Nic Nemeth Reflects On TNA Slammiversary Match Against Mike Santana: I Wanted It To Be Emotional For Everybody, Then Let Them Know I’m Dead Inside And That’s Why Nobody Beats Me

Nic Nemeth comments on his match against Mike Santana at TNA Slammiversary.

The show was headlined by Nemeth and Santana, with the latter defending his TNA World Heavyweight Championship. In the end, Nemeth defeated Santana to become the new World Champion.

Speaking on Rewind Recap Relive, Jonah (the host) mentioned the ending of the match where Santana failed to hit the Spin the Block.

Nemeth then said the following about the match:

“I found that intriguing because I didn’t know what exactly to expect going into that match. We had a lot riding on the show. People were talking. TNA was in the news, which is almost never a bad thing, even if it’s negative towards us. But we’re in the news for a couple weeks. What we really wanted to do is like, hey man, all of us that are here, even some of us that are leaving or staying or renewing or out of here, we still really love the team behind the scenes, not just the talent, everyone behind the scenes. That’s not for everybody, but for a lot of us. We’re like, man we’ve been a team since, to my knowledge, I’ve got here for the two and a half years I’ve been here. It was just we really we all unite when it comes to those pay-per-views. I’m so proud of everybody. I’ve told this story a couple different times on Busted Open and Off the Ropes. I go, ‘Four different times I’ve main evented a TNA pay-per-view’ – I may have main evented probably more than that – but four different times I remember distinctly sitting there going, ‘Holy shit, I have to follow this with headlock takeovers and drop kicks.’ I go, ‘I don’t think I can do it.’ I have that idea in your head that you’re a big phony and one of these days everyone’s going to figure out that you just got lucky for 23 years or something,” Nemeth said.

He later mentions that he wanted the ending to be emotional for everyone, because that’s what they had portrayed in their rivalry.

“So you have all these things writing on it and you don’t want to let the team down. You know what it means to TNA. Then the two of us, leading up to it, we tried to make it a little personal, a little gritty, a little grimy. Even I’ve talked about myself before where I’m like, ‘No one sees me as some asskicking badass guy. I absolutely can choke you the fuck out and knock you out if I have to, but that’s not me. That’s not my character.’ But when you see Santana, that’s a badass hard-hitting dude who’s like he wears his heart on his sleeve, he has his family that he’s fighting for, and it’s a beautiful story. Sometimes having that emotion can be detrimental towards you in a world title match, but it also brings so many fans towards you. So he was a great champion, Santana, an ass-kicking guy that took all the fights. I am not afraid to say that.”

Nemeth then discusses the poetic ending of this match.

“As somebody who goes, you guys can all line up and get behind, but I’m not guaranteeing you fights here. I think I’m the absolute best pro wrestler in the world right now. I’ve thought that for about 10 consecutive years, and no one has come up to me, out wrestled me out there, and I went, ‘Damn, that guy is so much better than me.’ That has never happened once since 2008. So I really, really wanted this to mean something. I wanted to take my game up a notch with the hard-hitting stuff, say that this title means more than just a great show and a good match. It means that we’re kicking the shit out of each other because not only to be here, be on this show, be part of this team, but to be the man who has that title and holds it up in the air. I go, ‘I really need to take it up a notch.’ Santana left it all out there as he always does and it was almost a beautiful poetic ending. For a minute I caught him and I was like, man, we’ve been through- It’s like that moment at the end of an ‘80s movie where for a second you’re like, maybe we’re not so different after all. I pop the collar up in my shirt and go, screw you. I’m still stealing your girlfriend. Bam. Put that last shot in the back of the head and go take the title on vacation, off to Rio. But I wanted it to be emotional because I kept bringing up how Santana was so emotional. So I wanted it to be emotional for everybody, then let everybody know I’m dead inside, and that’s why nobody beats me.”

Nic Nemeth is currently scheduled to defend his TNA World Heavyweight Title against Jeff Hardy on 7/30 TNA iMPACT!

If you use any of the quotes above, please credit and link to the original source with a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.