Nic Nemeth tried to avoid having Dolph Ziggler as his name in WWE.
Nic Nemeth signed a developmental deal with WWE in 2004. After brief runs as Kerwin White and Nicky of the Spirit Squad, he was later repackaged as Dolph Ziggler in 2008. He went on to have a lengthy tenure as Ziggler, and he won the World Heavyweight Championship and the Intercontinental Championship, among other accolades.
Speaking with Dennis Farrell, Lars Frederiksen, & Ace Steel on the Wrestling Perspective Podcast, Nemeth was asked to describe how he reacted to hearing that his name would be Dolph Ziggler. He detailed how he tried to convince Vince McMahon himself to let him use his real name.
“Heartbroken, absolutely heartbroken [laughs], and I am heartless, but I had to get a heart and then smash it in front of myself. I hope I’m remembering this right. I get a call on a Saturday night after an OVW show. ‘Hey, you’re debuting on Monday. Your name is David Diggler,’ yeah, you thought Dolph Ziggler was bad. ‘Your name’s David Diggler. We’re not exactly sure what you’re doing, but just bring your gear.’ I’m like, ‘What, David Diggler?’ They’re like, ‘What, do you have a problem with that?’ I go, ‘Man, that sucks. Why is that the name?’ They go, ‘Well, we needed a name with the same with the same consonant.’ I go, ‘My name’s Nic Nemeth! We’re going with the reality era, it’s n-n. What?’ They go, ‘Nah, you can’t use your real name anymore.’ I go, alright. They go, ‘Alright, we’re going back in to talk to Vince in 15 minutes. You got 15 minutes to pitch him something else.’ So I text everybody in my phone. ‘Guys, I need a double D name.’ So my dad’s name was Don. I had that down there, I had Dolph for Dolph Lundgren. I pitched all these different things, and they go, ‘It’s probably gonna be David Diggler, but we’ll see you on Monday.’ So I get there, it says, ‘Dolph Diggler.’ I’m kind, ‘What?’ So I find Vince for the first time in my life, I bump into him and say, ‘Sir, we just went to reality-based. We got John Cena, Randy Orton, this says David Diggler or Dolph Diggler. My name is Nic Nemeth. You can Google my name, I broke these records. I would love to be the best possible reason that you have legitimacy in this new era.’ He goes, ‘Nope, Dolph Ziggler. It stands out. That’s it.’ He walked away, and I went, ‘Okay, here we go,'" Nemeth said.
WWE released Nemeth in a wave of cuts in September 2023. He has since started working with TNA and NJPW. Nemeth has also ventured out into the independent scene.
Click here to see what Nemeth had to say about joining TNA.
Check out Nemeth's comments about how Shinsuke Nakamura helped him get in contact with NJPW here.
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