Nic Nemeth Says He Pitched For Matt Cardona To Have The MSG Match

Nic Nemeth (Dolph Ziggler) made his return to WWE on Monday’s Raw as the surprise opponent for Solo Sikoa in the Last Time Is Now tournament.

Though Nemeth lost, the crowd believed he could win after he hit the Zig Zag.

Appearing on Busted Open, Nemeth discussed the layout of the match.

“Weirdly, as much as I critique everything that I do, and when I do watch this back, I’m going to hate the way that I was standing or 15 little things most people will never see. I knew we were a little pressed for time, but I have an ability to make eight minutes seem like 15 sometimes. I was trying to do that, but also enjoy the moment and rush it, but also get to a point where we could not do it. I go, hopefully there are two or three minutes in this entire match where one, it looks like he’s got me and it’s not, and two, it’s believable that I could win or we get something where…Solo takes such a great post like Slaughter in the 80s. He hits that post and I take a step forward for my finish, and I could already feel the crowd coming with me, almost like it was the Money in the Bank cash in. It’s not throwing away a finish. I don’t work in the company. I’m going to give them any inkling that I could pull something off. I could steal one and I could win this match. Solo could wake up and beat the living crap out of me, send me out on a stretcher and I don’t come back to WWE, and he goes onto the next round. There are so many different ways,” he said.

On Friday’s SmackDown, Matt Cardona (Zack Ryder) made his return to the company in Albany, NY. Bully Ray commented that while Cardona’s return was a big deal, fans were behind the idea of Nemeth winning more because of his history as world champion in WWE.

“I love Cardona, and I was pitching for Cardona to get the Madison Square Garden match because upstate New York guy. He deserves it, but there is a slight difference in the two of us,” said Nemeth. “We’re very similar in a lot of ways, but I do have a couple of world titles and every once in a while, I can steal something. If we could find a way to get to the next round or ‘this is how they do it.’ I’m two steps away from jumping for my finisher and I hear the crowd watching in slow motion. Solo was on point, great the whole way, so easy to work with. In the time allotted, we crushed it and gave everything we could have. The crowd was there and it was a beautiful thing. It flew by and I really wanted to soak it in a little bit more.”

Cardona lost to LA Knight in a tournament match on SmackDown.

Fans can find Cardona’s comments on his appearance here.

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