Former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Nic Nemeth had been in WWE for over 25 years. He used to lose most of his matches towards the end of his career. Recently, while speaking on the Eyes Up Here with Francine podcast, Nic Nemeth mentioned that Pat Patterson was a big fan of his, and just to get him riled up, the creative team was making Nemeth lose his matches.
“Either nobody is rooting for you in the meeting because you’re not 6’5” or 300 pounds or you’re not Vince’s [Vince McMahon] or Hunter’s [Triple H] favorite guy. So no one is going to be like, ‘Yeah, that’s a good idea, boss. I like him too.’ There is not one of those things. Then, there is also the other extreme where Pat Patterson was a big fan of mine. And he was more of a consultant, so some months he is there every TV, sometimes he’s talking to Vince all the time, and some months he’s gone for a few weeks.
What a rib…
“He was a little bit older and enjoying his life. Sometimes, there is nobody there, and if nobody has your back, it’s tricky already because I’m not a legacy, I don’t have any inside information or nobody is looking out for you. Also, I got to a point where the top of the top, other than Vince, pulled me aside and said, ‘Pat pushes for you so much because he says such great things and sees such great things in you, that we’re actively ribbing him by having you lose every week.’ He laughed when he said it. I go, ‘That’s funny, but that’s my career where I already lose 80% of the time, now I’m losing 95% of the time. Come on.’ They thought it was a cool thing to tell me,” Nic Nemeth said. [H/T Fightful.com]
Starting Over
Nic Nemeth recently spoke to Wrestlezone Managing Editor Bill Pritchard about using his real name in his post-WWE career. Initially, Nemeth says he thought about using part of his former “Dolph Ziggler” name to keep that connection.
However, he eventually decided to make a “clean break” and start something new.
“It’s really weird with me. It’s not somebody that was like a character in WWF 20 years ago for six months and they would love to use it on the independents but they can’t or whatever. It is so associated with me for fifteen consecutive years, that it is weird to not use it. So, I don’t want to take advantage of it and be like, ‘Guys look, I’m making money on it.’ But I did wanna have like, DZ or something, so just, you could [still have some link or association]. A lot of people don’t know my real name and that’s fine. But I say, ‘You know what? Let’s do a clean break, let’s start all over.’”
The Wanted Man
Nic Nemeth came up with “The Wanted Man” because of the attention he received after leaving WWE and because it’s a great song by RATT.
“Use my real name, but let’s focus on Wanted Man because it actually applies. I even want a story to be told with my nickname, not just, ‘Oh it’s a cool RATT song that I love.’ And it is a great RATT song, by the way. One of my favorites. But then I had Downstait go out of their comfort zone and make me some hair metal that I love, a version of [that song]! And it is so great. And I live for it.
“That’s what I am doing man. I am going where people are begging to have me instead of having me on the bench to use for ‘In Case of Emergency, break this glass and go let Dolph wrestle for the World Title. Let the whole world think he’s winning it and go right back to the bench.’ This is wanted everywhere. And I go, ‘This genuinely applies.’ So, I love storytelling, even if it’s in the name,” Nic Nemeth said.
