10 WWE Gimmick Reboots That Saved The Wrestler's Career

6. Nicky Of The Spirit Squad To Dolph Ziggler

How do you take four up-and-coming young guns who are tearing it up in your developmental system and completely sabotage their careers? You give them a male cheerleading gimmick. In late 2005, there were rumblings about Vince McMahon wanting to give male cheerleader gimmicks to some Ohio Valley Wrestling superstars, and sure enough, he made good on his promise. Nick Nemeth, along with Ken Doane, Mike Mondo, and Johnny Jeter were given names of Nicky, Kenny Mikey and Johnny and formed The Spirit Squad (along with Nick Mitchell, who was awful). To be fair to the Squad, they were used prominently in the Vince/Shawn Michaels feud, and then became Tag Team Champions the night after Wrestlemania, but by the end of the year, most of them were sent back to OVW and the gimmick was dropped. Johnny and Mikey never recovered. Thankfully, Nick Nemeth persevered. After a failed stint as Kerwin White's caddy, Nemeth came back to the WWE in 2008 as Dolph Ziggler, and slowly rose up the ranks due to his talent and charisma. By 2011, he was already a World Heavyweight Champion, and his Money in the Bank cash-in in 2013 received one of the loudest reactions in WWE history. Needless to say, Dolph's come a long way from the male cheerleader.