Former WWE world champion “fought all day long” to change his match with Goldberg (Exclusive)

Nic Nemeth recently recalled how he felt passionately about altering the original plan for his WWE SummerSlam 2019 match against Goldberg.

Nemeth, formerly known as Dolph Ziggler in WWE, was supposed to lose within a few seconds against the WCW icon. On the day of the show, the two-time World Heavyweight Champion spoke up backstage and questioned why the match was so short.

In an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda Wrestling’s Riju Dasgupta, Nemeth said he even swore in front of management:

“I assumed I was being fired or punished. I’m just kidding. Mostly kidding! It’s crazy. Another one, I grew up watching WWF [WWE], WCW, and I go, ‘Frigging Goldberg, oh my God, what can I do? How can I do this? What can I do here?’ And I got so excited and I find out that it’s gonna be ding, ding, ding, spear, finish, and I went, ‘Why am I in this match? What can I do?’ and I fought all day long with the boss, a lot of F words being thrown around, but excitedly because I don’t want it to be trash. I don’t want it to be okay, like, ‘Okay, we saw that coming.’ I want it [fan reactions] to be, ‘What?! What?!'” [3:04 – 3:52]

Watch the video above to hear more from Nemeth about why he left WWE in 2023 after 19 years with the company.

Nic Nemeth’s match with Goldberg surprised everyone

Known for his explosive in-ring style and quick victories, Goldberg was widely expected to beat Nic Nemeth’s Dolph Ziggler character in easy fashion.

However, after pitching backstage before SummerSlam 2019, Nemeth stunned WWE fans by starting the match with a superkick. The moment even made commentator Renee Paquette, then known as Renee Young, react at ringside.

“Finally I got through and got a little bit of something to make that a special moment for something that everyone knew the answer,” Nemeth said. “Everyone knew how it was ending. Everyone thought it would be 10 seconds, and it almost was, but dammit. A good friend of mine, Renee, was on commentary at the time, and it’s ding, ding, ding, we just kinda step back, crack! I kick him in the face and jump on top, and I hear her go, ‘Oh my God!’ and I watched the crowd go, ‘This is what?!'” [3:53 – 4:23]

Goldberg twice kicked out of superkicks at the start of the match before hitting a spear and Jackhammer to secure the win.

Although the match only lasted 110 seconds, Nemeth was pleased to receive some offense at the beginning of the bout:

“That emotion that you don’t plan on is the beautiful thing about the art of this business, and every once in a while I can make people do that no matter if they know I’m gonna lose or not. My job, I have a very unique special set of skills [laughs], and I go, ‘That right there is the reason why I am out here and always will be.'” [4:24 – 4:48]

Following the match, Goldberg returned to the ring twice to attack Nemeth for mocking his wrestling ability and level of physicality.

Did you enjoy the SummerSlam 2019 match? Let us know in the comments section below.

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