Dolph Ziggler (Nic Nemeth) On Being Part Of NJPW: This Could Be Something Special

Nic Nemeth (formerly Dolph Ziggler) comments on his appearance at NJPW. 

Nic Nemeth made a surprise appearance at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 18, taking a front row seat alongside his brother Ryan Nemeth during the middle of the show and then getting into a confrontation with David Finlay after the IWGP Global Championship bout. 

Speaking on Busted Open Radio, Nemeth was asked about his trip to Japan and if he had been thinking of going to NJPW.

“I was thinking about that for a long time, going different places for the last few years, especially focusing on ‘what do I want to do for the next move?’ That’s been for a few years, working out a plan. I heard so many different things from Ambrose [Jon Moxley] and different guys saying, ‘You need to see what this locker room feels like. You need to see, being here.’ I was like, ‘Man, I wonder if…can I adapt to this?’ I feel like I can adapt to anything. Can I? You do a little homework and bounce around and you go, ‘This would be something really special.’ I’ve made a career out of famously saying, ‘I don’t watch wrestling. I hate it. It was usually a joke. I just hated what I was doing and you couldn’t really critique it at home. So I go, ‘I hate wrestling.’ But you get a moment of, one, I can be part of something special. Two, seeing it in a completely different environment. Not just go to a different state and wrestle, not go to a different company in the United States, but to expand and go, ‘I feel like I can do everything here. Now, I’m going to start over at other places.’ Can I start from the bottom or middle and re-create it? Almost like a Twilight Zone where the guy wants to go back in time and go, ‘Can I remake my fortune?’ Can I remake my career on a different level and 2.0 scale?

“After going, ‘I don’t watch wrestling I’m retired.’ After going above and beyond and secretly getting to Japan and putting this all in place, just getting there and walking into the locker room, and knowing two or three faces, which really helped. I was going somewhere, I brought my brother with me, and I didn’t know people. I didn’t know if I was welcome. Am I scumbag to these guys? Am I okay? Can I earn my way into this locker room, what’s the situation? It was so weird, but fun, because you see a couple of faces and feel, ‘I’m kind of at home, I’m not accepted yet, how can I get accepted, what can I do to prove I want to be here, not for myself but to help, to make the show better, the company better, to make more eyes.’ You really start to think you can. I got to watch closely the entire card, and watching it in person I go, ‘Okay, this is different, this is special. I can do something with this guy. I can see this aspect of me going here and making this happen.’ Since I was a surprise, I didn’t get a chance to walk around the arena. I was hidden in the back. When my brother and I walked out, I went, ‘Oh my God, this is not just another level, this is big, this is huge,’ and I got little shivers down the back of my neck and I went, ‘this can be something so special. I’m going to do what I can to make that happen.'”

Nemeth will make his NJPW debut at NJPW New Beginning in Sapporo against David Finlay. 

Nemeth was released from WWE in September 2023 and became a free agent in December when his 90-day non-compete clause expired. 

Elsewhere during the interview, Nemeth commented on his WWE release. You can find his full comments by clicking here. 

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