Nic Nemeth (Dolph Ziggler in WWE) was a recent guest on the “Busted Open Radio” podcast, where he discussed Mercedes Mone’s debut kicking off last week’s episode of AEW Dynamite, the prevalence of dives in matches, and more.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On Mone kicking off the show: “I have 20 years of that New York experience from TV in my mind going, ‘They won’t bring her out first, right? Because then after that there’s no reason for extra viewers who are just tuning in to stay.’ But also, there’s the fan in me that goes, ‘We’re already chanting for her and this beautifully, terribly-kept secret. … Maybe she’s back out in the main event.’”
On when he would have debuted her: “It’s not breaking down an algorithm for ratings or people getting a spike or hoping to drag [viewers through] a commercial break. It’s just something that is a story that’s built into a business model of it. … I would’ve put it somewhere in the middle with a tease for the main event also.”
On the prevalence of dives in matches: “Everybody dives in a match. But some people are really good at diving, and now the entire crowd is expecting a dive, and if you can do it, you do it and stand out better than everybody else. Or you can do it like [Will] Ospreay and do a triple dive into something, and you make it just part of your repertoire… The psychology in me goes, ‘Man, three people dove before me; why would I dive now in this two to three-hour show?’ I’m a storytelling guy, and I love the psychology part, but I’m very well aware of all the athleticism that comes into being a 2024 hit prospect, free agent wrestler in the world, so I know that actually matters, and that brings some butts into seats too.”
