WWE The E-Federation Wiki
Don't have an account?
Register
WWE The E-Federation Wiki
Advertisement
Register
WWE The E-Federation Wiki
WWE The E-Fed Wiki
527
pages

Dolph Ziggler

Edit
Dolph Ziggler
An image of the Dolph Ziggler.
Birth name Nicholas Theodore Nemeth
Born July 27, 1980 (age 42)
Cleveland, Ohio
Resides Phoenix, Arizona
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s) Dolph Ziggler
Billed height 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Billed weight 213 lb (97 kg)
Billed from Cleveland, Ohio
Trained by Steve Keirn
Tom Prichard
Lance Storm
Debut November 2004

Nicholas Theodore "Nick" Nemeth (born July 27, 1980) is an American professional wrestler signed to WWE on their RAW brand. Ziggler previously held the World Heavyweight Championship on two separate occasions, the WWE Intercontinental Championship on five separate occasions, as well as the WWE United States Championship in 2013. He was also the winner of the 2016 Royal Rumble Match.

Nemeth signed a development contract with WWE in 2004, and was sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW). He was brought up to the Raw brand in 2005 as Kerwin White's sidekick. He was, however, sent back to OVW shortly afterwards, where he joined the Spirit Squad. They debuted on Raw in January 2006, and won the World Tag Team Championship once before returning to OVW that November.

In September 2007, Nemeth was assigned to Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), where he formed a tag team with Brad Allen. The pair won the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship once, and Nemeth later won the championship for the second time with Gavin Spears as his partner. He returned to Raw as Ziggler in September 2008.

Professional wrestling career[]

World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE (2007–present)[]

Brand switches (2007–2009)[]

Intercontinental Championship reigns (2010–2013)[]

Ziggler came back to Smackdown on June 16, 2013 where he defeated Randy Orton. Ziggler was involved in a Gauntlet Match for the World Heavyweight Championship at the Invasion Pay Per View which was won by Roman Reigns. From there, he was embroiled in a feud with former Smackdown superstar, Teddy Hart over Hart's fiancée and manager, Kristen Mellissa. On the September 28, 2013 edition of Smackdown, Ziggler interrupted Hart and Mellissa's wedding saying that Mellissa was trash and attacking Hart. Ziggler would then go on to defeat Hart at Judgment Day.

United States Champion and Imperium (2013–2014)[]

Following the feud with Hart, Ziggler won a 6-man battle royal to determine the number one contender for the United States Championship. Ziggler beat then champion, Jimmy Jacobs for the title at Survivor Series 2013. Since then, Ziggler joined forces with Chris Jericho and Heath Slater as one third of the Jericho Trinity. Ziggler successfully defended the United States Championship against Travis Kooper at New Year's Revolution 2014. Ziggler and Kooper have been exchanging insults back and forth since their match at New Year's Revolution.

On the February 1st edition of SmackDown, Jericho and Ziggler teamed up against Slater where Slater got beaten down as a punishment for Jericho losing the World Heavyweight Championship at New Year's Revolution. Brad Maddox came down and made the save and scored himself a number one contender match with Jericho on the February 8th edition of SmackDown. Jericho won the match with a Finger Poke of Doom and all four men came together as a new stable called Imperium. The following week, after Slater defeated Sterling James Keenan in the main event, Imperium beat down Commissioner Foley, leaving him bloodied and laid out to end the show.

SmackDown Commissioner, Mick Foley named Sin Cara the number one contender to Ziggler's United States Championship on the February 1st edition of SmackDown after Cara lost a tag team match to Chris Jericho and Heath Slater due to faulty officiating the week prior. At the Royal Rumble, Ziggler, Maddox, and Slater attacked Wade Barrett and Cara, rendering Cara incapable of competing in both the United States Championship match and the Royal Rumble match. Ziggler entered the Royal Rumble match at number 24, eliminating Travis Kooper and Shane Helms, before making it to the final four and being eliminated by Bray Wyatt.

On the March 1st edition of Smackdown, Commissioner Foley put Ziggler in a match against fellow members of Imperium, Maddox and Slater, with Chris Jericho serving as the special referee. Earlier in the night, Ziggler once again got into a verbal confrontation with Kooper, but before they could come to blows, backstage officials separated the two. Imperium tried everything possible to get out of the triple threat match, including all three laying down for the count for each other, but Foley wouldn't allow any shenanigans, and ultimately Ziggler won the match after Jericho took a fake bump and a substitute referee counted the pin.

The following week on SmackDown after Imperium (Ziggler, Maddox, and Slater) lost to Jimmy Jacobs, Kevin Steen , and Travis Kooper, Foley came out and announced that Ziggler would compete in two matches at Cyber Sunday: a Number One Contender match for the World Heavyweight Championship against Bray Wyatt, and a United States Championship match against Travis Kooper. On the March 15 edition of SmackDown, Kooper one-upped Ziggler (and Matt Striker) in a contract signing, and it was announced that Ziggler's match at Cyber Sunday against Bray Wyatt would now also include Kevin Steen and Daniel Riley.

At Cyber Sunday, Commissioner Foley stripped Chris Jericho of the World Heavyweight Championship after Jericho tried to get out of the match due to an injured toe. Foley announced that the Fatal Four Way would now see the winner go on to face Jimmy Jacobs for the vacant World Title, and the match was ultimately won by Kevin Steen. Ziggler successfully defended his United States Championship against Kooper in a 30-Minute Ironman match. After the match, Sin Cara returned from injury and attacked Ziggler.

On the April 12th edition of SmackDown, Ziggler and Kooper once again exchanged insults backstage before Ziggler would go on to face Sin Cara in a United States Championship match. Off of the distraction from Kooper, Sin Cara picked up the win. It was then announced that Ziggler would face Kooper at WrestleMania XXX, where Ziggler would win the match and the Number One Contendership to the World Heavyweight Championship. 

World Heavyweight Championship and Dissolution of Imperium (2014)[]

In the weeks following WrestleMania XXX, Ziggler and the World Heavyweight Champion, Kevin Steen began a short feud over the championship. On the May 31st edition of SmackDown, Ziggler defeated Steen to win the World Heavyweight Championship. Also on the night, it was announced that Chris Jericho is the Co-General Manager of SmackDown.

Over the following weeks, Mick Foley began comprising a team to take Imperium out, consisting of many of the babyfaces on SmackDown. Foley announced that Imperium (without Maddox who left the company) would face his team of himself, The Rock and Travis Kooper in the first ever WarGames match to take place in the WWE. Imperium won the match, and two weeks later, Slater was fired as a result of receiving a pink slip in his Feast or Fired briefcase, and Ziggler lost the World Heavyweight Championship to Billy Cassidy.

These two events would spark the beginning of the end for Imperium. Following the loss of his championship, Ziggler announced on the July 19th edition of SmackDown that he would be taking time off to recuperate a legitimate eye injury that he suffered during his match with Cassidy. In the following weeks, Chris Jericho would insult Ziggler saying that Ziggler left him high and dry and that he couldn't get the job done. On the last episode of SmackDown, Ziggler would return to attack Jericho and be named Mick Foley's representative in a match against Jericho at SummerSlam for the power of SmackDown, which Ziggler won.

Move to RAW and Storyline with Danielle Moinet (2014 - present)[]

The RAW and SmackDown brands merged following SummerSlam and Ziggler immediately began an angle with Danielle Moinet. Moinet began hanging around Ziggler backstage and accompanying him to the ring for his matches. On the September 1st edition of RAW, Brock Lesnar attacked Ziggler, prompting him to think that Moinet was setting him up to break him up from real-life girlfriend and half-sister of Moinet, Faith Hastings. Moinet would deny this vehemently, and on the September 15th edition of RAW, Ziggler would rescue Moinet from Abyss who had been stalking her for a number of weeks. Ziggler was announced that night as the final participant in the Championship Scramble match at Night of Champions for the Intercontinental Championship. Ziggler won the match, however he had to vacate the championship two days later due to a concussion he suffered during a post-match attack from Lesnar and Abyss respectively. Jimmy Rave reported that Ziggler would be out for at least 30 days, but no definite timeline was given.

In wrestling[]

Finishing moves

  • Superkick
  • Zig Zag (Jumping reverse bulldog)

Signature moves

  • Dropkick
  • Blonde Ambition (Jumping reverse STO)
  • Famouser / Namedropper (Leg drop bulldog)
  • Fireman's carry takeover
  • Headlock, sometimes while performing a head stand
  • Jumping DDT
  • Heartstopper (Jumping elbow drop with theatrics), preceded by multiple elbow drops
  • Neckbreaker, sometimes while swinging
  • Neck snap
  • Scoop powerslam, sometimes inverted
  • Shoulder jawbreaker
  • Sitout facebuster, sometimes from the top rope
  • Sleeper hold, sometimes with bodyscissors
  • Stinger splash

Entrance themes

Championships and accomplishments[]

World Wrestling Entertainment

Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.
Advertisement