Top wrestling star 'blocked from WWE retirement' despite making deal with bosses (2024)

Nic Nemeth is riding high as TNA Wrestling’s World Heavyweight Champion, but his career could have gone very differently if he’d got his way.

The 44-year-old veteran, best known to WWE fans as Dolph Ziggler, has rejuvenated his career since joining TNA and now he’s admitted he was going to retire 2019 after matches with Goldberg and The Miz.

Speaking exclusively to Metro.co.uk, Nemeth recalled agreeing to lose to both men before stepping back from WWE, only for then-WWE boss Vince McMahon to ‘renege on the deal’.

‘Let’s see what I can say here,’ he laughed. ‘It certainly wasn’t my idea after that Goldberg match, “I want to stay and keep wrestling.” Get the hell out of here.’

The decorated champion joked he would tell the full story when he sits down to write his book ‘in a couple of years’, but did admit the situation didn’t pan out like he hoped.

‘We had a handshake deal, and one of us reneged on the deal, and it wasn’t me,’ he teased.

‘It was pitched to me that if you’re leaving, you’re so good at being selfless in this business, only you could give two people you’re “going away match”, unlike everybody else having one,’ he added. ‘And I went, “You know what? Damn it all. Right, I’ll do it.” ‘

The following week after losing to Miz, Nemeth was told ‘that was no longer the deal’, and he had to keep wrestling after recently penning a new contract, although he reached a point where he was begging to be taken off screen.

‘I was really excited to go away, at least for a while, or go somewhere else or disappear for a little bit, just to because of never being injured, never being unavailable,’ he said.

‘A couple times I begged, “Please kill me off on TV, they see me every week for 18 years. I need to leave. Do I have to not sign with you to be able to sit at home for a few weeks to come back?” ‘

Nemeth has built a reputation for his diversity and consistency in the ring, which will be on display tonight at TNA Wrestling Emergence when he takes on Josh Alexander in a 60-minute Iron Man Match.

He pondered: ‘It’s nice to know that your skills, your particular skill set – Liam Neeson and Taken – is needed at all times. And that’s probably why I had a job for 20 years without having a friend in the office, and being five foot 11, 210 pounds.’

Nemeth has been revitalised since his release from WWE almost a year ago, and he’s proud to be part of such a stacked roster in TNA.

‘I’m much more interested in watching where everyone’s coming from and where they’re going, and what the story is,’ he said. ‘The company is hot right now. The company is crushing it.’

A big part of TNA’s growth over the past few years has been Josh Alexander, who will stand across from Nemeth tonight in a highly anticipated rematch.

Hyping up the bout, the champ said: ‘I can entertain, steal the show and want everybody watching me, the sports entertainer part that sells tickets while we’re currently in one of the hottest runs for TNA in the modern era of this new TNA.

‘So I back it up, and I’m going to back it up on Friday at Emergence… And I’m going to prove that I’m the best of both worlds and Josh Alexander, he’s a pro wrestler.’

TNA Wrestling is available to watch via TNA+.

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