When someone says “professional wrestling” certain stereotypes have a tendency to make their way into peoples’ minds – oiled-up, oversized grown men throwing each other around inside a ring like fraternity pledges during a hazing session – and in a sense, these are true. In years past, size was the main focus of pro wrestling, and the bigger a person was, the better, despite their degree of athletic ability.

That’s not necessarily the case anymore, as the focus of modern pro wrestling has shifted further away from brawn and more toward ability in the ring. Many successful stars in modern wrestling have had smaller builds and have had an edge in athleticism and knowledge in technical wrestling, rather than just having an intimidating stature. Still, even these “smaller” wrestlers typically measure at about 6 feet tall and weigh anywhere from 210 to 240 pounds.

So when Nick Nemeth, a former Kent State wrestler who weighed in at a lean 175 pounds, tried out for WWE, they liked everything about him – except for his size. He was applauded for his efforts, but was told to come back when he put on some more weight.

Nemeth, who graduated from the university in 2003, spent all four of his years at Kent State on the school’s wrestling team, but his heart was always in professional wrestling. Nemeth had known he wanted to be a professional wrestler since he first began watching World Wrestling Entertainment on television as a child, but at his smaller size, he could not stand up to the competition. However, he never let that get in his way.

Nemeth went home and bulked up to about 213 pounds. He was given a contract, but in a world where the most successful stars have been 6’2 or taller, and weighed at least 250 pounds, he was still on the lighter side of the scale. Nick, however, makes no excuses for his stature.

“Honestly, I think it’s kind of cool being one of the smaller guys,” Nemeth says. “It’s made me work harder. It’s a bit of a struggle becoming a dominant small guy, but I’m up for the task.”

Nemeth made his WWE wrestling debut in September 2005 as a caddy to Kerwin White, a stereotype of an upper-middle class white man, who was portrayed by Chavo Guerrero. Guerrero, who is Mexican, had supposedly turned his back on his heritage and was pretending to be white. That character fizzled out when Guerrero’s uncle, Eddie Guerrero, died of heart failure due largely to drug problems in his past. As a sign of respect, White went back to his real name and Nemeth disappeared from television. Within a few months, Nemeth returned to the WWE under a new guise – a male cheerleader named Nicky.

He came back as one fifth of a male cheerleading group called the Spirit Squad. They were mostly an annoyance to the audience at first, making their way to the ring for random cheers that were not very popular with the crowds. Soon they started getting involved in other wrestlers’ matches. On April 3, 2006, the team won the World Tag Team Championship in a five-on-two match against Big Show and Kane. They have not lost the titles yet.

“We’ve been lucky as hell,” Nemeth says of the group’s success in WWE. “It’s unbelievable. I’m doing what I always wanted to do and every day is fun. It’s been a dream come true.”

Nemeth got a wrestling tryout through someone he knew with Ohio Valley Wrestling, a training-ground company owned by WWE. When he went into it, he knew he had to play to his greatest strength – his amateur wrestling background.

Nemeth has been involved with the sport to some degree since he was 5 years old. His parents let him take part in an after school program at St. Patrick’s Intramural Wrestling Program in Cleveland. He was young and did not know the difference between amateur wrestling and professional wrestling, so when he walked in and saw a lone mat, he got confused.

“I remember asking my parents where the ring and ropes were and they kind of laughed at me,” he says.

Since then he attended St. Edward High School in Lakewood, Ohio where he made a school record: 82 pins. After graduation, Nick decided on going to Kent State mostly because he wanted to wrestle for a Division I team.

“When he first came here he wasn’t that good,” says head wrestling coach Jim Andrassy. “He was a recruited walk-on. He was just another guy on the team.”

But Nemeth soon became something more, recalls Andrassy.

“I guess it was the MAC tournament his freshman year when we first realized what we had,” he says. “Before that I think he was less than a .500 wrestler (he won less than 50 percent of his matches). Then he just came out of nowhere.”

Nemeth went on to win that MAC tournament, beating out a wrestler from Central Michigan in the final round. He was named MAC Freshman of the Year for his efforts, and he eventually gained many more wins during his time at Kent State. For a brief time he was even recognized for having 121 career wins, the most in Kent State wrestling history, until his record was broken by Alex Camargo in early March 2006.

“It was an honor to hold that record,” Nemeth says. “And I used that to my advantage. That record, my dominance in my weight class and constantly being ranked in or near the top 10 in the country were some of the main reasons I got my tryout with WWE.”

Andrassy, who was an assistant coach during the time Nemeth competed for the university, admitted he was skeptical of his ability to make it to the WWE.

“It was always a goal of his to be a professional wrestler, but I don’t think, realistically, we ever thought he was big enough to do it.”

Andrassy remembers Nemeth as the somewhat “eccentric” kid who would hang out on the other side of gym with his friends while the rest of the team was practicing. Drilling, repeating basic wrestling holds back and forth with a partner, was never something Nemeth was fond of, Andrassy recalls.

“Nick always kind of did his own thing,” he says. “He didn’t like drilling, so we really didn’t work with him much. We got along great – he was a good kid, a good leader and all the guys liked him, but he was just always more interested in professional wrestling.”

Andrassy says Nemeth’s wrestling style went against the grain too.

“On the mat he would be able to do things other people wouldn’t do,” he says. “He could move ways most people couldn’t move. “He’d go against things you’d tell him not to do, as a coach, and he had success with it.”

Nemeth says he feels his style gave him an advantage in wrestling.

“I always thought it was neat that my style was unorthodox,” he says. “I wrestled however I wanted and won almost every time. My body reacted differently to wrestling and people weren’t used to it, so it helped me dominate.”

A Wrestler in the Making
Nemeth, 26, was born, and lived most of his life in Cleveland. Nick’s mother, Kelly Nemeth, says her son’s passion for wrestling began at an early age when her husband Donald Nemeth began taking him to WWE (then known as World Wrestling Federation) shows in the area.

As he grew older, he continued to watch wrestling. When he wasn’t at live events, he was watching wrestling on television, and he did not like being disturbed while the show was on.

“No phone calls or anything,” Kelly remembers. “We couldn’t bother him at all when wrestling was on.”

Nick grew up with two younger brothers, Ryan and Donnie, both of whom were also wrestling fans, but Nick was always the most adamant about it, Ryan remembers.

“He was always way more interested in it then anyone else,” Ryan says. Ryan and the rest of his family stopped watching wrestling regularly after Nick moved out, but once his brother started wrestling on television, things changed. “I watch wrestling constantly now, and I make all my friends watch it too.”

Ryan and Donnie also participated in amateur wrestling, competing on the same elementary and high school teams that Nick did before them. The three of them also had a habit of bringing the competition back home.

“The three of us would always wrestle each other all the time, and we still do to the dismay of my parents,” Ryan jokes.

Ryan also remembers Nick having a mischievous streak when they were children, recalling a story about a hide-and-seek game gone awry.

“I remember one time when we were little, we were playing hide and seek and he told me it would be a good idea to hide in the clothes dryer,” he says. “The dryer was broken so it would stay on even if you had the door open. So he turned it on and it started spinning with me in it. I cried a little bit.”

Though his parents have been supportive of his decision to be a pro wrestler, they always pushed education on Nick and his brothers, Nick says.

“They have always been supportive, but they wanted college finished first,” he says. “And I knew being a dominant wrestler in college could be a way for me to get my foot in the door of pro wrestling. I am a huge advocate of finishing school, and I know college is not for all people, but I have been hounding my brothers to finish school first, and then do whatever they want afterward.”

Nick chose to concentrate on political science while attending Kent State.

“I am definitely into politics, and I graduated with a degree in political science and was interested in going to law school,” he says. “If I wasn’t trying to make a name for myself on the independent circuit (independent wrestling promotions), I would probably be in law school or coaching wrestling somewhere.”

Kelly said she was not surprised when Nick decided on a career in professional wrestling, and remains supportive of him.

“It’s very exciting because here’s a kid who’s wanted to do this since he was 10 years old,” Kelly says. “I’m really proud to be able to see him on TV.”

Now the family turns the channel to the USA network nearly every Monday at 9 p.m. to watch Nick wrestle on Raw, WWE’s flagship brand. WWE programs are separated into three brands, each of which air on different nights and have a different roster. The three brands are Raw, Smackdown and ECW.

Now that Nemeth has become a wrestler, the wrestling boot is on the other foot, as he has become an idol to others. Neighborhood children and relatives have begun to look up to him, and strangers recognize him from television.

“At first he was kind of taken back by it,” Kelly says. “He’s a little bit shy. It’s just so funny to see these little kids coming up to him and asking for autographs.”

Nick says he enjoys being in the spotlight.

“It’s the coolest thing in the world!” Nemeth says. “I see people acting just like I did a few years ago, and coming up to me for a picture or an autograph. I had a few bad experiences when I was a fan with some wrestlers, who seemed like they were bothered by fans. I made a vow to myself to never forget that the fans keep us in business, and without them I don’t have a job. I am always happy to accommodate the fans, and it is still one of the coolest parts of my job.”

Living the Dream
As a wrestler with WWE, Nemeth typically spends a lot of time on the road, having already traveled to 35 states and several places overseas. The company pays for hotel and travel expenses, but he usually gets just two days a week to spend at home with his family. Nemeth still lives with his parents at their home in Cleveland, because his career has not allowed him much time to look for his own place.

It also has not allowed him much time to come back to visit Kent State.

“I really do miss it sometimes,” Nemeth says of the university. “I don’t really get to visit too often because of my schedule. I often miss it because I had so many great times there.”

Travel time has allowed him to focus on some other interests, though.

“With a lot of down time on the road I’ve gotten back into reading, and books by Al Franken are the perfect fit for me – half politics, and half comedy,” says Nemeth. “More recently I am getting into stocks, trading and real estate too.”

Still there are many things he has to sacrifice to work around the rough schedule.

“Yeah, I miss out on a lot of things, especially going to the Browns games or just watching them play,” he says. “I am always in a different city on Sundays. It also is next to impossible to have a girlfriend, or at least a relationship that could have a majority of my attention. That’s a little sad, but I knew what I was getting into, and I choose my work over relationships right now.”

When he does have free time, Nemeth frequently rents movies, plays football with his brothers, sleeps and studies old wrestling footage.

Being a WWE wrestler has allowed Nemeth to work with several stars he watched on television and looked up to such as Triple H, Shawn Michaels and Kane to name a few. Nemeth says they have been great to work with, and have helped him learn and grow in the ring. Of course, even in the wrestling world, there are initiations for the new guys.

“When I first arrived to the training school, I was tested by several wrestlers to see if I could take the punishment and punches to the face,” he says. “Needless to say, they laid it in and I kept my cool, and gave it right back. After that I was more or less accepted. Since I have been called up, I show respect to the wrestlers who have paved the way for me, but I am careful not to sell myself short, because if I didn’t belong there, I wouldn’t have been given the opportunity.”

Wrestling has long been regarded as the “fake” sport by many people because of its storylines and choreographed endings, but Nemeth disagrees with the notion. Though endings to matches might be scripted, wrestlers are typically left to work the majority of the match on their own. The action that goes on is not an actual fight, but some moves can be painful.

“Most maneuvers you see hurt at least a little, and almost all the punches are slightly less than full punches to your head or face,” he says.

Most wrestlers also have numerous injuries over the course of their careers. Nemeth has already had his fair share, but he never let that stop him from competing.

“Even though I had shoulder surgery from 15 years of wrestling, I never missed any matches,” he says. “Except for one, when I had a severe concussion. In my two years in professional wrestling, I have had a number of injuries, and I constantly have a sore back. In pro wrestling, you don’t have a backup in case you’re hurt. It’s simple – if you can’t work, you don’t get paid and you may miss out on your chance to be on television steadily.”

Nemeth says he is enjoying his time with the Spirit Squad and being able to play the bad guy, or what is known as a “heel” in wrestling, and loves getting booed by the crowd because he knows he is doing a good job. A good guy in wrestling is called a “face.”

Though most of Nemeth’s professional experience to this point has been in tag team wrestling, he is hoping to move on one day and excel in singles matches. Nemeth says it was the independence factor of wrestling that brought him to the sport in the first place.

“Wrestling has a humbling aspect to it,” he says. “They (wrestlers) aren’t used to relying on others to win or lose for them. I always loved the aspect that your match is up to you, and you alone. There are no excuses.”