Almighty Sheik Reveals Why Billy Corgan’s AMC Wrestling Reality Show Was Canceled

– Almighty Sheik spoke with The Hannibal TV for a new interview and discussed his work with Billy Corgan and more. Video and highlights are below per WZ:

On meeting Billy Corgan: “At the time, my name had a ton of controversy on it, and Billy loves controversy. I met Billy in Vegas and we exchanged numbers. He was very cordial, very kind. Super friendly. He called me up out of the blue and he’s like, ‘Hey Sheik, we’re going to do a reality TV wrestling show.’ I was like, ‘Okay, I’m a little too old school for that, but sure.’ He said, ‘We are going to have pitch meetings in Hollywood with some heavy hitters and I’ll send you a schedule. If you can make it, I’d really like you to make it.’ I said, ‘Okay, that sounds like a great opportunity. If worse comes to worse, I’ll at least get to have my toe in this world and see how it works and understand it.'”

On how the meetings went: “Next thing you know that next week I was in a Beverly Hills hotel. We did a quick meeting over brunch on Sunday, and then Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday we were at FX, the William Morris Agency, stars were walking by in these boardrooms with the Hollywood elite. Billy would say something then I would say something, and after the meetings, Billy would go, ‘That was really good. I really like how you phrased things. I liked how you worded that.’ Then the next meeting, he’d say the same thing, and I was smart enough to know he was setting me up, so I’d say what I had said. We ended up getting picked up. We started this company called Resistance Pro. The company was very strange. The booking was very new age. Billy is more traditional now with the NWA. There were some butting heads and there were directions that I thought were odd, but Billy is more successful than anyone else that was in the room, so I had an open mind and trusted it.”

On the filming process: “The people that finally picked it up, I could be wrong, I think it was the people that did The Real World. They came and were shooting. It was extremely weird. I was not into it at all. It was nothing I would ever want to do again. The way everybody acted when the cameras were on, the way people acted towards me, and the backstabbing that was going on. It was like wrestling times a million as far as the politics go.”

On why the show was canceled: “It was supposed to be on AMC. The Walking Dead became the biggest thing going and then AMC dropped all of their reality TV. It got scrapped. They had taped a bunch of stuff, matches, backstage. All of it from my vantage point, it was very weird and nothing from wrestling people.”

On his relationship with Billy Corgan: “For a good chunk of time, I was very close with Billy. I still am friends with him. Every once in a while we’ll talk. I was staying at his home in Chicago, I was invited to every concert. I would watch them practice in LA, and we’d go eat after. He’s a good friend of mine, but extremely busy. He’s sort of got a side gig with that band and all. He’ll always be a friend.”