Former WWE star explains why Sheamus beat him 55 times
Sheamus has defeated dozens of WWE opponents with his Brogue Kick finisher. Nic Nemeth, formerly known as Dolph Ziggler, recently shed light on why he frequently received the devastating finishing move.
According to Cagematch.net, Nemeth lost 55 matches against Sheamus between 2011 and 2020. Many of those bouts occurred in 2015 when The Celtic Warrior returned after WrestleMania 31 and targeted smaller wrestlers on the roster.
Nemeth appeared on the latest episode of Eyes Up Here with ECW legend Francine. He revealed that former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon wanted him to face Sheamus due to the way he sold the Brogue Kick:
"It's like, 'Oh, cool, I'm doing something great,' and then it gets into like, 'I don't know who's winning the world title tonight, but let's make sure we get that Sheamus kick on Dolph because it's gonna look so good,'" Nemeth said. [9:18 – 9:27]
Nemeth did not see any storyline logic behind his feud with Sheamus. He thinks McMahon only booked the matches because of the finish:
"It got to a point where I think there was a couple of months on SmackDown where I was just fighting Sheamus for no reason because they wanted to see me take his finish, and I get it because there's some pretty great GIFs out there. It looks awesome because I had it do it great," Nemeth continued. [9:28 – 9:42]
The long-term rivals faced each other three times in singles matches at premium live events. One of their most notable bouts occurred at No Way Out 2012 when Nemeth unsuccessfully challenged Sheamus for the World Heavyweight Championship.
Nic Nemeth thinks he lost credibility losing to Sheamus in WWE
In September 2023, Nic Nemeth was granted his release from WWE after he sent a lengthy email to Vince McMahon asking to leave.
While Nemeth is grateful for all the positive experiences he had in WWE, he believes the battles with Sheamus did not help his career:
"After 30 matches when you're one [win] and 29 [losses], you're like, 'How do you make this guy the world champ? How do you make him credible? How do we follow him around in a long-term storyline?' So it's good with bad." [9:44 – 9:56]
Nemeth also revealed why former WWE producer Pat Patterson is inadvertently responsible for his high number of career defeats.
Do you have any favorite memories of the Dolph Ziggler vs. Sheamus rivalry? Hit the discuss button and let us know.
Please credit Eyes Up Here and give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.