Nic Nemeth Recalls Nearly Being Fired From WWE for a Celebrity Storyline

WWE has always used the crossover potential between big Hollywood names and their company to their advantage. That has continued over the years with names like Bad Bunny, Jelly Roll, Stephen Amell, Logan Paul, Snooki, and so many more. Back in the mid-2000s, WWE called up Wolverine himself, Hugh Jackman, for an appearance on WWE Raw. Jackman was to accompany Zack Ryder in his title match against Nic Nemeth, f.k.a. Dolph Ziggler. During the memorable spot, Jackman punches Ziggler in the face. In order to keep kayfabe in wrestling, Ziggler thought it would be a good idea to post about needing x-rays for a fractured jaw on his Twitter account. 

As it turns out, when the media started picking up on his post and reached out to WWE for comment, it landed Ziggler in hot water with the person he refers to as “second in command.”

“The next day (after moment with Hugh Jackman on Raw), I said, ‘I have to go for x-rays. I may have a slight fractured jaw’ and by the time the next morning came around, I was being threatened with being fired from WWE because I had lied and TMZ was calling them to check on it,” Nemeth said on the Going Postl podcast. “I go, ‘I’m just trying to protect the storyline.’ I said, ‘I didn’t say Hugh Jackman put me in a hospital or I’m having a heart attack I was like, oh, there’s a chance there’s a hairline fracture and I’m gonna get x-rays to keep it vague’, because it’s wrestling… Because it was such a good punch and everybody was talking about it that night and the next day, I was so excited. It all worked out and Broski was on a tear, I was so excited about it, I go, ‘Let me add a little extra to it’ and then the second-in-command was like, ‘I don’t wanna have to fire you but you’re gonna have to recant and take this down…’ Meanwhile, cut to two years later or the rest of WWE’s existence, they’d be begging for that kind of publicity but whatever and I said it in a nice way but I took it down but, for the next couple of weeks, I wore mouthguards and did Miz’s punch in the face gimmick that he did for a month or whatever… and it was really, really fun. I think I had matches with Miz anyway or Broski and it was like, the whole thing was not to not punch me in the face because my jaw might be broken and it was the best. That stuff makes it so much fun on the weekends.”

In September of 2023 soon after WWE merged with the UFC, many WWE Superstars were cut from the roster, including Mustafa Ali, Dana Brooke (TNA’s Ash by Elegance), Ziggler, Shelton Benjamin and Aliyah, to name a few. For Nemeth, he’s found great success in both TNA and NJPW where he currently holds the IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship. 

H/T: POST Wrestling