Nick Nemeth was a record breaking amateur wrestler in college, and managed to parlay that into getting a WWE tryout with no experience of professional wrestling, signing a developmental contract with WWE in 2004. Nemeth would debut in OVW under his own name, but was undistinguished. It would be a year before he was called up to become the sidekick to Chavo Guerreros drizzling diarrhoea of a lower card heel gimmick, Kerwin White, a privileged (and racist) white middle-class golfer. He was a caddy to a loser. Kerwin White would be retired after Eddie Guerreros death, Vince McMahon recognising that Chavo could only help carry some of the Edsploitation storylines theyd dreamed up if he was wrestling under his own name again. A short while later, his pitiful meal ticket shredded, Nemeth found himself back in OVW again, wondering if his only shot at the big time had gone with it. Told to hang in there, he concentrated on improving his game until he was approached only a short while later about forming a heel stable with four other young bucks: the Spirit Squad, a faction of male cheerleaders. As Nicky, Nemeth would return to the main roster once more, feuding with some of the top stars in the business while desperately trying to figure out how to leverage this increased exposure into a singles run under a better gimmick. When the Spirit Squad were retired by DX at the end of 2006, after less than a year literally being shipped back to OVW in a crate by D-Generation X Nemeth was sure this was it this time. Hed go through minor tweaks to his name and gimmick for the next eighteen months or so, moving from OVW to FCW in the process, until finally he would be called up again, repackaged and renamed as Dolph Ziggler, a cocky rookie intent on introducing himself to everyone in the locker room. It wasnt an auspicious new beginning, but it was better than a caddy or a cheerleader. Zigglers re-re-debut match with Dave Batista, however, raised the game closer to where hed have liked it. It was a midcard TV loss to a main eventer, only a few minutes long, but Ziggler was allowed some impressive offence against the Animal, the commentary team putting over his sudden wild flurries with that tone of delighted shock that helps to sell a newcomer to the audience at home. A heel for the majority of the next few years, Ziggler began to do exactly what hed always threatened to and steal the show, becoming a firm crowd favourite even while playing the villain. Hes pretty much been the WWEs unsung MVP ever since.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
