Nic Nemeth Says He Originally Agreed To 10 Per Appearance Deal With TNA

Nic Nemeth did an interview with Fightful, where he spoke about a wide range of topics, including his TNA Wrestling contract. Here are the highlights:

On not wanting to sign with any promotion when he first left WWE: “Yeah, first and foremost, I didn’t want to go anywhere. I was very, very lucky. Again I don’t know how the outside world works other than getting it through friends who are on the independents, friends in different companies, and you have an idea but you don’t truly know. My last day in New York, I didn’t know if my phone was never going to ring again or you get a couple of handful of people like, ‘Hey, congrats or good luck or you want to do this one show in six months.’ Legitimately, my phone got so many messages, it got so hot, it shut down, I couldn’t send a text for about six or seven hours. I go—this is not a brag—I go, ‘Wow, okay.’ But a lot of it was like, ‘Hey, hell of a run, blah, blah, blah, blah, what a run,’ bullshit that you say to people. But like a ton of it was, ‘How do we get you here right now?’ I said, ‘Guys, it’s a bit out of my standard. Like I’m just getting out of a relationship, a long-term 19 year relationship. I’m not looking to get engaged right now and sign a three year deal somewhere or a five year deal or even one year.’ I said, ‘What I want to do is the reason I asked to leave was 100% like, I’m getting paid a shitload of money to sit on the bench and occasionally break the glass and you have a big match or in case of emergency if somebody’s hurt.’”

On wanting to capitalize on the buzz: “But you only have a certain window. I might be able to do this until I’m 60, but you only have a certain window where it’s relatable and believable and like this guy can be champion at any company right now and you can’t do that. If I waited another year and a half and then started to do it like, maybe things aren’t gonna work out. I go, ‘What are the chances I can get in the ring with Tanahashi before my career’s over?’ Never, I’m gonna be in WWE forever and I got it. I got to bounce around and do some things.”

On Scott D’Amore playing a role in him in AEW: “Then I’ll never forget, Scott D’Amore was like, ‘We want you here.’ I go, ‘Listen, I appreciate that. I can’t do it.’ He goes, Here’s what we got in the background. Here’s the long-term storytelling. Here’s all the bits and pieces. Here are the people behind the scenes. The locker room’s so good.’ All these people from the locker room are texting me. I go, ‘I love it so much, I don’t want to be tied down. Like, what if I’m not helping you guys? Or what if I hate it? Or it doesn’t work out? I don’t want to sign a three year deal.’ He goes, ‘How about a year?’ ‘No.’ ‘Then how about 10 dates?’ I go, ‘Alright, that I can do. Let’s do 10 dates and if you don’t think I’m worth it, cut me out. Or if I say this sucks, I can’t, I don’t like this company.’ I love it so much. Everybody’s great. In a world where every locker room is pretty friggin’ awesome and hard working. Like there’s no wrestling locker room where people are like, ‘Oh nobody works hard here.’ It’s every place you go is like these guys are busting their ass to make something special happen. That is the exact same case with TNA. The infrastructure behind the scenes is really awesome. I love Gale Kim. I love Tommy. But like not even because I’m saying because I worked there. I actually know them and like them a lot. I go, ‘Okay, and there’s some of the people who get it.’”

On giving TNA his all: “I go, ‘Man, the storytelling and the bits and pieces and the behind the scenes work,’ and they go, ‘We’re basically building this up from the ground again.’ I go, ‘Put me on every possible media thing. If you need me to fly in three or four days early to do something, I will do it, absolutely. Because I wanna go all in and make this count as much as possible.’ So go, ‘That’s the case.’ That’s always been the case and I keep re-upping for long-term. I’m not going to like sneak out of here or like take off with the title or like leave them hanging. I want to see how far I can go and help this company while they are kicking ass and on the upward slope.”

Nic Nemeth Says He Originally Agreed To 10 Per Appearance Deal With TNA

Nic Nemeth Says He Originally Agreed To 10 Per Appearance Deal With TNA

Nic Nemeth Says He Originally Agreed To 10 Per Appearance Deal With TNA

Nic Nemeth Says He Originally Agreed To 10 Per Appearance Deal With TNA

Nic Nemeth Says He Originally Agreed To 10 Per Appearance Deal With TNA