Nick Nemeth
Born	(1980-07-27) July 27, 1980 (age 43)[1][2] Cleveland, Ohio[1][2]
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Dolph Ziggler[3] Nic Nemeth[1] Nick Metro[4] Nick Nemeth[1] Nicky[1]
Billed height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[1][5][2]
Billed weight	221 lb (100 kg)[5]
Billed from	Hollywood, Florida[5]
Trained by	FCW Training[1] OVW Training[1] Steve Keirn[1] Tom Prichard[1]
Debut	November 2004[1]

Nicholas Theodore "Nick" Nemeth^[1] (born July 27, 1980)^[1][2] is an American professional wrestler. He is currently working for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) under the name Dolph Ziggler on the SmackDown brand.^[3] He is also known for his performances with WWE as Spirit Squad member Nicky in 2006.

Nemeth signed a development contract with WWE in 2004, and was sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW). He was brought up to the Raw brand in 2005 as Kerwin White's sidekick. He was, however, sent back to OVW shortly afterwards, where he joined the Spirit Squad. They debuted on Raw in January 2006, and won the World Tag Team Championship before returning to OVW that November. In September 2007, Nemeth was assigned to Florida Championship Wrestling, where he formed a tag team with Brad Allen. He returned to Raw as Ziggler in September 2008, and was drafted to the SmackDown brand in April 2009.

Nemeth is a former World Tag Team Champion as a member of the Spirit Squad, and has also held the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship twice; once with Brad Allen, and once with Gavin Spears.

Early life

Nemeth attended the Roman Catholic 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.^[2] After graduating, he attended Kent State University, and joined their wrestling team, eventually setting the record for most career wins in the school's history.^[2]

Professional wrestling career

Ohio Valley Wrestling and Raw (2004–2006)

Nemeth signed a developmental deal with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in 2004 and was assigned to their farm territory Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), debuting as "Nick Nemeth".

After working for nearly a year in OVW, Nemeth was called up to the main WWE Raw roster, making his TV debut on the September 25, 2005 episode of Sunday Night Heat. He was made the enforcer and sidekick for Chavo Guerrero, Jr., who was using a golfer gimmick and going by the ring name of "Kerwin White".^[2] As such, Nemeth became White's caddy.^[2] His wrestling debut came on an episode of Sunday Night Heat, teaming up with White in a tag team match against Shelton Benjamin and Matt Striker.^[6] After the death of Eddie Guerrero, Guerrero dropped the "Kerwin White" character, and Nemeth no longer played the role of his caddy and tag partner.^[2] After a few months of wrestling in dark matches and at house shows, he was sent back to OVW.^[2]

The Spirit Squad (2006)

In OVW, he became a part of The Spirit Squad (under the name "Nicky"), who were eventually called up to Raw. On January 23, 2006, they had their television debut, appearing on Raw and helping Jonathan Coachman win a Royal Rumble qualifying match against Jerry "The King" Lawler by performing cheers for the Coach and distracting Lawler.^[7] They later became a part of the on-going feud between WWE chairman Vince McMahon and Shawn Michaels. The heel McMahon brought in the Squad to attack Michaels on numerous occasions, including placing them in multiple handicap matches.^[8][9]

They also wrestled in the tag team division, and on April 3, on Raw, won the World Tag Team Championship when Kenny and Mikey, with outside help from the other three Squad members, defeated Kane and The Big Show.^[10][11] After winning the titles The Spirit Squad defended the titles under the Freebird Rule.

Three weeks later, McMahon signed another Handicap match, with the Spirit Squad facing Michaels. The Spirit Squad instead attacked Michaels before the match had started, and Triple H came out to help them, Kenny disrespected him, leading to Triple H helping Shawn Michaels instead.^[12] This led to Triple H and Michaels reforming D-Generation X (DX) and they began a feud with the Spirit Squad.^[13][14] DX played various sophomoric jokes on the Squad and the McMahons, as well as defeating the Spirit Squad in handicap tag matches at Vengeance and a clean sweep in an elimination handicap match at Saturday Night's Main Event.^{[14][15][16][17]}

At the same time as their feud with DX and their alignment with McMahon, the team also wrestled other teams in Raw's tag division over their World Tag Team Title, successfully defending the championship against the teams of Jim Duggan and Eugene, Charlie Haas and Viscera, and Snitsky and Val Venis,^[15] They then entered a lengthy feud with The Highlanders, whom they eventually defeated to retain the titles at Unforgiven.^[18][19]

The Squad as a whole later began a losing streak with separate members losing singles matches to Ric Flair on consecutive episodes of Raw.^[20][21] After two consecutive losses to the debuting Cryme Tyme, Kenny attacked Mikey and announced that he was going to defeat Flair, since no other member was able to do it; he succeeded, despite Flair attempting to even the odds by bringing other WWE Legends,Dusty Rhodes, Sgt. Slaughter, and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, to the ring with him.^[22][23] It was then decided that Flair and one of the legends would wrestle the Squad at Cyber Sunday for the Tag Team Championship.^[23] The fans chose Piper, and he and Flair defeated Kenny and Mikey to win the title.^[24]

The group was "killed off" on the November 27 Raw after they were defeated in a 5 on 3 match by DX and Flair. Then, in a backstage segment that night, DX put all the members into a crate stamped "OVW, Louisville, Kentucky".^[25]

Return to developmental (2007–2008)

Nemeth appeared at the January 17, 2007, OVW taping along with Mike Mondo as the "Frat Pack" and teamed with Mike Kruel in a match against Seth Skyfire, Shawn Spears, and Cody Runnels.^[26] The team disbanded in the early parts of 2007, before teaming up again in August.^[27][28]

In September, Nemeth and Mike Mondo were moved to the Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) developmental territory and in his debut there defeated Hade Vansen.^[29] At the beginning of the year 2008, he tweaked his name to "Nic Nemeth" and began teaming with Brad Allen and Taryn Terrell as their valet. Nemeth and Allen started a frat boy type gimmick with Terrell as a "sorority chick". On March 22, Nemeth and Allen won the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship by defeating defending champions Eddie Colón and Eric Pérez.^[30] On May 12, 2008, he wrestled and lost in a dark match to Ron Killings.^[4] Soon after, however, he returned to the name "Nic Nemeth".^[1] He then added the nickname "The Natural" in front of his ring name while also changing his look.^[1]

Dolph Ziggler (2008–present)

On September 15, 2008, Nemeth re-debuted on Raw, introducing himself in a backstage segment, with a new image, under the name "Dolph Ziggler".^[3] On October 10, 2008, Nemeth was suspended for 30 days for his first violation of WWE's Wellness Program policy.^[31] He returned to Raw on November 17 in a backstage segment with Rey Mysterio and Shawn Michaels. In his first match on Raw under the Ziggler name, he lost to Batista, getting a deal of offense in the form of high impact moves, on the December 1 episode.^[32] The next week he got his first victory as Dolph Ziggler, by countout, against R-Truth.^[33] The following week on Raw, he picked up his first televised pinfall victory as Ziggler, when he beat Charlie Haas.^[34]

On April 15, 2009, Nemeth was drafted to the SmackDown brand as part of the 2009 Supplemental Draft.^[35] He made his debut on the April 17 episode of SmackDown, defeating the United States Champion, Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) in a non-title match, and, as a result, the following week he demanded a match for the championship.^[36][37] On the May 1 episode of SmackDown, however, he failed to win the championship, after he was pinned by MVP.^[38] Ziggler started a rivalry with The Great Khali, losing by disqualification after attacking him with a steel chair. Over the next few weeks, however, Ziggler defeated Khali by countout and disqualification after making it look like Khali had struck him with a steel chair. At The Bash, Ziggler defeated Khali by pinfall, after Kane returned and attacked Khali.^[39] Ziggler then entered an on-screen relationship with Diva Maria, while starting a scripted rivalry with Intercontinental Champion Rey Mysterio, who defeated Ziggler at the Night of Champions and SummerSlam pay-per-views to retain the championship.^[40]

Personal life

Nemeth is good friends with his former Spirit Squad teammates, particularly Michael Brendli, with who he lived in Florida until 2008.^[41]

Nemeth appeared on the November 3, 2009 episode of Deal or No Deal with Maria and Eve Torres.^[42]

In wrestling

• Finishing moves
  • Jumping Russian legsweep^[43]
  • Leaping reverse STO^[44]
  • Zig Zag (Reverse bulldog)^[45]

• Signature moves
  • Dropkick^[46][47]
  • Fireman's carry gutbuster^[46]
  • German suplex^[47]
  • Jumping elbow drop^[47]
  • Leg drop bulldog^[47]
  • Scoop powerslam^[46][47]

• Managers
  • Taryn Terrell
  • Rob Terry
  • Maria^[48]

• Wrestlers managed
  • Kerwin White

• Nicknames
  • "The Natural"^[1]

Championships and accomplishments

• Florida Championship Wrestling
  • FCW Florida Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Brad Allen (1) and Gavin Spears (1)^[30]

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI ranked him #134 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 for 2006^[49]

• World Wrestling Entertainment
  • World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – as a member of the Spirit Squad^[11]

See also

• Spirit Squad

References

External links

• Official website
• WWE profile