Nick Aldis Addresses How WWE Can Present Him as a Viable Opponent Against Gunther

During a recent interview with Insight with Chris Van Vliet, WWE SmackDown GM Nick Aldis spoke about his upcoming matchup against Gunther at WWE SummerSlam. Aldis addressed how WWE can present him as a viable opponent for Gunther, in light of Gunther’s recent experience, “retiring” the likes of Goldberg, John Cena, and AJ Styles. Below are some highlights from Insight:

Nick Aldis on WWE Presenting Him as a Viable Opponent for Gunther

“It’s a fair question. It’s a fair point. Well, I think we need to document my career. I believe that is in the works. I think it’s a bit of a crash course for the WWE universe. Is this is who this guy was before he came here? I think that’s necessary. Fortunately, there’s quite a good relationship with TNA, and I believe with the NWA as well. So hopefully we can put together something compelling and substantial that really helps sort of fill that gap for people who don’t know, and the rest is up to me.”

On If He’s Thought a Lot About His Presentation For the Match

“Yeah, of course. This is WWE. I’ve been very, very flattered and humbled by, for example, when I said like gear, attire. I want Nick Aldis: The National Treasure. So there’s a little exclusive for you because I know there’s been a lot. There’s been some speculation about like, is he gonna wrestle in a suit? Stupid. Can you imagine? But again, I understand. Like sure, when I was a kid, nothing else outside WWF meant sh*t to me. I appreciated all the height of WCW and all that after the fact. At the time, I was like 10 at the peak of WCW. To me, I was like, That’s not the WWF.”

On the Misconception That He Wasn’t Wrestling and Became GM Due to an Injury

“Yeah, it’s funny because some of that was just some interesting timing. Because no, I was not put in that role because I was hurt. It wasn’t a case of being not cleared or needing time to heal up or anything like that. Having said that, it’s been wonderful to have some time to heal up, and actually the truth is, I probably did have some issues that I was not fully aware of until I actually had time for my body to heal properly. One being my back. Some of this was magnified by the fact that right around the time that I don’t know if I had signed yet, but I was shadowing, and I was coming to TVs and getting to know everybody. I had a few dates left, and one of them was one of them was going to be a return match with Alex Shelley at an independent show. I believe it was in Chicago, may have been Detroit. And for probably the first time in my career, outside of being legitimately injured and having surgery was the first time where I had to call and pull out because my back was really bad.

“I’d had this sort of constant nagging pain in my back where it would really vary. Some days it would be fine, and then other days it would just completely ruin my whole day. And eventually, I remember being a couple of days out from the show and just calling the guy and saying, ‘I’m so sorry, but I’m just having trouble moving around. I’m gonna have to pull out; my back is shot.’ I went to Vanderbilt in Nashville and saw a specialist because it felt like I had a bulging disc or herniated disc. Turns out I actually just had huge inflammation. There’s like a thin sheet of muscle that sits behind your spinal erectus, I believe. Finally, this specialist at Vanderbilt was able to find it, and he goes, ‘Yeah, that’s why it feels like a bulging disc or a herniated disc. You actually just have massive inflammation in this muscle.’ He said, ‘You’re fine. Actually, your spine’s in pretty good order.’

“I just got checked out at the Orlando Magic Facility in Orlando a couple weeks ago, and they said the same thing. The guy said, ‘Look, you know, you’ve got the spine of a 39-year-old wrestler, but actually in the scheme of things it’s pretty good.’ It just turned out that I just needed these specific anti-inflammatories. Cleared it up instantly. That was the thing that had been bugging me for like two years. So it was really just a case of just me being a stubborn idiot, and just sort of almost not wanting to know, thinking I’ll just figure it out, or I’ll just wear a back brace, or I’ll just do this, whatever. And all I needed was some anti-inflammatories, and it was just like something had just aggravated this specific stabilizer muscle, and it was just super inflamed.”

Nick Aldis vs. Gunther takes place at WWE SummerSlam 2026: Night 1 on Saturday, August 1. The premium live event is being held at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It will air live on the ESPN App in the U.S. and on Netflix internationally.