Nic Nemeth Says WWE Paid Him Big Money to Block AEW Move

Nic Nemeth says the last contract he signed with WWE wasn’t just about staying with the company — it was about stopping him from jumping to AEW.

During a March 13, 2026 appearance on Off the Ropes, the former WWE star opened up about the deal he signed in 2019 and explained that the purpose behind it was obvious, even if nobody in the company said it directly. Nemeth said the message from WWE leadership was clear: they wanted him to stay and not make the jump to AEW, which was just starting to gain momentum.

“My last contract was to keep me from going to AEW. That was it. It was winked at and not said, but it was completely understood.”

Nemeth explained that when negotiations started, he actually assumed WWE wouldn’t agree to the financial terms he requested. His plan was to ask for a number he believed the company wouldn’t match so he could move on: “I’m like, I’m asking for this elaborate amount because I know you won’t pay me what I’m worth.” But the situation took a surprising turn when WWE agreed to the deal anyway: “I’m going to make a move and go elsewhere. They’re like, ‘Nope, we’ll do it.’ I’m like, ‘What? Okay.”

The comments give more insight into the later years of Nemeth’s WWE run. The longtime star remained with the company for four more years before being released in September 2023. That period included several moments where Nemeth publicly pushed back on creative decisions, including his infamous SummerSlam 2019 match with Goldberg.

This comes after Nic Nemeth previously revealed that the match was originally planned as an instant squash — something he strongly opposed. He was also planning to leave WWE after that program.

“I was pitched the idea to go with Goldberg because I was going to leave the company… I’ll lose there to Mike [The Miz], and then I was out of the company and on a handshake deal, I was out. And that day I was told that I would not be allowed to be out.”

Now with his WWE chapter behind him, Nemeth is speaking more openly about the business decisions that shaped the final stretch of his time with the company. And according to him, AEW’s emergence in 2019 played a direct role in why WWE decided to keep him around longer than he expected.

Do you think WWE signing Nic Nemeth to keep him away from AEW was the right call back in 2019? Or should he have made the jump when the opportunity was there? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

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