Nic Nemeth talks upcoming NJPW debut, last years in WWE

[Chris]

Nearly two months after making his surprise NJPW debut, Nic Nemeth will finally make his in-ring debut for the promotion later this month.

The road to get there began with the former Dolph Ziggler's release from WWE last September -- ending a 19-year run with the company and a bevy of title runs behind him.

Many fans were surprised at the release given his longevity in WWE. However, it wasn't long after that he would go on to surprise people with his next moves.

The first surprise came on January 4th when Nemeth made his NJPW debut at Wrestle Kingdom 18, appearing with his brother, Ryan. During the post-event press conference, Nemeth attacked then-new IWGP Global Heavyweight Champion David Finlay. Now, Nemeth is set to challenge Finlay as part of night one of The New Beginning event in Sapporo on February 23rd.

In our talk that you can watch above on YouTube, I asked Nemeth what his confidence level was heading into the match, knowing people are going to critique whether or not he belongs in an NJPW ring.

"Yeah, that goes through my head every day and I'm not even kidding," he said.

"...That confidence, even for those three-minute matches the last year in WWE, I could have been smoking a cigarette and like texting somebody and go, 'And still crushing it.' But in this case, I'm very nervous."

Nemeth said that he considers this a glorious and huge opportunity and one he views as a "sink or swim" moment.

"It is a big deal, no matter who you are or what you're doing. That is huge. This opportunity, If I go out there and give it like a C+ or an A- minus effort, I don't belong there and that might get exposed right away. I'm nervous about it. Like I said, I'm confident, but every day I go, 'This is the big one here.'

He went on to say that this opportunity will either tell the entire world he's full of crap and a big phony or that he still has it for several more years.

"At 43, (after) 19 years of wrestling, you're not supposed to be totally standing up straight, feeling better than you ever have. But I do and I can't wait to continue to keep doing things."

The end of his WWE run

Nemeth said that for nearly 11 of the 19 years that he was in WWE, he was constantly waiting for that call ahead of WrestleMania when he wasn't booked in hopes that it may be his moment.

"You pitched your ideas, you left your heart out there. But, sometimes it's show business. It doesn't work out."

He said that in the last five years he became the guy where if you needed someone for an emergency main event, he would be there. However, that role came with some pros and cons. On one hand, he realized he was good at his job and lucky to have that position and the respect of the locker room.

But on the other hand, he wanted more.

"There's some respect in that from the locker room, but I hate it because everybody wants to be the world champ. Everyone in their mind, I hope, thinks that they are the best, thinks they should be main eventing WrestleMania, thinks they should have the company on their back. Not everybody should, but everybody should feel that way because if you don't, then what the hell are you doing here?"

He shared that he actually pitched leaving WWE for a few months or more and that they would agree but then call him right back immediately.

"It would be different if I was hobbling around or if I didn't get reactions or wasn't good at my job. I would be happy to take a backseat and help people out. But I'm sitting around six days a week not working basically in the prime of my career. So let's get going. And so I said, 'How about this? How about I leave for six months? How about I leave for a year?' How about I get the hell out of here?' But even a couple of years ago when they said yes, the next Sunday I'd get a phone call, saying, ;Hey, we need you.' It's great."

He said for the last few years, most of the time he was only needed for a four or five minute match and even then, most of the match would get cut and that it was more of a position for an enhancement talent, not someone who was being paid millions of dollars to be there.

"If we have 90 seconds or three minutes, I really feel like we should have an enhancement talent here -- not a guy you're paying millions of dollars to."

Nemeth said his sentiments about that fell on deaf ears for about two years until he decided to write an email to everybody in charge. Only Vince McMahon responded.

"...Finally I wrote a really, really, really heartfelt, really long, mostly positive but some negative, six-page email to everybody in charge. Vince was the only one to write me back and he said, 'Wow, I can't believe this. Let's talk.'

He said he offered to fly to Stamford, Connecticut, the next day if needed but McMahon said he needed a few weeks to figure it out.

"I said, 'Ok, but I gotta leave. Let's talk about how.'"

Two weeks after the initial email and the email conversation with McMahon, Nemeth was released.

https://www.f4wonline.com/news/new-japan/nic-nemeth-on-sink-or-swim-njpw-opportunity-pitching-wwe-on-his-release