Nic Nemeth

Nic Nemeth in 2023

###

Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.

**Nicholas Theodore Nemeth** (born July 27, 1980), better known under the ring name **Dolph Ziggler**, is an American professional wrestler and stand-up comedian, currently working in New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) under the ring name **Nic Nemeth**. He is best known for his tenure with WWE from 2004-2023. Known for his athleticism and versatility, Nemeth is regarded as one of the most talented wrestlers in the world.

After a career in amateur wrestling, where he established several school records for Kent State University, Nemeth signed a developmental contract with WWE in 2004. Upon his return to the main roster in September 2008, Nemeth was repackaged as Dolph Ziggler. Since then, he has held the World Heavyweight Championship twice, the NXT Championship once, the Intercontinental Championship six times, the United States Championship twice, the Raw Tag Team Championship twice, and the SmackDown Tag Team Championship once. Overall in WWE, Nemeth has held 15 total championships. His other accomplishments include becoming the sole survivor of two Survivor Series elimination matches and the 2012 Money in the Bank winner as well as headlining multiple WWE pay-per-view events. Nemeth was released from WWE in September 2023 as part of budget cuts relating to the merger between WWE and Endeavor, ending his 19-year run with the company.

After being released from WWE, Nemeth would return to the independent circuit. In January 2024, he would make his debut in New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) appearing in the crowd alongside his brother, Ryan at Wrestle Kingdom 18 under the ring name Nic Nemeth.

## Early life

Nicholas Theodore Nemeth was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on July 27, 1980. He has been a fan of professional wrestling since he was five years old, when he attended a wrestling event at the Richfield Coliseum, and he decided to become a professional wrestler at age 12. He later revealed on Colt Cabana's *Art of Wrestling Podcast* that he chose his WWE name "Dolph" because that was his great-grandfather's name, and his friend suggested the surname "Ziggler". Nemeth attended St. Edward High School in Lakewood, Ohio, where he was an amateur wrestler and holds the school record for most pins in a career with 82. At St. Edward, he was teammates with Gray Maynard and Andy Hrovat.

During his time at St. Edward, the wrestling team won the National Championships on two occasions. He was a collegiate wrestler at Kent State University, eventually setting what was then the record for most career wins in the team's history. His record was passed in 2006; as of 2010, he stands second all-time in career victories at Kent State. He had 121 career wins between 2000 and 2003. He majored in political science with a pre-law minor. Prior to his WWE tryout, he had been accepted to the law school at Arizona State University, where he was due to start his first semester. He was a three-time All-Mid-American Conference champion, winning the 165 lb (75 kg) tournament in 2000, 2002, and 2003; as of 2010, he is the last wrestler from Kent State University to have won three wrestling conference championships.

## Professional wrestling career

### New Japan Pro-Wrestling (2024–present)

After being released as part of budget cuts relating to the merger between WWE and Endeavor, Nemeth made his debut for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) at Wrestle Kingdom 18 on January 4, 2024, appearing ringside as a spectator along with his brother Ryan. After David Finlay won the IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship, Nemeth confronted Finlay, leading to a brawl between the two men, which carried overt into the backstage area, with Nemeth challenging Finlay to a title match. On January 9, it was announced that Nemeth would make his NJPW in-ring debut by challenging Finlay for the IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship on February 23 at The New Beginning in Sapporo.

## Professional wrestling style and persona

*Sports Illustrated* described Nemeth as "phenomenal in the ring, with the ability to carry an entertaining match with practically anyone on the WWE roster" and added that his "mic work is top-notch... and there is a genuine believability in his work". He is also noted for his "elite" ability to sell for his opponents. Jim Cornette praised Nemeth and stated, "I knew he was a good athlete, [but] I never dreamed he was going to be the second coming of Curt Hennig."

Nemeth's most commonly utilized finishing maneuvers are a jumping reverse bulldog, known as the *Zig Zag*, as well as a superkick. In the early run of his Dolph Ziggler character, he also used a sleeper hold as a submission finisher. While still in developmental, he also utilized a jumping reverse STO named *Blonde Ambition*. Due to his athleticism and intense showmanship, Nemeth has been referred to as "The Showstealer" and "The Showoff", while in his earlier career he was referred to as "The Natural". Upon teaming with Vickie Guerrero, he was nicknamed either "Blonde Ambition" or "Blonde Perfection". Consequently, his theme music was named "I Am Perfection" during this period of his career, while later on it was changed to "Here to Show the World."

In the early stages of his career, Nemeth was introduced to the audiences as a sidekick with a caddie gimmick. This, however, lasted only a few weeks because Chavo Guerrero aborted his golfer gimmick after the death of his uncle Eddie Guerrero. While there were initial plannings within the company to give him a new gimmick based on his successful career in amateur wrestling and pair him with Kurt Angle, this idea never surfaced. Instead, his first longer lasting gimmick became that of male cheerleader Nicky, where he was partnered with four other wrestlers as The Spirit Squad. To ensure their characters were believable, they trained with real cheerleaders and gymnasts. With this gimmick, he saw moderate success, winning the World Tag Team Championship once. After the disbanding of the Spirit Squad he was again sent back to developmental, where he and fellow Spirit Squad member Mike Mondo tweaked the gimmick into a jock and fraternity based new gimmick, now going by the name of "Frat Pack". He would continue this gimmick alongside Brad Allen and Gavin Spears, with whom he won the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship once each.In a 2020 interview, Nemeth voiced amusement as well as creative frustration towards his early gimmicks, stating that he tried to make them work, knowing they could only fail, just to break through in professional wrestling.

By 2008, Nemeth was repackaged as Dolph Ziggler, a bleached-blonde and self-absorbed narcissist. Debuting as a heel, Ziggler repeatedly declared himself as "perfection" and would display an extremely arrogant attitude, while at the same time using dirty tactics. When he turned face in 2013, his character shifted towards a man out to prove himself and never giving up.

## Stand-up comedy

Nemeth grew up as a fan of comedians. In 2018, Nemeth started seriously moonlighting as a stand-up comedian while still wrestling for WWE. This led to him headlining shows close to the arenas for the 2018 SummerSlam and Survivor Series pay-per-views; he used the big WWE events to piggyback on for his first major shows, due to there being a lot of wrestling fans in the area. Following the 2019 Royal Rumble event, he embarked on his first headlining tour from the end of January to the end of March. He took a break from WWE television to focus on the tour. He later continued the tour, announcing two shows in Texas taking place in late May.

## In other media

Ziggler appeared on the November 3, 2009, episode of *Deal or No Deal* with Maria Kanellis and Eve Torres. He appeared on *Lopez Tonight* on August 9, 2010. Nemeth appeared in a 2011 episode of *Silent Library* alongside Chris Masters, Trent Baretta, JTG, Caylen Croft, and Curt Hawkins. Nemeth made regular appearances on fellow WWE wrestler Zack Ryder's YouTube web series, *Z! True Long Island Story*, via his own segment named 'Ask Z Heel'.

On February 1, 2012, Nemeth debuted WWEFanNation's *WWE Download* and was the host of the YouTube series. The official *WWE Download* playlist on YouTube described the series as "Dolph Ziggler's sarcastic wit vs. your videos" and each episode consisted of Ziggler reviewing both viral and WWE videos. A new episode of *WWE Download* was uploaded every Monday until the show ended on January 28, 2013, after 53 episodes but returned for one time only on September 30, 2014. In August 2013, Nemeth was cast by Max Landis to appear in the 2015 film *Me Him Her*.

In 2016, Nemeth would appear in a series of ads advertising KFC. and 2017. In the ads, he dressed as KFC founder Colonel Sanders. The first ad notably had Nemeth cutting a promo on The Miz, who was dressed as a chicken. This led to a dark match where Nemeth, as Colonel Sanders, defeated Miz in a squash match.

Nemeth began appearing on the Fox Business Network program *Kennedy* hosted by Lisa Kennedy Montgomery in 2017. As of 2018, he has appeared on the show 6-8 times.

## Personal life

Nemeth has two brothers. His younger brother Ryan is also a professional wrestler, currently signed to AEW, who previously worked with WWE in NXT under the ring name Briley Pierce. His other brother, Donald, was sentenced to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter, kidnapping, and robbery for his role in a botched robbery attempt that led to the murder of a former Marine in January 2016.

Nemeth is good friends with his former Spirit Squad teammates, particularly Michael Brendli, with whom he lived in Florida until 2008. He previously dated comedian Amy Schumer, who split up with him because she considered him "too athletic" in bed.

Nemeth is fluent in American Sign Language.

Nemeth is an avid fan of the Cleveland Browns.

## In wrestling

* **Finishing moves**
	+ Sleeper hold, sometimes with bodyscissors – 2010–2012; used as a signature move thereafter
	+ Superkick
	+ *Danger Zone* (Jumping reverse bulldog) – 2008–present
* **Signature moves**
	+ Dropkick, sometimes from the top rope
	+ *Famouser* (Leg drop bulldog)
	+ Headlock, sometimes while performing a headstand
	+ *Heart Stopper* (Jumping elbow drop with theatrics, sometimes preceded by multiple elbow drops)
	+ *Satellite DDT* (Jumping DDT
	+ Multiple neckbreaker variations
		- Snap
		- Standing
		- Swinging
	+ Scoop powerslam, sometimes inverted
	+ Shoulder jawbreaker
	+ Sitout facebuster, sometimes from the top rope
	+ Stinger splash, sometimes followed by multiple punches to a cornered opponent, or a swinging neckbreake

## Championships and accomplishments

* ***Pro Wrestling Illustrated***
	+ Ranked No. 9 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the *PWI 500* in 2013
* ***Rolling Stone***
	+ Wrestler of the Year (2014)
	+ Worst Storyline (2015) – with Rusev, Summer Rae and Lana
* ***WrestleCrap***
	+ Gooker Award (2015) – feud with Rusev, Summer Rae and Lana
* ***Wrestling Observer Newsletter***
	+ Most Improved (2011)
	+ Most Underrated (2011)