Nic Nemeth: The Cornerstone Of WWE’s Original YouTube Deal Was Zack Ryder’s YouTube Show

Nic Nemeth comments on Matt Cardona’s self-made rise in both WWE and the independent circuit. 

Nic Nemeth and Matt Cardona have been the best of friends and the bitterest of enemies on camera since their names were Dolph Ziggler and Zack Ryder, respectively. Still, Nemeth has always respected Cardona’s hustle from the days when he was putting up his own YouTube show to get noticed by WWE. That show would not only be pivotal to the rivalry heading into WWE TLC 2011. It would also be the linchpin of WWE striking a deal with YouTube in that era. 

Speaking with Bill Pritchard of WrestleZone, Nemeth recalled how important it was for WWE to put Z! True Long Island Story on its YouTube channel. 

“[Zack] Ryder was so important to WWE’s YouTube. The YouTube channel came into a deal with WWE, and the cornerstone of the plan was, ‘We need Zack Ryder’s YouTube show, or there is no WWE YouTube deal.’ Can you imagine? I couldn’t imagine hearing that about The Rock. Let alone, ‘It’s Zack Ryder’s show or there is no deal.’ What a crazy thing. So he went above and beyond,” Nemeth explained. “Things like that made him stand out.”

“We said, ‘Listen. We are not going to be, at the moment, huge players on TV. Some weeks we are not even on. But if we can continue this, I’ll hack into your show, we’ll do a thing. We’ll flip some video things. Even if I live 20 states away, we can make it seem like I was there. We can do all these different things.’ That was getting the creative juices flowing,” Nemeth said. 

Nic Nemeth respects that same hustle that has carried Matt Cardona to a successful career on the independent circuit. 

“Right now, he is the guy on the independent scene. I’m sure there is a few [others], but he is a guy that does not need a machine behind him. He is the machine behind himself. He’s better off not being at any of the companies right now. If he feels like it, if he can help them out, down the line, absolutely,” Nemeth said. “When it comes to TNA, I love seeing him. Because I know he’s not just going to show up and do his work. He’s going to make some video that leads up to it and then all of these things afterward. He’s always going. I respect that about him so much. I hate his guts, so it’s funny that we get to have this match, all these years in the making.”

The aforementioned match where the men will reignite their rivalry was supposed to take place during the TNA iMPACT! tapings in Spartanburg, South Carolina, but will now take place at Skyway Studios in Nashville, Tennessee. Learn more here. 

Fightful has live coverage of TNA iMPACT! on AXS every Thursday.  We also have a podcast that breaks down all the action after the show airs on our YouTube channel.