Shawn Michaels Had No Answers For Desperate WWE Star
Former WWE star Nic Nemeth sought answers from Shawn Michaels over why he wasn’t being used on television but Michaels didn’t have a clue.
Nic Nemeth was better known as Dolph Ziggler in WWE having had a career in the company that spanned decades and saw him win several championships. However, things weren’t always as good for the star.
Speaking on Talk Is Jericho, Nic Nemeth revealed frustration in WWE led to him asking Shawn Michaels to watch his match and explain why he wasn’t on TV, however, Michaels didn’t have any answers:
Then, at that point, Spirit Squad times, I was still nervous to talk to people. I don’t know. There’s scary guys there, and he (Shawn Michaels) was someone like, ‘Hey man –’ there’s no way he was like, this kid’s gonna be great… I was a nice kid trying to learn and pick his brain and ask him things whenever I could and then, eventually, it became a thing where I came one point — it’s years later and I was frustrated at work…
I wanna say it’s (Rey) Mysterio and (John) Morrison fighting for the Intercontinental Title or something and I go — I had been stealing the show or doing some things with Kofi (Kingston)… I was like, ‘Hey, I’m busting my ass doing all this stuff and then for some reason, I’m out of here, I’m not doing anything important.’ So, Shawn’s backstage one time and I go, ‘Hey Shawn, I got a dark match with this guy. When I come back, tell me why the f*ck I’m not on TV’ and he goes, ‘… Okay.’
I go and do this match. Six-minute dark match, basic as sh*t but, I kind of stood out and I come back and he goes, ‘Kid, your guess is as good as mine. Sorry. That was f*cking great’ and I’m like, ‘Woah. Holy sh*t. Okay, great’ and maybe he can put a word in, maybe he can do something so I just kept asking him and not even thinking that he would pass a word out but man, something’s gonna give at some point and eventually, I don’t know if he said something or not but, eventually it’s like, okay, I’ve come back.
Nic Nemeth Got His Chance – But Not Without Its Challenges
Nemeth recalled that he was then put in a match with MVP that kept getting changed while it was taking place to apparently catch both stars off guard. However, they came through it and it led to bigger things:
Eventually they go, ‘Alright, here we go’ and I think I got a dark match with MVP and they, like halfway through, switched the finish to catch us off guard or something. Catching us off guard is like, hey, we just added 18 minutes or something or, we just took eight minutes of your nine-minute match. That’s catching me off guard. I was like, switch the finish? Okay. ‘I pin him?’ What’s that like? Alright.
So, they switched the finish but as we’re getting to it, they switch it again like, oouuu, here we go. I’m like, okay, cool. I’m not as cool and calm as I am right now but like, ‘Okay, we can fix that’ and then he goes, ‘You got three more minutes’ as MVP’s hitting his finish or last false finish. ‘Three more minutes and make ‘em count’ and I go, ‘Okay.’ So, I readjusted a double down, into something else, called some other thing and then we got to something else, something else.
We do two-and-a-half minutes and get to the finish, come to the back and they’re like, ‘That was great.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, what now?’ And then I think it led to a M.S.G. U.S. Title match with Sherri Shepherd in MVP’s corner or something. They made it a big deal. I was like, ‘Oh! It’s cool.’ We got a cool thing and then slowly off and running a little bit.
The match in question between Nemeth and MVP took place on the 1st of May 2009 edition of SmackDown. It would be another year before Nemeth claimed his first gold in the company and two before he won the World Heavyweight Championship for the first time.
Nic Nemeth was released by WWE in September 2023 alongside a host of other stars. Since then Nemeth has debuted in TNA Wrestling as well as New Japan Pro Wrestling.