Nic Nemeth Recalls Threatening To Walk Out Of WWE Over 2019 Match Against Goldberg

In 2023, after nearly 20 years with the company, Dolph Ziggler (AKA Nic Nemeth) was released by WWE, later revealing that he asked for the company to cut him. As it turns out, Nemeth nearly walked out of WWE years prior, as revealed in conversation with Chris Van Vliet on "Insight."

The incident took place ahead of WWE SummerSlam 2019, with Vince McMahon deciding to book Ziggler in a match against Goldberg. Nemeth assumed it would be a short match, but he was taken aback when he learned Vince McMahon's plan. The bell was to ring, and Goldberg would immediately hit Ziggler with a spear, a jackhammer, and then pin him for the win. Nemeth pushed back.

"I go, 'Vince, why am I in this match when anybody could take a spear and a jackhammer?'" Nemeth said. "He was like, 'I don't know what he can do with you.' I go, 'If I can't be in this match doing something, then I have to leave this company right now, and I'm not kidding. ... If this is purely for a scarecrow to take a spear and a jackhammer, I don't want to work here.'"

Nemeth recalled a back-and-forth between himself and McMahon on the day of the show. By that point in his career, Nemeth had built up enough confidence backstage to tell McMahon when he thought he was wrong and, in this instance, he won out. Eventually, he heard a pitch that he thought worked out for everyone involved.

"I pitched a million different ways to do something and finally it was: superkick on the bell, get a false [finish] out of it, superkick him again, and then get broken in half," Nemeth stated. "And I go, 'Yeah, okay. That's something at least. That's some up-and-down we can go with.'"

Still, things didn't proceed exactly as expected. After the initial superkick, when Ziggler went for the pin, Goldberg kicked out right away.

"Because he's so good at wrestling," Nemeth added sarcastically.

Though he admitted that Goldberg's offense was quite painful, Nemeth wasn't bothered by it. The wrestling veteran was actually planning on leaving WWE at the time, with McMahon agreeing to let him leave after wrestling The Miz on "WWE Raw" days after SummerSlam. However, the same day as the Goldberg match, he was told that the company was not going to let him out of his contract after all, and he stuck around for four more years.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Insight with Chris Van Vliet" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.