After exiting WWE in September 2023, Nic Nemeth pivoted to a territory completely foreign to him: the free agency market. Fortunately, an old friend helped him navigate it.On a recent edition of "Busted Open Radio," Nemeth (formerly WWE's Dolph Ziggler) opened up about his transition to the independent wrestling circuit, which he eased into with the assistance of Matt Cardona, formerly known as Zack Ryder."He's the blueprint," Nemeth said about Cardona. "He's the guy I talked to when I was thinking about making a move. I'm like, 'What is this situation? What does it work in this country here? How are you making your merchandise? What do you do?' He's the guy that people go to ... I'm someone who was a big brother to him where I was like, this is what life is like. Here's the news, here's real life, here's stats, here's sports. I'm getting my advice from him for the independent scene because I never did it until after 20 years of wrestling. So I went to him for this, and I said everybody should be listening to this guy at every independent show, backstage in WWE, if you're not sure where your career is heading. He figured it all out, and now so many others are just following in his footsteps."As Nemeth alluded to, Cardona himself left WWE in 2020 and subsequently soared across the indie circuit. Cardona's five-year free agent run yielded a number of major independent titles, including the GCW World, JCW World Heavyweight, and HOG Heavyweight Championships. In the process, the in-ring veteran also reinvented himself into the "Indie God" and "Deathmatch King" nicknames that boosted his stock even higher.In Nemeth's case, he became the "Most Wanted" in his post-WWE career. And so far, it's proven to be quite successful as he too has racked up championship gold, both in the United States and internationally.If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Busted Open Radio" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
