Nic Nemeth may have made a name for himself in WWE as Dolph Ziggler but was “heartbroken” when he learned of the moniker.
After previously working as Nicky in the Spirit Squad and as Kerwin White’s caddy, Nemeth was repackaged as Dolph Ziggler in 2008 and is a two-time former World Champion.
On a recent edition of the “Wrestling Perspective” podcast, Nemeth spoke about being approached with the moniker and his reaction at the time.
“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.’
“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 was released from WWE in September of last year. He has since appeared for TNA Wrestling, New Japan Pro Wrestling, and GameChanger Wrestling (GCW).
