Nic Nemeth Says WWE Creative Was an ‘Avalanche of Nonsense’ Compared to TNA

Nic Nemeth is opening up about what really goes on behind the scenes in wrestling—and the difference between WWE and TNA Wrestling couldn’t be clearer from his perspective.

Speaking on the Humble Roses podcast, Nemeth reflected on his 19-and-a-half-year run in WWE and how quickly talent could be handed ideas that didn’t make sense—often with very little time to fix them before going live.

“I remember a long time ago—I did 19 and a half years with WWE—and sometimes you’d find out on Monday afternoon, pretty early, that you’re doing this thing, and you’re like, ‘This is not a good thing. It’s not good for me, it’s not good for my opponent, it’s not good for the show.’”

He went on to explain that once those ideas were handed down, the rest of the day would turn into a scramble—where talent tried to salvage something workable out of a flawed concept.

“And you’ve got like an eight-hour window all day of going, ‘How about this? How about this? Maybe we switch it to this other thing. Maybe we completely do it the other way, and this guy fights some other guy.’ And you pitch all these different things, and you come away with something that changed it just a little bit and makes it just a little bit better for everybody.”

Even then, Nemeth said the end result often didn’t reflect the effort put in behind the scenes, especially when fans reacted negatively without knowing how much worse it could have been. He also addressed a common misconception—that top stars always have control over their creative direction—making it clear that’s rarely the case.

“Then afterwards, people are like, ‘That was the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen.’ And it’s like, well, you have no idea what it was supposed to be. It was supposed to be this avalanche of nonsense, and I cut it down to one little snowball that I kicked into the crowd. So a lot of people don’t understand. They think anybody who’s doing well has complete control over what they’re doing. Meanwhile, they’re a character on a TV show.”

From there, Nic Nemeth broke down just how difficult it is to navigate that system, noting that even experienced talent have to constantly negotiate just to make ideas workable.

“You really need to know—everything that you dream and wish, like ‘I want this business to be,’ it can be. But some days you go in there and it is the opposite of what you think works and is good, and it’s up to you, if you have the experience and the chops, to bring it down and negotiate to a place where you make the creative decision and have it be a positive for the show—and that’s really hard.”

But when the conversation shifted to TNA, Nemeth’s tone changed completely. He described a locker room environment where talent can pitch ideas without fear of being shut down or ridiculed. Instead of fighting just to make something passable, Nemeth said the process in TNA feels collaborative—where ideas are openly discussed and built upon.

“And I’m mostly talking about my former job, because in TNA—not only is the talent roster incredible and massive—you don’t have that moment of, ‘Am I going to be called stupid for pitching this idea because it’s outside the box?’ It’s totally different. In TNA, I feel a lot more comfortable—like, ‘Hey, Nick, X plus Y equals Z.’ And I’m like, ‘Well, could X plus V equal S?’ ‘Yeah, let’s try it.’ You have this back and forth where you’re not just fighting for a crumb of sanity—you’re actually pitching ideas back and forth.”

He even gave a real example of how flexible the creative process can be, pointing to discussions around adding unexpected elements to upcoming shows.

“Okay, can we add Bernie Kosar? Great—now we’ve got a big match with the former football player and the guy who represents Cleveland every day. This could work out great.”

For Nemeth, the takeaway is simple—what used to feel like damage control in WWE now feels like real creative input in TNA, where ideas aren’t just adjusted, they’re actually explored from the ground up.

So what do you think—does Nemeth’s take match what we’ve seen from WWE over the years, or is this just one perspective from inside the business? Drop your thoughts below.

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