Speaking at GalaxyCon Columbus over the weekend, former WWE Superstar Nic Nemeth (f.k.a. Dolph Ziggler) appeared for his first convention where he spoke publicly for the first time since his shocking release from the company in September. During the panel, he disclosed who he’s got his eye on wrestling first.
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In a report released a few weeks ago by Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Meltzer mentioned that Nemeth is “expected” to sign with AEW due to his connections inside the company. Nemeth remarked on the major companies, noting that he’s “lucky” there are as many options out there as there are now. “I’m very lucky that there’s a bunch of options out there. My brother’s in AEW and he says nothing but good things. TNA doesn’t look that bad either. Also, I just did 20 straight years at a company. I would love to do six months or a year where I’m the boss of me,” Nemeth said. “Legitimately, if Zack Ryder [Matt Cardona] wasn’t out there, I don’t know that I’d be like ‘oh, I wanna do my own thing for a little bit.’ I want to go fight him but also not be tied down to another company right away. But I really want to beat him up with no rules, everybody filming. I’m not going to get arrested afterward. Like, it’s all legally signed paperwork.”
Nemeth and Cardona’s long standing history goes all the way back to 2011 when the two were feuding for the WWE United States Championship. It’s also no secret that Cardona has been dominating the professional wrestling world since his release in 2020 right as a worldwide pandemic hit. He’s won titles in IMPACT/TNA, NWA, and DDT as well as all over the independents like GCW, AIW, and HOG, to name a few. Cardona isn’t the only former WWE Superstar that has found success outside of the company.ย
Recently, both Mercedes Monรฉ and Trinity have generated a lot of buzz in the wrestling world. Monรฉ won the IWGP Women’s Championship in early 2023 from KAIRI while Trinity debuted for IMPACT/TNA shortly after. She is the current Knockouts World Champion. Adam Copeland popped into AEW after his WWE contract expired and he’s currently in a program with Christian Cage for the TNT Championship. Nemeth was one of the many shocking releases back in September after pouring nearly two decades into WWE. His 90 day non-compete expires at the end of December.
