent episode of Busted Open Radio Nemeth talked about why he was ready to leave WWE and how long he had been planning his exit. He stated the following:
“I’ve been preparing for this for so long and getting things ready to go that I wasn’t like ‘What?! What do I do now? Holy, I’m free!’ or whatever. I was planning this…half of this entire last contract with WWE, going ‘I know at some point, I am being paid way too much money to sit at home. So I’m going to have to get out of here.’ I just wanted to always be ready to go, just in case they said ‘Hey, by the way, I know you’ve been doing 90-second matches, can you do 35 minutes on TV with the Undertaker?’ ‘You’re damn right I can.’
“So I was ready to go anyway, I just wanted to have every option available. So…it wasn’t out of the blue, and I had sent a few emails to the boss the last six months, definitively saying ‘I have to move on somewhere else. Can you let me do this?’ And eventually, without exact back and forth, that’s how it worked out.”
H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription
Nic Nemeth Is Looking to Pass on His Knowledge
In September of last year, Nemeth was released from WWE along with many other former Superstars. He revealed that his release was a smooth transition because he had a plan in place for it to happen. The hardest part for him was the 90-day non-compete clause which left him sitting around at home.
2022 was possibly the most important year of Nemeth’s entire WWE career. He spent much of his 2022 engaged in a heated feud with Bron Breakker, putting over the young NXT star and most importantly passing on his knowledge. During the feud, he defeated Breakker for the NXT Championship, winning the title for the first time in his career. He helped to show the WWE Universe what Breakker can do and that he is ready to wrestle main roster Superstars.
New Home In Japanese Pro Wrestling
Last week Nemeth landed in his new wrestling home and caused some drama. He and his brother, Ryan, went to a NJPW show and sat in the VIP area. After David Finlay became the first ever IWGP Global Heavyweight champion he went over to the Nemeth brothers and said he didn’t like them watching his match.
Nemeth did not like being called out and Nic Nemeth and Finlay came to blows. They eventually came to blows again backstage and it left Nemeth holding the new IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship belt.
During Nemeth’s time in WWE, he eventually found himself second-guessing his ability. He asked himself why he was having 30-second matches and then suddenly having 30-minute matches. Eventually, he came to realize that he was WWE’s “break glass in case of emergency” guy and it bolstered his confidence.
Nemeth revealed he was pleasantly surprised that the reaction to his NJPW debut was positive. He said many of the reactions were of excitement to see him in a new environment. However, he did have some saying he was washed up.
RELATED: Former WWE Superstar Nic Nemeth Makes Huge Debut In NJPW
Nemeth has a wide-open landscape for future opponents once he gets past Finlay. He is generally considered very good, but now that he is outside WWE he can show the world just how good he is.
Did you see Nic Nemeth as a “break glass in case of emergency” guy? Who else in WWE do you think is used similarly? Do you think it was time for him to leave WWE? Let us know on social media if you think WWE would have started using him on the top of the roster again if he had stayed.
SOURCE: Wrestling Inc., Busted Open Radio
KEEP READING: AEW Star Adam Copeland Doesn’t Want a ‘Triumphant’ Retirement, He Wants One Special Thing
