Marshe Rockett on Working for NWA, Praises Billy Corgan’s Mind for the Business

– Wrestler Marshe Rockett recently joined the Shining Wizards Wrestling Podcast to discuss his career, Billy Corgan’s mind for the wrestling business, working in NWA, and more. Below are some highlights:

Marshe Rockett on working in NWA: “There’s a lot of similarities. I love how the locker room is oriented with just wanting to be better. It’s not just a ‘give me mine’ type atmosphere. Everybody literally works together to make the best possible wrestling product out there. And what’s cool about The NWA is that it’s the new school meets old-school vibe. That’s catching on with a lot of fans. You see it almost every NWA Power where at least somebody’s reporting how they loved how old school it was because that’s the wrestling they grew up with. It’s just guys and girls going out there cutting promos and getting in there and just wrestling. There might be a story here and there, but it’s just two athletes, maybe more going out there and doing what they love to do, and that’s being a professional wrestler. In the other places (I worked) too, that was the case, but there was a little more showmanship. It was a little more fast-paced. The NWA is ground and pound and you literally have to fight for every inch. I think that’s why I like it so much because I feel like in wrestling that’s sort of a lost art on some things. I’m pretty sure you’ve seen wrestling where if you blink, you’ve already missed half the match. It’s just zipping. Zippity-doo-dah going left and right. Like what did I see, how did that happen, and how did that guy get kicked in the head? NWA, not only do you see it, but you feel it too.”

Marshe Rockett on trying out for WWE, later signing with Impact under Billy Corgan: “I had already had two tryouts before that I thought were good. But looking back then, I wasn’t ready. I thought I was, but I wasn’t ready for those tryouts. This third one I had gotten with them, I was poised. Promos, you know, they couldn’t slow me down if they tried, which they did. They do try to break you and test you mentally and physically, and that was by far one of my best tryout performances. Just showing them that I didn’t want to be here to be here. I wanted to be a part of WWE. And just to get that was a crushing blow. If I had a low point in my career, I think that would kind of be it. But you know, as they say, the universe has a plan. Because not soon after that, who reaches out to me but Billy Corgan. And Billy Corgan at the time, when this whole IMPACT thing was happening, he had said “hey, I talked to ET, I talked to some people.” He had seen Chikara and matches from the past. They were very interested in and he was like, “would you mind coming in for a tryout?” Now keep in mind, my head is already flustered and I’m just like, “I don’t know, Billy.” I just had a tryout and I’m kind of at that point. He was like, “come down here and show them what I’ve already seen and you’ll be surprised.” So I did. I went down there. I just told myself I’m going to throw caution to the wind. What more do I have to lose? I just went out there and did everything that I considered to be my best. So I get there, do my tryout, and right afterwards I’m asked that when I get settled down to come meet Billy and I walk into the main office, and lo and behold there’s a contract sitting right there. They were just like “we really, really like what we saw. We think you have the potential to expand your brand. And you can help us expand our brand. Let’s just work together.” And so I know Billy’s hand in that… It was just like, ‘Hey, I just want you to see this kid. Watch him go.’ So Billy just showed me the door and was like, ‘Walk through it. You do you, bro.’ And as they say, the rest is history. Billy has always had my back. He was like “here’s the door. I know you can deliver. You just need someone to show you in, and there you go.”

Marshe Rockett on Corgan’s mind for the business: “The funny thing is, and I didn’t know it before I started to get to know Billy, but Billy Corgan has actually been around wrestling for a really long time. Like, old ECW days. He was involved in that, and even from those days, being around it for so long, he developed, to your point, he didn’t come in knowing. He was sort of Tony Khan. Like I got this, and let’s see what I can do with it. But as time went on, he has developed quite the uncanny eye for not only talent, but for actually taking talent and pushing them to surpass even their own comfort zones. And that’s one of the things I admire so much about Billy. I like to think of myself as one particular wrestler, but Billy will look at me and say, “No man, you’re so much more.’ As long as you trust him and trust the process, he’ll take you to places you’ve never even been. And I gotta say, he’s never steered me wrong. As far as him having a great mind for the business? Yeah. He’s taken the experiences he’s obtained, and I love that he incorporates his own creativity from music into it. He just lets the paint hit the canvas, and out comes a masterpiece. There you go.”