In the early days of his WWE career, Nic Nemeth became a member of the Spirit Squad faction. It was a five member team consisting of Johnny, Kenny, Mikey, Mitch, and Nicky, where they had to adapt the in-ring personas of male cheerleaders and began training accordingly. It was in 2008 that he officially debuted as the iconic Dolph Ziggler, and went on to be a WWE Triple Crown Champion under that moniker. In a recent appearance on the "Busted Open Radio," Nemeth opens up about that time in his career and how he made the most of a less than glamorous gimmick.

"I was a frickin' cheerleader,” he began. "My shot is becoming one-fifth of a cheerleader group that gets bounced around...You go, 'Well, if this is the only chance I ever get to be in WWE on their television show, I'm gonna do this to the absolute best f'ing way I can so that I can tell myself that if this was my shot, I gave it everything.'"

Nemeth talks about how a young wrestler needs to make do with anything they are given in order to succeed in the long run. He reflects on how he refused to let go of opportunities, however unfavourable, believing that they will lead to greater ones in the future. "I didn't go, 'Well, you know, I kind of half-assed it. I don't want to be a cheerleader, that's dumb...They could have thrown all five of us in the trash and said, 'That was it,' but you don't know if that's going to happen."

“If you fight through it, it's not guaranteed, but there's a chance.”

Nemeth admits that it was no way an easy task to just swallow the pride and head to the ring as a cheerleader, but he kept pushing anyway. He said, "This was my dream, and they made it a joke. How do I fix it?... you show the boss that if he tells you, 'Hey, you're a cheerleader now,' you are [a f*****] cheerleader ... when the time comes for you to pick your battles [and choose your own way to go] character-wise, that's when you step in and do it."

He further added, "[It's] hard to do because you have to sit there and go, 'Man, my career is a joke right now.’ But you know what? If you fight through it, it's not guaranteed, but there's a chance. You got a 1% chance of becoming WWE Champion. Do you go all the way with it? Damn right you do."

Nic Nemeth is currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), and has recently bagged the title of TNA World Champion at the 2024 Slammiversary held on July 20, 2024.

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