Wikinews

Screenshot of wikinews.org home page
URL	wikinews.org
Commercial?	No
Type of site	News wiki
Registration	Optional
Available language(s)	Multilingual
Owner	Wikimedia Foundation
Created by	Wikimedia Community
Launched	8 November 2004
Alexa rank	25,893 (June 2012[update])[1]

Wikinews is a free-content news source wiki and a project of the Wikimedia Foundation. The site works through collaborative journalism. Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales has distinguished Wikinews from Wikipedia by saying "on Wikinews, each story is to be written as a news story as opposed to an encyclopedia article."^[2] The neutral point of view policy espoused in Wikinews distinguishes it from other citizen journalism efforts such as Indymedia and OhmyNews.^[3] In contrast to most projects of the Wikimedia Foundation, Wikinews allows original work under the form of original reporting and interviews.^[4] The English Wikinews is the only Wikimedia site that grants press passes to reporters endorsed by the local community.^[5] According to Thelwall et al., Wikinews has been most successful in covering large news events involving large numbers of people, such as Hurricane Katrina and the Virginia Tech Shootings, where first hand experience, or the availability of first hand accounts, forms a larger part of the entry, and where the wealth of reportage makes a central "clearing house" valuable.^[6]

Early years[link]

The beta version logo, used until February 13, 2005.

The first^[7] recorded proposal of a Wikimedia news site was a two-line anonymous post on January 5, 2003, on Wikipedia community's Meta-Wiki.^[8] Daniel Alston, who edited Wikipedia as Fonzy,^[9] claimed to have been the one who posted it.^[7][10] The proposal was then further developed by German freelance journalist, software developer and author Erik Möller.^[7] Early opposition from long-time Wikipedia contributors, many of them pointing out the existence of Wikipedia's own news summaries, gave way to detailed discussions and proposals about how it could be implemented as a new project of the Wikimedia Foundation.

In November 2004, a demonstration wiki was established to show how such a collaborative news site might work. In December 2004^[update], the site was moved out of the "demo" stage and into the beta stage. A German language edition was launched at the same time. Soon editions in Italian, Dutch, French, Spanish, Swedish, Bulgarian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Ukrainian, Serbian, Japanese, Russian, Hebrew, Arabic, Thai, Norwegian, Chinese, Turkish, Korean, Hungarian, Greek, Esperanto, Czech and Albanian (in that chronological order) were set up.

Wikinews has related news: English Wikinews publishes 10000th article

On March 13, 2005, the English edition of Wikinews reached 1,000 news articles. Just a few months later in September 2005, the project moved to the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 license.^[11] It reached 5,000 articles on April 29, 2006, and 10,000 on September 5, 2007.

Interviews[link]

Wikinews reporter David Shankbone with Israeli president Shimon Peres in 2007.

Wikinews reporters have conducted interviews with several notable people. In December 2007, Wikinews interviewed Israeli President and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Shimon Peres.^{[12] [13]} Other notable interviews have included writers, actors and politicians, such as Augusten Burroughs,^[14] 2008 Republican nomination hopefuls and independent/third party candidates for President, Tony Benn, Eric Bogosian, Nick Smith and John Key, and World Wide Web co-inventor Robert Cailliau.^[12]

Criticism[link]

Wikinews—like Wikipedia—is criticized for its perceived inability to be neutral or include only verified and true information. Robert McHenry, former editor-in-chief of the Encyclopædia Britannica criticized^[15] the credibility of the project:

Above all, the central question about the Wikinews effort is its credibility. Making a newspaper is hard...Someone who wants to do it but doesn't really know how hasn't solved the problem by gathering a lot of other people who don't know, either.

McHenry was skeptical about Wikinews' ability to provide a neutral point of view and its claim to be evenhanded: "The naïveté is stunning."^[15]

In a 2007 interview Sue Gardner, at that time a special adviser to the board of the Wikimedia Foundation and former head of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's Internet division, CBC.ca, dismissed McHenry's comment, stating "Journalism is not a profession ... at its heart, it's just a craft. And that means that it can be practiced by anyone who is sensible and intelligent and thoughtful and curious ... I go back to the morning of Virginia Tech – the morning I decided I wanted to work here [WMF]. The conversation on the talk page that day was extremely thoughtful. I remember thinking to myself that if my own newsroom had been having a conversation that intelligent (I was offsite that day) I would have been delighted. So yes, [in my opinion] you absolutely have proved Robert McHenry wrong. And you will continue to."^[16]

Wikinews has also had issues with maintaining a separate identity from Wikipedia, which also covers major news events in real-time. Columnist Jonathan Dee of The New York Times pointed out in 2007 that "So indistinct has the line between past and present become that Wikipedia has inadvertently all but strangled one of its sister projects, the three-year-old Wikinews... [Wikinews] has sunk into a kind of torpor; lately it generates just 8 to 10 articles a day... On bigger stories there's just no point in competing with the ruthless purview of the encyclopedia."^[17] Andrew Lih and Zachary M. Seward commented on the continuing issue in a 2010 piece in the Nieman Journalism Lab, "Why Wikipedia beats Wikinews as a collaborative journalism project." Lih wrote "it's not clear that the wiki process really gears itself towards deadlines and group narrative writing" and that "if you're trying to write something approaching a feature piece, it's much harder to get more than two or three people to stay consistent with the style."^[18] Lih considers Wikipedia's stricter "formula" for article composition an advantage in a large wiki with many editors.^[18]

In September 2011, a "large portion" of the Wikinews user base announced that they were dissatisfied with the site and created a fork called OpenGlobe.^[19][20]

Additional projects[link]

Wikinews members have at times expanded the site beyond text articles. Examples include Audio Wikinews, Wikinews Video 2.0 (test phase) and Wikinews Print edition, and Wikimedia Radio.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Wikinews

• Official website
• Rose, Adam (January / February 2009). "The Wikinews Ace: Why Shimon Peres sat down with David Shankbone". Columbia Journalism Review. http://www.cjr.org/on_the_job/the_wikinews_ace.php. 

The Right Honourable John Key MP
38th Prime Minister of New Zealand
Incumbent
Assumed office 19 November 2008
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Governor General	Anand Satyanand Jerry Mateparae
Deputy	Bill English
Preceded by	Helen Clark
31st Leader of the Opposition
In office 27 November 2006 – 8 November 2008
Deputy	Bill English
Preceded by	Don Brash
Succeeded by	Phil Goff
12th Leader of the National Party
Incumbent
Assumed office 27 November 2006
Deputy	Bill English
Preceded by	Don Brash
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Helensville
Incumbent
Assumed office 27 July 2002
Majority	20,547 (56.49%)[1]
Personal details
Born	(1961-08-09) 9 August 1961 (age 50) Auckland, New Zealand
Political party	National Party
Spouse(s)	Bronagh Key (1984–present)
Children	Stephie Max
Alma mater	University of Canterbury Harvard University
Signature
Website	Official website

John Phillip Key (born 9 August 1961) is the 38th Prime Minister of New Zealand, in office since 2008. He has led the New Zealand National Party since 2006.

Born in Auckland before moving to Christchurch when he was a child, Key attended the University of Canterbury and graduated in 1981 with a bachelor of commerce, also later undertaking management studies at Harvard University in Boston. He began a career in the foreign exchange market in New Zealand before moving overseas to work for Merrill Lynch, in which he became head of global foreign exchange in 1995, a position he would hold for six years. In 1999 he was appointed a member of the Foreign Exchange Committee of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York until leaving in 2001.

Key entered the New Zealand Parliament representing the Auckland electorate of Helensville as one of the few new National members of parliament in the election of 2002 following National's significant defeat of that year. He has held the seat since then. In 2004, he was appointed Finance Spokesman for National and eventually succeeded Don Brash as the National Party leader in 2006. After two years as Leader of the Opposition, Key led his party to victory in both the November 2008 and the November 2011 general elections.

As Prime Minister, Key leads the Fifth National Government of New Zealand which entered government at the beginning of the late-2000s recession in 2008. In his first term, Key's government implemented a GST rise, personal tax cuts and a raise in the minimum wage. In February 2011, a major earthquake in Christchurch, the nation's second largest city, significantly impacted the national economy and the government formed the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority in response. In its second term, Key's government announced a policy of partial privatisation of state-owned assets. In foreign policy, Key announced the withdrawal of New Zealand Defence Force personnel from their deployment in the war in Afghanistan, signed the Wellington Declaration with the United States and pushed for more nations to join the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership.

Personal life[link]

Key was born in Auckland, New Zealand, to George Key and Ruth Key (née Lazar), on 9 August 1961. His father was an English immigrant and a veteran of the Spanish Civil War and World War II.^[2] He died of a heart attack in 1967. Key and his two sisters were raised in a state house in the Christchurch suburb of Bryndwr by his Austrian Jewish immigrant mother.^[3][4]

He attended Aorangi School, then Burnside High School, and earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree in accounting from the University of Canterbury in 1981.^[3][5] He has attended management studies courses at Harvard University.^[6]

Key met his wife Bronagh when they were both students at Burnside High School. They married in 1984. She also has a BCom degree, and worked as a personnel consultant before becoming a full-time mother. They have two children, Stephie and Max.^[4]

Before politics[link]

Key's first job was in 1982, as an auditor at McCulloch Menzies, and he then moved to be a project manager at Christchurch-based clothing manufacturer Lane Walker Rudkin for two years.^[7] Key began working as a foreign exchange dealer at Elders Finance in Wellington, and rose to the position of head foreign exchange trader two years later,^[8] then moved to Auckland-based Bankers Trust in 1988.^[3]

In 1995, he joined Merrill Lynch as head of Asian foreign exchange in Singapore. That same year he was promoted to Merrill's global head of foreign exchange, based in London, where he may have earned around US$2.25 million a year including bonuses, which is about NZ$5 million at 2001 exchange rates.^[3][9] Some co-workers called him "the smiling assassin" for maintaining his usual cheerfulness while sacking dozens (some say hundreds) of staff after heavy losses from the 1998 Russian financial crisis.^[4][9] He was a member of the Foreign Exchange Committee of the New York Federal Reserve Bank from 1999 to 2001.^[10]

In 1998, on learning of his interest in pursuing a political career, the National Party president John Slater began working actively to recruit him. Former party leader Jenny Shipley describes him as one of the people she "deliberately sought out and put my head on the line–either privately or publicly–to get them in there".^[4][11]

Member of Parliament[link]

Auckland's population growth, as evidenced in the 2001 census, led to the creation of a new electorate called Helensville, which covered the north-western corner of the Auckland urban area.^[12] Key beat long-serving MP Brian Neeson (whose own Waitakere seat had moved on paper to being a Labour seat by the boundary changes) for the selection. At the 2002 elections Key won the seat with a majority of 1,705, ahead of Labour's Gary Russell, with Neeson, now standing as an independent, coming third.^[13] Key was re-elected with ease at the 2005 election garnering 63% of votes cast in Helensville,^[14] and increased his majority again in 2008, gaining 73% of the electorate vote.^[1]

Electorate office of John Key, located between Waimauku and Huapai on State Highway 16

Finance spokesman[link]

In 2004, Key was promoted to the Opposition front benches by party leader Don Brash and was made the party spokesman for finance. In late 2006 Brash resigned as leader, citing damaging speculation over his future as the reason. His resignation followed controversies over an extramarital affair, and over leaked internal National Party documents which were later published in the book The Hollow Men.^[15]

Leader of the Opposition[link]

In his maiden speech as leader on 28 November 2006, Key talked of an "underclass" that had been "allowed to develop" in New Zealand, a theme which received a large amount of media coverage.^[16] Key followed this speech up in February 2007 by committing his party to a programme which would provide food in the poorest schools in New Zealand.^[17]

He relented on his stance in opposition to Sue Bradford's Child Discipline Bill, which sought to remove "reasonable force" as a defence for parents charged with prima facie assault of their children. Many parents saw this bill as an attempt to ban smacking outright.^[18] Key and Prime Minister Helen Clark agreed a compromise giving police the discretion to overlook smacking they regard as "inconsequential".^[19]

In August 2007, Key came in for criticism when he changed his position regarding the Therapeutic Products and Medicine Bill:

"John Key had finally slipped up. National's leader had told the Herald on Tuesday he would have signed up to a New Zealand First-initiated compromise on the stalled Therapeutic Products and Medicines Bill had he seen it – and was still willing to sign up – only to change his mind yesterday after his remarks appeared in print."^[20]

Also in August 2007, Labour's Trevor Mallard hinted in Parliament that Labour were going to try to link Key to the 1987 "H-Fee" scandal, which involved Key's former employer Elders Merchant Finance and a payment to Equiticorp Chief Executive Allan Hawkins. Hawkins and Elders executive Ken Jarrett were later jailed for fraud. Key forestalled the accusation by declaring that he had left Elders months before the event, that he had no knowledge of the deal, and that his interview with the Serious Fraud Office during the investigation into the affair could only have helped to convict the people involved. This statement was supported publicly by then-SFO director Charles Sturt.^[21][22]

Labour MPs criticised Key for not releasing specific policy information at their annual conference. Key responded that National would set its own policy agenda and that there was adequate time before the next election for voters to digest National Party policy proposals.^[23]

On 25 July 2008, Key was added to the New Zealand National Business Review (NBR) Rich List for the first time. The list details the wealthiest New Zealand individuals and family groups. Key had an estimated wealth of NZ$50 million.^[24] Key is the wealthiest New Zealand Member of Parliament.^[25]

Prime Minister[link]

John Key (right), with (from left to right) son Max, wife Bronagh, and daughter Stephie, celebrating on election night, 8 November 2008

Key became Prime Minister following the general election on 8 November 2008 which signalled an end to the Labour-led government of nine years under Helen Clark. The National Party, promoting a policy of "change", won 45% of the party vote and 59 of the 122 seats in Parliament (including a two-seat overhang), a substantial margin over the Labour Party, which won 43 seats.

Key was sworn in as Prime Minister on 19 November 2008 along with his new cabinet.^[26] His first international outing as Prime Minister was the 20th APEC meeting in Peru the following day.

Arriving at the Ngapuhi Te Tii marae the day before Waitangi Day 2009, Key was briefly shoved and grabbed by two protesters before diplomatic protection officers pulled them off. He told reporters he was "quite shocked" but continued onto the marae and spoke, while police took the two men away and charged them with assault.^[27][28]

Key has also been tied with the National Cycleway Project since its conception at the national Job Summit in early 2009. He proposed it, and as Minister for Tourism, was instrumental in getting NZ$50 million approved for initial construction work.^[29]

In January 2009, after addressing Chinese New Year celebrations at the Greenlane ASB Showgrounds, Key tripped after coming down a small set of stairs in front of cameras leaving him with a broken right arm and "embarrassed".^[30]

Controversies[link]

During the Egyptian Revolution of 2011, Key was a proponent of Hosni Mubarak's government, citing his support of Israel and refusing to call for his resignation. When asked after the fall of Mubarak whether he had called on the Egyptian leader to step down, he said "no", but welcomed his resignation as the best possible means of restoring order in Egypt.^[31] In 2011, Key was caught up in a controversy over the purchase of government limousines which he denied knowledge of initially but later reports surfaced his office was aware. He was accused of being dishonest and eventually apologised, calling the deal sloppy.^[32][33]

In October 2011, Key made a statement where he claimed Standard and Poor's had said at a meeting in the prior month that "if there was a change of Government, that downgrade would be much more likely", this claim was contradicted by S&P after Key's credibility had been called into question.^[34][35] Just before the election in November 2011, a recording was made of a conversation between John Key and ACT Party candidate John Banks that they considered private.^[36] Mr Key made a complaint to the police who began an investigation to ascertain whether any laws had been broken. He refused to answer media questions about what was said and the recording, which became known as the "teapot tapes", dominated media discussion in the days before the election. The unreleased recording allegedly concerns the leadership of ACT and disparaging remarks about elderly New Zealand First supporters.^[37]

UN Security Council bid[link]

John and Bronagh Key meet Barack and Michelle Obama at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, 23 September 2009.

Key launched New Zealand's campaign for a Security Council seat at the UN General Assembly meeting in September 2009.^[38] He met briefly with US President Barack Obama and former US President Bill Clinton. While in New York, Key appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman. He read out the Top Ten list, 'Top Ten Reasons You Should Visit New Zealand'.^[39]

Political views[link]

Key's views are largely aligned with his own party's view. However he also notes the differences between his predecessor are more of style and focus rather than view.^[40] Key has in the past noted others' concern at the pace of asset sales, but argued that the arguments against selling assets in the 1980s were largely irrational.^[41] In a 2002 interview he said "some form of orientation towards privatisation" in health, education and superannuation, such as giving firms tax breaks for employer super schemes, made sense.^[42] After leading the National party to victory in the 2011 election, Key rejected that the National Party lacks a mandate to partially sell off state-owned assets, he acknowledged that some New Zealanders were anxious about the mixed ownership model. "But I think we got a mandate."^[43]

Key has a mixed voting record on social issues: he voted against the bill creating civil unions,^[44] claiming that this represented his constituents' views but he supports them personally.^[45] He was part of a large block of MPs voting to defeat a bill that defined marriage as being between a man and a woman.^[46] Key has also stated that he does not oppose gay adoption.^[47]

In regard to addressing the social destruction caused by binge drinking, in 2008 Key voted for an ill-fated attempt to raise the legal drinking age from 18 back to 20 ^[48] but subsequently ignored a Law Commission recommendation to increase levies on alcohol.^[49] He claimed there was 'no appetite' for such a move.^[50] A 'suppressed' report on public attitudes to alcohol law reform eventually came to light indicating that in 2010, when he made this claim, 56% of New Zealanders supported a price increase.^[51]

Key says that he believes that global warming is a real phenomenon, and that the Government needs to implement measures to reduce human contribution to global warming.^[52] Key has committed the National Party to working towards reducing greenhouse emissions in New Zealand by 50% within the next fifty years.^[53] Commentators note that as recently as 2005, Key made statements indicating that he was sceptical of the effects and impact of climate change.^[52][54]

Key with his predecessor, Helen Clark

Critics note that Key has changed his views on the Iraq war since becoming leader of the opposition. In 2003, as an opposition MP, Key emphasised National's position of supporting New Zealand's traditional allies, the United States and Australia. Key came under fire in the New Zealand Parliament in August 2007, when the Government claimed that had Key been Prime Minister at the time, he would have sent troops to Iraq.^[55]

Like his predecessor Helen Clark, Key views a New Zealand republic as "inevitable", although probably not for another decade. "If Australia becomes a republic there is no question it will set off quite an intense debate on this side of the Tasman," he said, "We would have to have a referendum if we wanted to move towards it." ^[56] Key later stated that he is a monarchist, and that a New Zealand republic would "Not [happen] under my watch".^[57]

Religious views[link]

Key attends church frequently but is agnostic when it comes to belief in God.^[58][59] He has stated that he does not believe in an afterlife, and sees religion as "doing the right thing".^[58] Key's wife, Bronagh (née Dougan) Key, is the daughter of Northern Irish emigrants of mixed religious descent.^[60] Key is the third prime minister or premier of New Zealand (after Julius Vogel and Francis Bell) with Jewish ancestry.^[61]

See also[link]

• Contents of the United States diplomatic cables leak (New Zealand)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: John Key

Wikinews has related news: Exclusive interview with New Zealand politician, John Key

• Official website
• Prime Minister of New Zealand official website
• Profile at New Zealand National Party website
• Profile at Parliament of New Zealand website
• Releases and speeches at Beehive website
• The New Zealand Herald feature: John Key–the unauthorised biography

Dolph Ziggler
Ziggler as the WWE United States Champion in December 2011.
Ring name(s)	Dolph Ziggler[1] Nic Nemeth[2] Nick Metro[3] Nick Nemeth[2] Nicky[2]
Billed height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[2][3][4]
Billed weight	213 lb (97 kg)[4]
Born	(1980-07-27) July 27, 1980 (age 31)[2][3] Cleveland, Ohio[2][3]
Resides	Phoenix, Arizona[5]
Billed from	Hollywood, Florida[4]
Trained by	Florida Championship Wrestling[2] Ohio Valley Wrestling[2] Steve Keirn[2] Tom Prichard[2] Lance Storm[6]
Debut	November 2004[2]

Nicholas Theodore "Nick" Nemeth^[2] (born July 27, 1980)^[2][3] is an American professional wrestler, who is contracted to WWE. He wrestles on the Raw brand under the name Dolph Ziggler.^[1] He is also known for his performances with WWE as Spirit Squad member Nicky in 2006.

Nemeth signed a development contract with WWE in 2004, and was sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW). He was brought up to the Raw brand in 2005 as Kerwin White's sidekick. He was, however, sent back to OVW shortly afterwards, where he joined the Spirit Squad. They debuted on Raw in January 2006, and won the World Tag Team Championship once before returning to OVW that November.

In September 2007, Nemeth was assigned to Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), where he formed a tag team with Brad Allen. The pair won the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship once, and Nemeth later won the championship for the second time with Gavin Spears as his partner. He returned to Raw as Ziggler in September 2008, and was drafted to the SmackDown brand in April 2009. At the SmackDown tapings on July 28, Ziggler won the WWE Intercontinental Championship for the first time. He held the championship for five months, until January 2011. He was awarded, and lost, his first World Heavyweight Championship on February 15, 2011. That March he returned to the Raw roster, and won the WWE United States Championship for the first time three months later.

Amateur wrestling career[link]

Nemeth attended St. Edward High School in Lakewood, Ohio where he was an amateur wrestler, and holds the school record for most pins in a career with 82.^[3] At St. Edward, he was teammates with Gray Maynard and Andy Hrovat.^[7] During Nemeth's time at St Edward, the wrestling team won the National Championships on two occasions.^[8]

He wrestled collegiately at Kent State University, eventually setting what was then the record for most career wins in the team's history.^[3][9] Nemeth's record was passed in 2006, and as of 2010 he stands second all-time in career victories at Kent State.^[9] He had 121 career wins between 2000 and 2003.^[9][10] He was a three-time All-Mid-American Conference champion, winning the 165 lb (75 kg) tournament in 2000, 2002, and 2003, and as of 2010 is the last wrestler from Kent State University to have won three amateur wrestling championships.^[8]

Professional wrestling career[link]

World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE[link]

Ohio Valley Wrestling (2004–2006)[link]

Nemeth signed a contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in 2004.^[10] He was assigned to their developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), debuting as "Nick Nemeth". He feuded with Paul Burchill and challenged unsuccessfully for the OVW Television Championship, losing a championship match against then-champion Ken Doane on August 12, 2005.^[3]

Nemeth was called up to the Raw roster shortly afterwards, making his television debut on the September 19, 2005 episode of Sunday Night Heat.^[2] He was made the enforcer and sidekick for Chavo Guerrero, Jr., who was using a golfer in-ring persona and going by the ring name of "Kerwin White".^[3] As such, Nemeth became White's caddy.^[3] His wrestling debut came on an episode of Sunday Night Heat, teaming up with White in a tag team match against Shelton Benjamin and Matt Striker.^[2] After the death of Eddie Guerrero, Chavo Guerrero dropped the "Kerwin White" character, and Nemeth no longer played the role of his caddy and tag partner. After a few months of wrestling in dark matches and at house shows, he was sent back to OVW.^[3]

The Spirit Squad (2006)[link]

Nemeth became a part of the Spirit Squad faction, a group of five wrestlers who used the in-ring personas of male cheerleaders, and adopted the name Nicky in OVW during late 2005.^[3] The Spirit Squad members trained with real cheerleaders and gymnasts to ensure their characters were believable.^[11] On January 23, 2006, they had their WWE television debut as a group, appearing on Raw and helping Jonathan Coachman win a Royal Rumble qualifying match against Jerry "The King" Lawler by performing cheers for Coachman and distracting Lawler.^[12] They later became a part of the on-going scripted feud between WWE chairman Vince McMahon and Shawn Michaels. The heel (villainous) McMahon brought in the Squad to attack Michaels on numerous occasions, including placing them in multiple handicap matches.^[13][14]

Nemeth (left) as Nicky, with Mikey (center) and Johnny (right) in the Spirit Squad

They also wrestled in the tag team division, and on April 3, on Raw, won the World Tag Team Championship when Kenny and Mikey, with outside help from the other three Squad members, defeated Big Show and Kane.^[15][16] After winning the championship, all five members of the Spirit Squad were recognized as the champions, allowing any combination of them to defend the championship.^[3]

In May, McMahon signed another Handicap match, with the Spirit Squad facing Michaels. The match never started, however; instead the Spirit Squad attacked Michaels, and, as part of the storyline, shattered his knee with a steel chair.^[17] McMahon brought Triple H to the ring to attack Michaels with a sledgehammer; however, after Triple H felt that the Squad had disrespected him, he attacked the group.^[17] This led to Triple H and Michaels reforming D-Generation X (DX) and they began a feud with the Spirit Squad.^[18][19] DX played various sophomoric jokes on the Squad and the McMahons, as well as defeating the Spirit Squad in handicap tag team matches at Vengeance and a clean sweep in an elimination handicap match at Saturday Night's Main Event.^{[19][20][21][22]}

At the same time as their feud with DX and their alignment with McMahon, the Squad also wrestled other teams in Raw's tag division over their World Tag Team Championship, successfully defending the championship against the teams of Jim Duggan and Eugene, Charlie Haas and Viscera, and Snitsky and Val Venis.^[20] They then entered a lengthy feud with The Highlanders, whom they eventually defeated to retain the championship at the Unforgiven pay-per-view in September.^[23][24] The Squad as a whole later began a losing streak with separate members losing singles matches to Ric Flair on consecutive episodes of Raw, until Kenny managed to defeat him on the October 23 episode.^{[25][26][27][28][29]} It was then announced that Flair and a WWE legend, selected by interactive voting, would wrestle the team for the World Tag Team Championship at the Cyber Sunday pay-per-view in early November.^[29] The fans chose Roddy Piper, and he and Flair defeated Kenny and Mikey to win the championship.^[30]

The group disbanded on the November 27 episode of Raw, when they were defeated in a five-on-three handicap match by DX and Flair. In a backstage segment later that night, DX placed all members into a crate stamped "OVW, Louisville, Kentucky", a reference to the developmental territory from which the Squad had come.^[31]

Brand switches (2007–2009)[link]

Ziggler in September 2008.

Nemeth returned to OVW on January 17, 2007, at the television tapings, again using his Nick Nemeth ring name, along with Mike Mondo, formerly Mikey in the Spirit Squad, as the "Frat Pack". The pair teamed with Mike Kruel in a match against Seth Skyfire, Shawn Spears, and Cody Runnels.^[32] The team disbanded in the early parts of 2007.^[33] Nemeth then competed in several dark matches before the OVW television tapings, competing against several wrestlers including Chris Cage, Bradley Jay and Jake Hager, before he began teaming with Mondo again in August.^{[34][35][36][37]}

At the end of August, Nemeth and Mike Mondo were moved to the Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) developmental territory and in his debut there, Nemeth gained the nickname "The Natural" and defeated Hade Vansen.^[2][3][38] In November 2007, Nemeth gained Big Rob as his manager, but their alliance was short-lived.^[2][39] At the start of 2008, he tweaked his name to "Nic Nemeth" and began teaming with Brad Allen, with the pair gaining Taryn Terrell as their valet.^[10] Nemeth and Allen started a frat boy type ring character with Terrell as a "sorority chick". On March 22, Nemeth and Allen won the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship by defeating defending champions Eddie Colón and Eric Pérez, but lost the championship back to Colón and Pérez on April 15.^[10][40] Throughout April and May 2008, Nemeth wrestled in several dark matches prior to Raw, losing to Kofi Kingston and Ron Killings on several occasions.^[2] Soon after, he returned to the name "Nic Nemeth", and began teaming with Gavin Spears.^[2] The pair defeated Colón and Pérez to win the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship on August 16, but lost it to Heath Miller and Joe Hennig less than a month later.^[2][41]

On September 15, 2008, Nemeth re-debuted on Raw, introducing himself in a backstage segment under the name "Dolph Ziggler".^[1] On October 10, 2008, Nemeth was suspended for 30 days for his first violation of WWE's Wellness Program policy.^[42] He returned to Raw on November 17 in a backstage segment with Rey Mysterio and Shawn Michaels.^[43] In his first match on Raw under the Ziggler name, he lost to Batista on the December 1 episode.^[44] The following week he got his first victory as Ziggler, by countout, against R-Truth.^[45] The next week on Raw, he picked up his first televised pinfall victory, when he defeated Charlie Haas.^[46]

Intercontinental and World Heavyweight Champion (2009–2011)[link]

Ziggler as the Intercontinental Champion in December 2010 at WWE Tribute to the Troops.

On April 15, 2009, Ziggler was drafted to the SmackDown brand as part of the 2009 Supplemental Draft.^[47] He made his debut on the April 17 episode of SmackDown, defeating the United States Champion, Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) in a non-title match, and, as a result, the following week he demanded a match for the championship.^[48][49] On the May 1 episode of SmackDown, however, he failed to win the championship, after he was pinned by MVP.^[50] Ziggler then started a rivalry with The Great Khali, losing to him by disqualification after attacking Khali with a steel chair.^[51] As a result, Khali began coming out to the ring during and after Ziggler's matches, in attempt to gain revenge and to stop Ziggler from cheating.^[52][53] Over the next few weeks, Ziggler defeated Khali by countout and disqualification after making it look like Khali had struck him with a steel chair.^[54][55] At The Bash pay-per-view, Ziggler defeated Khali by pinfall, after Kane interfered and attacked Khali.^[56]

Ziggler then entered an on-screen relationship with WWE Diva Maria and she became his valet.^[3] He simultaneously started a scripted rivalry with Intercontinental Champion Rey Mysterio, who defeated Ziggler at the Night of Champions and SummerSlam pay-per-views to retain the championship.^[57] In September, Mysterio lost the Intercontinental Championship to John Morrison, and Ziggler entered a feud with Morrison, losing to him at the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view.^[58] On the episode of SmackDown, following Hell in a Cell, Ziggler ended his on-screen relationship with Maria after she cost him a match against Morrison.^[59] On the February 26, 2010 episode of SmackDown, Ziggler defeated John Morrison and R-Truth in a triple threat qualifying match to compete in the Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania XXVI, but was ultimately unsuccessful.^[60][61]

In June he began a romantic storyline with Vickie Guerrero, who began accompanying him to the ring.^[62] On the July 9 episode of SmackDown, Ziggler defeated Chavo Guerrero and Montel Vontavious Porter in a triple threat match to qualify for the SmackDown Money in the Bank ladder match at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, where he once again failed to win the match.^[63][64] On July 28 at the tapings of the August 6 episode of SmackDown Ziggler defeated Kofi Kingston to win the WWE Intercontinental Championship for the first time.^[65][66] In his first title defense at SummerSlam, he retained the championship against Kingston when the match ended in a no contest due to interference from The Nexus.^[67] Ziggler was able to make a successful title defense against Kingston at the Night of Champions pay-per-view, and against Kaval at Survivor Series.^[68][69]