Nic Nemeth reflects on the threat of being fired from WWE.
On September 19, 2011, Australian actor Hugh Jackman served as a guest star on WWE Raw. Amidst this appearance, Jackman notably accompanied Zack Ryder to his match against Dolph Ziggler. Toward the end of the contest, Ziggler’s on-screen girlfriend, Vickie Guerrero, was ejected from ringside. With the referee’s back now turned, Jackman seized the opportunity to punch Ziggler in the face, allowing Ryder to then hit the Rough Ryder for the win.
During a recent interview with Going Postl (h/t to POST Wrestling), Ziggler, now known as Nic Nemeth, revealed that he was threatened with being fired in the aftermath of the spot.
“The next day, I [tweeted], ‘I have to go for x-rays. I may have a slight fractured jaw’. By the time the next morning came around, I was being threatened with being fired from WWE because I had lied and TMZ was calling them to check on it,” Nemeth recalled. “I go, ‘I’m just trying to protect the storyline.’ I said, ‘I didn’t say Hugh Jackman put me in a hospital or I’m having a heart attack. I was like, oh, there’s a chance there’s a hairline fracture and I’m gonna get x-rays to keep it vague,’ because it’s wrestling.”
Rolling With The Punches
“… It was such a good punch and everybody was talking about it that night and the next day, I was so excited. It all worked out and Broski was on a tear. I was so excited about it, I go, ‘Let me add a little extra to it.’ Then the second-in-command was like, ‘I don’t wanna have to fire you but you’re gonna have to recant and take this down…’ Meanwhile, cut to two years later or the rest of WWE’s existence, they’d be begging for that kind of publicity but whatever. I said it in a nice way, but I took it down.”
While Nemeth deleted his original tweet, he continued to sell the effects of Jackman’s punch on the WWE live events that followed. Taking inspiration from The Miz, Nemeth proceeded to wear a mouthguard for several weeks in an effort to prevent his “money-maker” from absorbing any more damage.
“It was really, really fun,” Nemeth said. “I think I had matches with Miz anyway or [Ryder] and the whole thing was to not punch me in the face because my jaw might be broken. It was the best. That stuff makes it so much fun on the weekends.”
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