"I'll give you gross" - Kissing AJ Lee and other stars was an on-screen reward for ex-WWE star

WWE didn't shy away from having segments about relationships, which wouldn't go well in the current era. Recently, Nic Nemeth, fka Dolph Ziggler, explained why he was involved in so many kissing segments, as the management wanted to reward him.

Dolph Ziggler was in an on-screen relationship with several notable female stars in the Stamford-based promotion, like Vickie Guerrero, AJ Lee, and Lana, to name a few. The Showoff got the ladies and ruled the men's division as the champion. However, some of the segments weren't suited for a family-friendly audience, and Ziggler was aware of it.

In an appearance on INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet, Nemeth revealed how making out with other stars on television was Vince McMahon's way of rewarding him for his work as a performer.

"I got to a point where I'm like, 'Vince [McMahon] likes my work but doesn't think I should be World Champion,' but my reward is to be like, 'He gets chicks' or something. In his mind, I think that was real. He's too small to be a world champion, but he gets ladies, or I don't know, because that was the reward. By the way, reward, it's not like real-life kissing. There are cameras, and everyone's there, and everyone's uncomfortable. Everybody's dating somebody else, and everyone's standing there, and you're like, "This is the worst thing ever," Nemeth said.

Nemeth further revealed how he and Lee went to the extent that the management demanded, which turned out to be gross.

"With AJ [Lee] too, he wanted, like, gross, and I'm like, 'I'll give you gross, brother.' I said, Are you cool with this? Yes. I'm cool with it too. We are going in to where he said this. We're going to make them come in the back and go, take back a notch," Nemeth said.

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When will AJ Lee return to WWE?

Earlier this year, AJ Lee made her long-awaited return to the Stamford-based promotion and attacked Becky Lynch on WWE SmackDown in Chicago. This led to a mixed-tag team match between Lee and CM Punk against Lynch and Seth Rollins in Indiana at WWE Wrestlepalooza 2025.

After Lee and Punk won the match, The Second City Saint focused on getting another title shot against The Visionary's World Heavyweight Championship. Meanwhile, AJ Lee went on a hiatus from WWE's weekly product and could return in the coming weeks.

If you use quotes from the article, please credit INSIGHT on Chris Van Vliet and provide an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.

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Edited by Aakaansh Sukale