Nic Nemeth: WWE Return? TNA, Almost Signing With AEW, Spirit Squad, John Cena, Infamous Match vs. Goldberg

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Nic Nemeth (@NicTNemeth) is a professional wrestler currently signed to TNA. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet at West Coast Creative Studio in Hollywood, CA to discuss leaving WWE in 2023 and TNA was the right fit, whether joining AEW was ever a possibility, wrestling Goldberg at SummerSlam 2019, the infamous Iron Man match against Seth Rollins that was hijacked by the crowd, the messy New Year's Eve toast with AJ Lee, possibly making a return to WWE TV, a potential Hall of Fame induction, and more!

On signing with TNA:

"There were so many people that were letting me know that I was going to AEW that they confused themselves to be extra surprised because they had told me that I was going there. They let me know they knew I was, and they were so blown away by this surprise. I go, I didn't lead you to believe that, you told me, I didn't tell you. So many people were like, 'Hey, 91 days [after your WWE release], I know where you're going.' I'm like, Hey, cool. I'm not sure, but hey, let me know."

On how the surprise was kept a secret:

"There's only a few surprises in the business that can still get people excited. I went out of my way, even some close friends, to say hey, I'm just watching the game, doing something and not saying anything, just because there's so few things that are kind of cool, and we always kind of ruin them. Even if I told just two or three wrestler friends, it would have been less of a surprise somehow, one way or another. But like an hour before, I'm like, okay, I can tell some people, but I still didn't. I'm waiting, and then also Ash By Elegance was also backstage, and I was like, Hey, cool. We both get to have this surprise together. This is kind of fun. Nobody knew, and I wasn't gonna tell anybody. I don't think I told my parents. I think Ryan knew. But we were also not telling my parents or anybody, just in case."

On when he was thinking about what’s next after WWE:

"Three years before that. Yeah, signing my last deal for an astronomical amount of money just to keep me there was cool, but I said I don't see myself staying for the full thing. I don't see you guys paying me for the full three years of this, because what I'm doing right now is basically break glass in case of a pay-per-view match, or somebody needs an opponent for something, and that's okay. But it really was a lot of money, and I was ready to leave, and I go, I'm not gonna stay for the full time, because I only have a certain amount of years to be looked at as a top guy, World Champion at any company, and if I stay for three full more years, it's gonna be like another year after that, and then who knows how this works out. So with the full intention of either some mutual agreement here, or me getting out year and a half or two to go see what I can do and prove to myself. I'm like, Oh, I was in this bubble for 20 years. I know all the people who come in and out, and it's a rotating cast, but for the core people in there, I knew them. I knew them really well. I knew what I was capable of and what I could do. But I go, I've talked all this sh*t for 15 of those 20 years. I need to go do it outside of this bubble, and it's for me, but also to let some people know I know you're doing three-minute matches with no entrance at the moment, but we forgot that every pay-per-view you're on, you stole the show whether you wanted to or didn't want to. And I go, I need to prove this to myself that I could be a World Champion at any company in the world, just because this one decided I'm not on that list, I can show everybody else still. I need to prove to myself, and I really wasn't sure. I'm gonna go to Japan, I'm gonna go to TNA, I'm gonna go to independents, I'm gonna go to Mexico. I want to see if, without people going, 'Hey, great job, great job,' just because I was there, I needed to know when I got out of there, okay, I can still go, because I hadn't been tested in a couple of years. Because it was a lot of times like, Hey, you have an eight-minute match. But we know the deal. A lot of it was myself and Robert Roode just out there with Street Profits or somebody, and a lot of those eight-minute matches became four-minute matches by the time it got to us. And then do you want it down to two and a half, or do you want to cut your entrance? Cut out our entrance, so we can give them a wrestling match, and you're seeing two minutes of guys just doing moves, and that's okay for a TV show sometimes at that point, but it wasn't the best use of us, and it wasn't the best use of me being there to do it. So I wrote a really, really long email to Vince, Hunter, Bruce, Ed, and maybe one other person, and it was a compliment sandwich. 'This is the greatest thing ever. I'm the luckiest guy in the world. I will never not say that you're using me, or a role that a local would be in, but you're paying me as the WrestleMania main eventer, this is bad for you, and this is bad for me.' At this point, because of the timing of the company about to be purchased by someone else, that was the best bet to get out of it. Because in the past, I'm like, 'Hey, I want out.' They're like, 'Sorry, you're signed. You're not getting out of this.' Okay."

Did you ask for your release? 

"Yes. So I said, 'Do me a favor. Let's do this as soon as possible, or I'm down to talk if you want to say something else or go with some different route.' But I go about a year and a half into the three years, or just under two years, and nobody wrote me back, except for Vince. And he said, 'Wow, this is incredible. This is a lot to read. I'm not sure what to do.' And I said, 'Vince, I will fly to Stanford tomorrow morning and we will finish this or talk about it, or find a new role, or at least let me go away for five years, something.' He goes, 'Give me a week to think about it.' I said, 'I really want to figure this out right now.' He goes, 'Give me one week. It's a lot to process.' I said, okay, and the next week I was on the list of people who were released. So, yeah, it worked, if they were not in the process of cutting some things to trimming the fat to be purchased by another company, I would assume that I would been in there for another year and a half or so."

On knowing he wouldn’t get released unless he asked:

"I like to complain all the time, my thing is to work as much as possible, like a workaholic would, and then complain about always working. That's the thing, 'Why don't you just take some time off? You saved your money.' I'm like, no, because then I can't complain about always working. That's the thing that I have in my head at all times. So I was never worried about it. The first 15 years of my career, I was worried about it every single time the releases came out, because a lot of times either I'm losing end of the stick most of the time or not being utilized at the top, maybe 12 years of those 20. And then it became like, Oh, I'm good. I could survive anywhere. So if it doesn't work out here, it'll work out somewhere else. And the last couple of years I was like I would come back and not dare them to do it, but say things that would be alluding to daring them to do it. 'Oh, you want me to go be World Champion everywhere else but here, and make your main events look [great]?' By the way, 2018 2019 we weren't putting out the best product. I was a little disappointed in some things that was happening and myself, obviously, always, but that's why I stuck with the [someone said] 'Hey, did you know you lost? You're talking about your stealing the show last Monday.' I'm like, 'I don't know. I don't watch.' That's where that started from. I don't watch wrestling because it was like a joke to get me out of having to argue with someone who half pretends it's real and half pretends it's fake. So I leaned into the I'm phoning it in, and they won't fire me. I don't even try. And then it got to a point where fans and people who write online articles started to go 'Nic phoned this one in this week.' It was just like I tricked them by saying it so much, because I would say come, 'Oh, me phoning is still everyone else's best. It's better.' But I wouldn't, I can't allow myself to do that. But if I wasn't having a 25-minute pay-per-view match, I'm having a six-minute match where I'm kind of getting beat up and thrown around, I would still go above and beyond to do it and be like, Oh, look, he's phoning it in. He only had a six-minute match. I'm not the Booker. I'm just leaning into a bit that I'm doing so people genuinely, the last five years he's really been phoning in. I've never once phoned it. I tried, once on a live event to not bump so well, I was yelled at by the bosses. Stop bumping so well, not over the top, Curt Hennig stuff, but stop being so crisp and good with your stuff. So I tried one time, someone gave me something, and I was like I can never do this again. I half fell a second late. I go, I'm so embarrassed. I can never do this again. So I can't, and that's the workaholic part. Whether it's three minutes with no entrance or 25 minutes with Randy and doing all the work. I have to go. I cannot walk back there. I don't need people applauding me. I need me to go you gave them 11 out of 10." 

On why TNA was the choice:

"I didn't want to sign anywhere because I just got out of a long-term relationship, and I didn't want to get out of a 20-year marriage and go right down to being engaged like six months later. So I really go I need to be able to have the freedom that I could go to Mexico, I could go to Japan, I could go to Germany, I could go anywhere, and then not have to be like, well, it has to be based on someone else's schedule. And Scott D'Amore was begging me. He's like, three years, two years, six months. And I mean this in a very positive way. He goes, 'Dude, you're gonna love it here. Wait until you see the locker room.' You would be a huge piece here. And, I mean begging. 'Give me something about where you're related to this company that we can use, and it'll help you and help them.' He started having a couple of people text me. He had Roode text me, which is pretty great. Well, we're buddies, but it was just like him texting me out of the group chat like, something important is happening. It was really funny and I was like, All right, I'll give it a shot. I go eight dates, so that way I can still travel the world and go test myself. And one day in, it's not even fake, it's real. I'm like, Oh, this locker room kicks ass. Everybody is open to creative ideas and they're really looking for some little spark just to keep rocking and rolling along the way. And the really funny thing is, the first taping I was at, I'm dying. I'm like man, everyone's so great. Locker room's ridiculously nice. I know some people. I just see everybody and I go, Yeah, man, I'm so mad. I'm gonna stay here. One taping in, and one taping in, Scott D'Amore is out, my boss, who said, here's what we're gonna do, here's what we're gonna do, here's what to do." 

And that was the first weekend it was TNA:

"Yes, and that was the big turnover, and I was like you tried to get me to sign a three-year deal, and you're leaving the next week. He didn't know. Didn't know he was leaving, obviously, I mean, as far as I know. The first time I walk over to the monitor, I watched for 90 seconds, and then I watched Leon Slater jump over the top turnbuckle out to the floor, and then get up on his feet. And I go, Oh my God. Who is this guy? What is he, 23? They go, 19. Great! I was like, this guy blows my mind. Because one, I'm very old school, and I like the psychology and making things work, mostly because I can't do the high-flying stuff. A lot of people think I can because I caught Kofi and a bunch of guys forever, but I can't, I'm really good at the other stuff. I saw him doing that and then applying the psychology and I was like, damn it. Why is he so good right now? You're supposed to be good after we help you. I had a match with him, we did something, and we dropped out. And I was like, getting ready to tell him to relax. Oh, he is, damn it. I came to the back, like, you're not supposed to be that good at the in-between stuff at 21 he goes, I'm 20. I'm like, okay, got it, yeah. So it was like he was pissing me off that he doesn't just do the cool stuff, he was actually applying the psychology to everything. And I went, Man, this guy's gonna be something big, and we all just watched it over the last year."

On whether he was close to joining AEW:

"I wasn't. I love so many people there. I've had a couple of conversations with Tony in the past, and I rooted for those guys every step of the way. AEW being a thing helped a bunch of people out, worst-case scenario, with negotiating and setting up their career for years down the line. I go if this ends in two or three years, it helped a bunch of people out and put some other people on TV, and they're rocking and rolling and doing their thing. I watched every Wednesday, because I have to talk about it on Thursday. And it's another one where I gotta watch wrestling. It's like kind of a joke, but I've like come to learn all the people on the show and watching what they do. If I could do all the stuff that everyone does, their top circle, the whole show, really, it has so many different moving parts and pieces to it that I don't know that I could, from my old style. I can adapt to anything, and I have been, and I even watched. The 2025 version of me still applies some different things that I wouldn't have done a few years ago. But I don't know if in a 35-45 minute match, if it wasn't with me and Bryan Danielson or Jon Moxley, those guys where I know what they've done, and I can move around and do some things, but it's like, if it's remembering a sequence like I'm getting 30 guys in Contra every two minutes, I would be more vacant in the match, instead of like feeling the emotion and just remembering it. I go, I don't know how they do it, but when it comes to those pay-per-views, they blow the roof off, and it's incredible. And I just really thought with TNA, I go, I will never, ever be Kurt Angle. He's just my hero, but I know that he did something special with going to TNA and I go, maybe, just maybe, this guy that a bunch of people, most people, seem to respect and have been waiting to see what I can do, maybe me showing up here and being involved could be another spark that does something, because they're already getting talked about and making some moves, and they've been a insane brand for years. But I go, maybe, just maybe, me being there makes this a bigger and better place by 1%. Then falling in love with the locker room and everyone behind the scenes, I just go, this is the fit. I wasn't going to go anywhere. I didn't want to. A couple dates for somebody and a couple dates at AEW, 100% I would have done that. But I just go I need to travel the world and be able to sleep at night knowing that I can go, because I talked this sh*t for 15 years. No one's better, no one can follow me. Sorry about the booking, but that's not my call. And it's like, now it's like, back it up or don't. And I had to, and I would have gone almost anywhere for a few dates just to check it out, but TNA was the fit. I would have watched their progression from the outside if I wasn't there, but I'm rooting for all those guys and girls."

On how much longer he intends to wrestle:

"Every once in a while, I do. I don't understand how, the way I bump and move my body around and as a workaholic and fly so much, how I am not in more pain and I'm not injured more." 

On a possible WWE Hall of Fame induction:

"I guess I think everybody kind of gets in eventually, but listening to that [my accomplishments], it's like, it's awesome. I know I downplayed the US Title a little bit, and sometimes it was just like, I've been there before, which is like, Hey, we got a bunch of heels going over in this pay-per-view Kofi has to win this match and win the US title back for you after like, two weeks, and you're like, okay, and it doesn't make sense. But there's a lot of times where it did matter and make sense, and it felt good to be like oh, we have a good story, and now a title is involved, and now I'm fighting for it. And now I got it. Now it got taken away from me. Oh, I gotta chase it again. There's a lot, I would say 70% of those things that you announced were like, I'm picturing the pay-per-view that led to it, or where we went afterwards. And it was like, that's, that's what I like. And that 1554 matches on TV would have been so much more if I wasn't always, like, getting yelled at and taken off the show. Sometimes I really feel like there's 10 more TV matches we could have got in there."

Do you feel like you had a Hall of Fame career:

"Reading the paperwork and knowing what I can do? Sure. I would say yeah. But I genuinely don't think about it at all. Some things I focus on, like hey, I have to give my body 11 out of 10 for any match that I'm in, no matter what company it's in, or where it's at, or if there's 80 people or something. But knowing those stats, it's like, yeah, I did, and it won't be mentioned, probably even if I was in the Hall of Fame. But it was like, no one will ever follow that number of shows in a row, without being injured, without being out, without needing a week off."

On what was dropped on him during the New Year’s Eve toast with AJ Lee:

"I think it's a bunch of dog food, and a bunch of other gross stuff. It's not like a big vat of movie fun stuff that smells like pudding or something, it's gross. And I think the gross, gross one was The Spirit Squad one where we got outhouses dumped on us by DX. And the rumor was it was half real outhouses, but that's not real. But that stuff stunk and was gross, and that was tons and tons of wet dog food and even, and if you smell it, it's gross, and it's in your hair and your ears and stuff and like, but you know what? Vince wouldn't ask you to do something that he wasn't gonna do. He was out there with us getting covered with it."

On wrestling Goldberg at SummerSlam 2019:

"So I assumed it would be two minutes of heat, but like me moving out of the way, him taking himself out to a turnbuckle, and then a couple of moves from him, and we go to his finish or something. And I was told no, ding, ding, ding, spear, jackhammer. I said 'Vince, why am I in this match when anybody could take a spear and a jackhammer?' We built this up. We pretended it was gonna be Miz, then we pretend it was gonna be Shawn Michaels for one night. And we had this face-off, just so you could play the Goldberg music and make this. What's the point of Ding, ding, ding spear Jachammer? I go, a local could do it, anybody could do it. And he was like, 'Well, I don't know what he can do with you.' I go, 'If I can't be in this match doing something, then I have to leave this company right now.' And I'm not kidding, if this is purely for someone a scarecrow, to take a spear and a jackhammer, I don't want to work here. And also, it was supposed to be my second to last night. Anyway, we'll get to that in a minute. I'm fighting with him all day, and luckily, I'm at a point at in 2019 where it's like, I'm not just gonna go, Okay, you're right. I should just take the moves. I'm fighting. I'm like, it should be something. I should kick him. I should hit him with my finish. I should do something where he has to come up out of it, and we were just going to his finisher anyway. But there should be something other than a bell, because then there's no little ride, there's no anything. There's just a finisher. And if the crowd's hot on his entrance, they don't get hotter. We don't take them down. We don't bring them up. I pitched a million different ways to do something, and finally it was a super kick on the bell, get a false out of it. Super kick him again, and then get broken in half. And I go, Yeah, okay, that's something, at least. There's some up and down that we can go with. And I love Renee, happens to be on the call there, and I love making fun of her, because she's so good at so many things in our business. It really pisses me off. She's so good at like, 57 out of 58 things in our business. She's not great at calling action, which I get to bust her balls for, which is great, but she's so good at everything. But I love she didn't know what we were doing, and it's just ding, ding, ding. And we both stand there, and I hit him under the chin with my super kick try and kind of put him down. And she just goes, 'Oh my God!' I really go now we got them for a second. That's all we needed was something, if we get them on a close kick out here, at the time, super kick was my finish. If we get them, if he's just, like, not kicking out at zero, he's a hero, like, let's get 1, 2, oh! And we got two moments out of one move, and he's just gonna spear me anyway. And of course, he kicked out at one or something, because he's really good at wrestling. Then we got to the second one, and I spaced it out. I go, break me in half, and he did, and we got to get a couple more out of it, and it genuinely hurt like hell every time. But that's part of the business, that's the deal. At the beginning of the day, it was pretty easy to go around a few different things, but the spears really hurt. And I was just like, man, getting out of that last one before he was leaving. I was like, Man, I got one more, just get up and take it. It's gonna be all right. But that's how it should be for crazy spears. For someone who works once a year, or is in the match once a year or something, it should be like a badass spear, and it should be real, and I might have a cracked rib or something. I didn't, but I would have been fine with things. That's part of the deal. But I was pitched the idea to go with Goldberg because I was going to leave the company. It was going to be, I'll leave the names out of it who pitched the idea to me who said, 'Everything that you do when you put over so many people. Other people put over someone when they leave. You're the only person who's going to put over two people on the way out, because we know you can.' And I went, Oh! I was drinking the Kool-Aid. They didn't believe in it. But I was like, Oh yeah, you know what? Damn it. Goldberg on Sunday, and that Monday, I wrestle Miz with my career on the line, and he beats me. I wanted to make sure he tapped me out with his version of the figure four, but some version of that to like I'm helping my friend on the way out. I'm giving his figure four the best sell that he'll ever have. So that gets passed on to him. And I lost on Sunday to Goldberg, I'll lose there to Mike, and then I was out of the company and on a handshake deal, I was out. And that day I was told that I would not be allowed to be out."

On a possible WWE return:

"Maybe, but I really love what I'm doing. I really, really love what we're doing as a company, and what I get to do on my free time, plus with the company. So sure, possibly something. [But still be with TNA?] Yeah, and that's fine. I've said this since they started talking together and making things public about everything with WWE relationship, I said, if I can help TNA get something, I will be there. If it's to go to NXT and have a match, I'm not interested. I've done everything I've could possibly do in NXT, and if it's to do something with someone that I worked with, like Randy or Cody or Seth or something, I would be open to it if it helped TNA do something, or make a stride, or just get some kind of box checked to help us out. But I otherwise, I will be cheering along on the outside." 

Why no NXT?

"Oh, I don't think there's anywhere for me to go there. I was the champ, and if I went there and was in a battle royal and lost, what am I doing? That doesn't help TNA get on the map somewhere. Now, if it's come fight our champion and and because of this, we'll have someone come to TNA and do something. Please use me to negotiate, because I want what's best for TNA, and there's some things there, but for the most part, I would much rather NXT, especially what NXT is, let's get Leon Slater there. Let's get some people who are young, up-and-comers, who get a piece of that. And then maybe the eyes of the boss of instead of just Shawn Michaels, maybe Triple H goes, who the hell is this guy? Who is this girl? Oh, my God. Okay, we can bring them up and do something with them, and that's what I would much rather see. We have an insane talent roster, guys and gals that some I'm just getting to know, but some I've been locked in and following, and that would be great for them. I don't think me being there helps TNA. And if it does, you bet your ass I’m there."

On the infamous Iron Man match with Seth Rollins:

"This was at the time where, no matter what you think of Roman, now he's amazing, 11 out of 10. But at the time, he was being forced on people to constantly be the guy, and he's great. But just at the time, he was force fed nonstop. Vince goes, this is gonna stick one way or another, whether it takes 6 years or 10 or whatever. They're like, God, we're so sick of this, the same guy every time he's in the main event, and he's out. They go, God, I wish the guys fighting for the Intercontinental title would be out there. I wish Seth would be in the main event. Wish Dolph would get it. We got it. We got a shot. Finally, against the boss's maiden wishes, we're going to main event this pay-per-view, Intercontinental title is in the main event. It's an Iron Man match. Seth, who you love, Dolph, who you mostly hate, and are good wrestlers. The guys that you are begging for, the workhorse guys, to get a shot. All the stars align. Vince still says no, and we talk him into it. We're main eventing the show, and like three minutes in the crowd just starts doing the clock. I just put a hold on. I'm like, man, what is happening? And they're not even doing the clock right, so it's kind of screwing me up. Then I missed something, because they're going, '7,6...' and it's like 10 or something. I'm like, what? It's not even a countdown. It's just the time. And then a third of the way through they go, 'Don't worry, don't worry, we're taking it off the screen.' I go, 'No, no, don't do that.' They take it off the screen. So the crowd just starts going '10, 9...' every 10 seconds. It's not even every minute now, they're doing it every 10 seconds. So now, instead of the last 10 seconds of every minute, it's every 10 seconds. They're just counting down. And now I don't know what time it is, and now, most importantly, they're not paying attention to the match. I go, man, that's on us to get them back. We tried, and it wasn't my best night, because I was a little out of it, because I was trying to do something on the fly that would change. But I'm trying to express that to Seth, while we're going to these pieces that we got to get to every certain amount of minutes. And it's just yeah, the crowd, internet crowd, live crowd, they begged for a shot for the IC title, for Seth, for myself, anything but Roman, they got it, and Vince went, 'See I was right, you're all wrong.' And then it was out. So thanks a lot Pittsburgh."

What is Nic Nemeth grateful for?

"Family, that I get to work with my brother, and never putting on the brakes."

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