Nic Nemeth Pitched Vince McMahon On The Idea Of A Manufactured Return Because He Couldn’t Get A Day Off
Nic Nemeth is happy with the industry’s workload changes.
COVID-19 changed the wrestling industry in hundreds of ways, both for better and for worse. In a controversial move that is still being debated today, some of the major promotions decided to cut back on untelevised live events, providing a lighter workload for the wrestlers.
Speaking with Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp, Nemeth talked about the industry’s shift.
“It’s a huge shift. Obviously, we’re taking more care of each other. We take people to hospital when they’re hurt not go, ‘Ah, just rub some dirt on it.’ There’s so many different factors that come into play. Whether it’s a company covering their ass all over the world, or it’s just being a human being and go,
‘Hey, listen, I need to get this checked out.’ So many times I’m like, ‘Man, my knee’s locked up.’ It’s like,
‘Yeah, it’ll be fine.’ Two thirds to the three quarters of my entire career, by the time I’m done, will be that
old WWE schedule—five, six days a week or sometimes in a row. Then after COVID, one or two days a
week, whatever with some live events. But I don’t think you’re saying 39 and 40, you can sign big deals
long term. At 40 and 45, the generation behind me can absolutely do it. When you work one day a week
or if that WWE schedule was like, if you’re like the champ, you work every couple of weeks and
sometimes you’re one of the four or five matches on a pay-per-view. It’s not the same as what I pitched.”
Nemeth then recalled pitching Vince McMahon on the idea of a manufactured return, primarily because he couldn’t get a day off.
“I pitched something to Vince seven, eight years ago to where we could manufacture returns because
there’s no off season. I was trying to find a way for me to go, ‘Vince, do I have to quit or fake an injury?
What do I have to do here? Because I can’t get a day off.’ Because everyone sees me every week, 52
weeks a year for 20 years.’ If I’m losing nine out of 10 or eight out of 10 times, they know who’s winning.
Because one of the biggest, craziest ones is any big returns are huge—but that Triple H tearing his quad,
having those video vignettes play and then he’s coming back at Madison Square Garden and it’s like
tonight he returns. It’s not even for an hour and a half and the place is buzzing and at that time Hunter is
the most hated guy by the internet and he’s a bad guy on TV, but he’s in our community. He’s in our
brotherhood and that family of pro wrestling is like, ‘Our guy is coming back.’ I’m getting shivers on my
arms right now for a story that has nothing to do with me. It’s like, finally you get that vignette. I’ll never forget it. I’m watching it on the volume on high in my parents basement and it goes, ‘Next Triple H returns.’ The place is buzzing. His music hits. The place blows the roof off. Now he’s a special case because he was the absolute at the top of list at that time. But I go, ‘Having these moments shouldn’t just be when someone tears their quad or goes gets a surgery and you’re out for a year. Since we have no time off and you start to see the same people over and over again, why don’t we manufacture a storyline where Bronson Reed squashes me and runs me over with a car and I’m gone and I can leave for six, eight weeks, three weeks, whatever, and you manufacture that return and you get that, ‘There’s our guy, we’re not sick of him, he came back,’ and you come back from something and gives, while someone takes that time off, it gives someone lower on the card a chance to get a little bit higher up and I think long-term that works. So now having those moments like that where a pay-per-view isn’t all of us doing 11 matches every three weeks, you get five matches here and five matches there. It’s a really great way to invest in your talent and have them long term.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Nic Nemeth spoke about Leon Slater ahead of their match at Slammiversary. Check out his full comments by clicking here.
Fans can check out Fightful’s full interview with Nic Nemeth in the video linked at the top of this article. Also, head over to our YouTube channel to check out more of our recent interviews.
