Nick Aldis On His Decision To Leave the NWA, Responds to Billy Corgan’s Comments

Nick Aldis recently spoke with Sam Roberts on Not Sam Wrestling and offered some explanations on his choice to part ways with NWA (per Fightful). He also referenced the comments by NWA’s Billy Corgan and shared his perspective on the various aspects that led to his decision and the fallout from the announcement. You can find a few highlights from Aldis and watch the full interview below.

On how the changes in NWA’s production incited his decision to leave: “Look, I can’t get around it. I’m not saying all of it, but there was enough of it that, for me, didn’t pass the Harley Race test. I know that people will hear that and be like, ‘Harley Race? What the hell?’ What you have to understand, Harley Race wanted nothing to do with the NWA because of what it had been prior. It had some pretty dark days. Then he agreed, not only to be back associated with it. [He] asked me to come to Missouri to defend the title, agreed to appear on-camera, talking to me about being NWA Champion, and that ended up being the last interview he ever gave on-camera before he passed away. That means a lot to me. It was because of how we had presented pro wrestling consistently for three years at that point or whatever it was. We had consistently presented pro wrestling in a serious and dignified way. I know people will hear dignified and pro wrestling in the same sentence and say it’s an oxymoron, you know what I’m saying. I just found myself, again, this isn’t me trying to do scorched earth. I’m just saying this is what factored into my decision to give my notice. I started looking at stuff like Gaagz the Gymp, a social distancing match where the two wrestlers can’t touch each other. On and on it went with different wacky, silly comedy nonsensical stuff, and I said, ‘How would I have justified this to Harley Race, if Harley Race had been here today?’ Imagine if I’d have been stood there with Harley Race, and what would Harley Race say watching this, or Dory Funk? Or Ric Flair?

“I thought, if I was stood here with those guys right now, I’d be kind of embarrassed. Because they would look at me and go, ‘This is you? This is your company?’ I’d have to go, ‘No.’ I didn’t want to be in a position where I’m like, ‘Oh, that’s not me.’ Because if I’m in, I’m in. When we first talked, I was doing the Ten Pounds of Gold Series. I got paid zero for those. I know that [Corgan] spent a lot time talking about, ‘I gave him this money.’ Well, we exchanged money for services. I gave you pro wrestling services in exchange for money. You didn’t give me money. Also, for the first year that we were doing business together, my money came from third-party independent promoters, it didn’t come from you at all. So I made all that content. I wasn’t getting paid for that. I was benefiting from it. I’m not upset about it, but I just think it provides a bit of context. I was very invested in building this thing.”

On whether he feels his departure decision is “alarming” for others: “I guess it shouldn’t really be alarming. It probably wouldn’t be alarming for people who had been following the product for the last [few years]. I’m sure for them, it couldn’t have come as much of a surprise. I understand what you’re saying and appreciate it. I tried to avoid saying anything like this because there’s no way to say it without sounding like you’re sort of self-promoting and being egotistical. Yes, I was the sort of the perennial face of the brand. I heard an interview, the interview that Triple H did with Ariel Helwani, and Ariel asked him about NXT and how it had changed. To me, his answers sort of mirror how I feel in a lot of ways about the NWA. It moved away from what I had wanted it to be. Again, much in the same way I suppose, not now, obviously because he’s running the place now, but at that time, he kind of had this, it seemed to me, he had this mentality of well hey, there’s nothing I can do about it. That’s sort of where I got to, with the NWA. I sort of went, what it’s become now is not what I envisioned it to be and it certainly isn’t what I was laying the groundwork for it to be. It didn’t have the core values that I had tried to sort of maintain. Again, this was not a knock. It was just me going, ‘This isn’t for me anymore.’ I wanted to do an alternative wrestling brand that represented all those things about the NWA that people missed in the current product, whether it be from sort of over-production or a different mentality or a different style. Let’s give them all their things because I felt like there was a good portion of the audience, particularly in the south, who missed ‘rassling. That was it. I wanted it to be burgers and fries, red-white-and-blue ‘rassling because I loved that stuff. It wasn’t because I hate high spots and I hate these other types, I hate sports entertainment. No, it wasn’t that. It was more like, looking at it from a business point of view. Hey, there’s a gap in the market I think for this type of product, and when I had the influence to sort of make that happen, like you said, we steered everything toward that vision, and it worked.”

On when he feels that NWA began the changes he referenced: “Year and change. So [NWA] 73, the first St. Louis show was, for me, was kind of like, once that business was transacted, it was never the same. Here’s the thing, the first thing that anyone’s gonna say to that and the first thing I’m sure Billy would say, ‘Oh, well, because he wasn’t champion anymore.’ The reality is that, prior to that, I had been sort of steering the ship because the world title angle was obviously, like in any promotion, the world title angle should be the one that really anchors the promotion. I had worked very hard for the last three years, well, even before that, because even when Cody (Rhodes) and I kind of traded the belt back and forth, I was still in the thick of it. I had worked very hard to make sure that every time I was involved in a world title angle that it was meaningful, it meant something. I felt, that was always the driving force. That was always sort of pulling the wagon. Obviously, when I wasn’t in that picture anymore, voluntarily, I would like to add. I was the one who said, ‘I think it might be time for a switch here.’ Here’s an opportunity, here’s all these things that are presenting themselves. St. Louis, Trevor, Harley Race, Wrestling at The Chase. All these opportunities presented themselves, and I went, there’s a moment there. There’s a piece of business to be done there. It was kind of my baby, and I hate getting into these pissing contests of ‘This is my idea’ but that whole angle was kind of my baby. I [was] kind of soup-to-nuts [with] that whole thing. I also knew enough to know that it’s very important, it’s not just about losing the title. It’s what you do after.”

On Corgan’s statement that Aldis is working an angle: “He worked himself into a shoot. I’m trying to be nice here and say what’s obvious for anyone who is paying attention. His lack of experience and naivety, that first time when it was an angle, when people reached out to me, I said, ‘Yes, but…I’m concerned he’s working himself into a shoot.’ It does when you’re inexperienced and you let this get to you personally. I’ve made mistakes in the past and had failed relationships in the past with people because I let it get personal when I shouldn’t have. That’s experience, maturity, and skin thickening. I’ve been in the business since I was 17, I have thick skin at this point. People have said the worst shit about me at some point or another, and I’m a double target because I’m married in the business too. I’m pretty conditioned, and I could see it coming. The whole thing that is so silly is, number one, I hate the fact that it paints me in this light of complaining or having problems backstage. Anyone who has been involved in the NWA knows that nobody put more sweat equity into that brand than me. There comes a time where you have to go, ‘you have to move on.’ If this were the territories, it would be, ‘let’s finish up.'”