Chris Van Vliet interviewed Ryan Nemeth this week on his YouTube channel and podcast.
Nemeth talked about his AEW debut, fans comparing him to his brother (WWE’s Dolph Ziggler), being released from NXT, and more. Here are some highlights and scroll down to check out the full interview:
Nemeth was asked how he got into AEW:
“I went to AEW to see Amanda Huber, Brodie Lee’s wife and her kids because I knew there was going to be a birthday celebration for Brodie Jr. So, I thought I’ll show up and surprise her and say happy birthday to the boy. I used to babysit him in Tampa. As the old wrestling rule goes, if you’re going to be around a wrestling show, always have your gear. So of course, I have a bag of gear with my wrestling boots and shorts. It was nice to see her. They said, ‘Hey, since you’re here, do you want to wrestle a little bit?’ I said, ‘Sure.’ She was happy about that too. All my buddies there were excited about it and instantly to be on TV and wrestle one of the top guys there was incredible.’
Nemeth talked about his release from NXT:
“It was working great for me when Dr. Tom Prichard was head coach and John Laurinaitis was in charge of talent. I was getting treated fairly. Dusty Rhodes thought I was cool. They thought I was good at talking and handsome and going to be on TV right away and I’ll learn to wrestle as I go. That was going great for me. They literally had a top 10 list of talent back then and I was 3. I felt that I really didn’t feel I deserved to be third in this amazing group of people, but, cool, I’ll take it.
Then almost overnight, someone else took over talent and someone else became head coach and I didn’t exist anymore, basically. That’s what happens in any kind of show business thing. If someone else shows up and they like other people, see ya. When the new coach took over, it was super clear to me that this man didn’t like me or that he didn’t like my brother. He’s (the coach) is not there anymore. Certain people, I don’t even like to name and give credit to, but I would call him coach to his face in a way that really to me was, you don’t deserve to be a coach. You’re not a coach and you suck as a coach. I remember the phone call I got from the guy who is the office guy, and a few months before I spoke to him and I said, ‘Hey, I think this coach doesn’t like me and I’m kind of screwed.’ This executive at the time said, ‘I can confirm that. That is true.’ I said, ‘So you know I’m doing really well but the reports you get are changed to say I’m not doing well.’ He said, ‘Yes, I’ve gathered that much.’ I said, ‘Is there anything I can do about this?’ He said, ‘I’m not sure.’ As he called me to release me from my contract, I said, ‘Hey, do you remember a few months ago when we had that talk?’ He said, ‘Yep.’ I said, ‘Is that what’s happening now?’ He said, ‘Yep’. That is just how wrestling works. He basically said out loud like yes, you’re getting fake fired and I can’t stop it.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Chris Van Vliet with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription. Also, be sure to subscribe to “Insight with Chris Van Vliet” on your mobile device by clicking here if you have an iOS device or here on your Android device.
