Nic Nemeth Explains Why Giulia's NXT Debut Was A 'Very Non-WWE Thing To Do'

Earlier this month, Giulia made a surprise debut at WWE NXT No Mercy, confronting champion Roxanne Perez in the ring following a hard-fought title match. Reports have indicated that the internal reaction to Giulia within WWE was positive, but there were some outside the company, such as Thunder Rosa, who brought up issues with the debut. Speaking on "Busted Open Radio," former WWE star Nic Nemeth (AKA Dolph Ziggler) agreed with Rosa, stating that the crowd reaction to Giulia should have been stronger.

"In this case, it's a very non-WWE thing to do," Nemeth said. "Don't take this the wrong way, [but] it's something that AEW might do. But also, I feel like if we did the data set for the AEW crowd, a quarter of that crowd is watching New Japan and everything else. And if you take that NXT crowd or [those] WWE fans, they have no idea who that is."

Nemeth believes the people in charge of NXT's creative overestimated how many people would know who Giulia was. While WWE had previously shown the former STARDOM wrestler in the crowd during an NXT event, that wasn't enough of an introduction for her to debut to have full impact.

"She's presented as a star, but it was a little underwhelming," Nemeth continued. "She looks the part. She looks amazing. I've seen her work [and] I'm blown away, but they did her no favors."

Later on during the show, Nemeth expressed his belief that the company should have presented video packages for Giulia in the weeks leading up to her debut. Instead, WWE tried to rely on the knowledgeable "internet crowd" to hype her appearance, which did not translate in NXT.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Busted Open Radio" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.