10! 10! 10! 10 Things You Didn't Know About Tye Dillinger
3. He Tagged With Dolph Ziggler
Shortly after all OVW operations were shifted to WWE's new Florida Championship Wrestling developmental reboot in mid-2008, Dillinger forged a partnership with former Spirit Squad member and Kerwin White caddie Nic Nemeth.
The talented Nemeth had earned his brief flirtations with the main roster thanks to some athletic displays in limited roles, but found himself temporarily relegated back to the minor leagues whilst creative planned their next move with his skills.
As Gavin Spears and Nic Nemeth, they promptly defeated Eddie Colon (Primo) and Eric Perez (Eric Escobar) for the FCW Tag Team Titles, but lost them just over a month later to Heath Miller (Heath Slater) and Joe Hennig (Curtis Axel) right around the time Nemeth would acquire his 'Dolph Ziggler' monicker ahead of a renewed stint on the main roster.
Spears made his own WWE TV debut around the same time as part of ECW's 'New Superstar Initiative', but was established as a jobber-to-the-stars almost immediately with losses to Ricky Ortiz and Finlay.
With no direction on ECW and nothing left to do back in developmental, Spears was released in January 2009, and a successful WWE career for Dillinger looked a virtual impossibility.