Trevor Murdoch On Being NWA World Champion, Talks Joining The Company

Trevor Murdoch is a two-time NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion, and he discussed his NWA experience and more in a new interview. Murdoch spoke with Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp, and you can see the highlights below:

On being NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion: “It’s almost unbelievable because I’ve been wrestling for a really long time and there has been a lot of opportunities put in front of me. I have been told, ‘We’re gonna do this,’ ‘We’re gonna do that,’ and I am, ‘Yes, sir. Let’s get this.’ I’ve had other scenarios where I’m literally hours before everything gets switched. So, to me, I really wasn’t for sure if things were going to go the way they were supposed to ‘til I literally walked on the stage and I was like, ‘Balls in my court now, boys. Ain’t nobody can do nothing after this.’ Then it all became extremely real. Flood of emotions, man. There’s not very many men in this world that can say they’re NWA World’s Heavyweight Champion, let alone able to beat a guy of the stature of Nick Aldis.”

On joining the company: “I was kind of phrasing myself out. You can still wrestle in this country, you can do smaller shows and people just don’t get promoted as well as other shows. You kinda run under the radar a little bit. I, honestly, I felt like a round peg in a square world. Professional wrestling was changing. I didn’t feel like I had a foothold in that landscape any more. I was a great, come out to the wrong, ‘Oh, we know that guy.’ But it wasn’t the oomph that I needed and what I thought professional wrestling needed. Plus Harley, his health was declining and I was trying to be there more for him. So it really felt like it was the right time to work my way out and I was just telling some promoters, I was like, ‘This is probably my last show. I don’t have the love and the drive for it, and the time and the effort that is needed to be successful.’ I remember as a young guy sometimes I would see older guys get brought in and they would be so grizzled and they’d be just there because they needed the payday,” he continued. “They would go out and wrestle and do just enough to say they were there. They would hustle everybody at the merch table for every little nickel and dime. I was like, ‘if I ever get to that point, please somebody tell me. Take me out. Boom! Shoot me. Just let me be done.’ I kind of felt that’s where—not where I was headed, but—I might have been, like wrestling itself.”

“So Harley passes away and that, to me, felt like the stamp. Like, ‘Okay, this is full circle shit here.’ NWA graciously came to Harley’s funeral to pay respects,” he said. “Nick Aldis was the current World Champion at the time and Dave Lagana was there. After the funeral, they both cornered me a little bit, asking me what I was doing. I explained to them that I was working my way out and they said, ‘Well, we’re starting this new program with Billy Corgan. NWA Powerrr. We want you to come down for one show.’ I’m like, ‘No. That’s TV shit. That’s Billy Corgan. You guys are asking me to go in the opposite direction I feel like I’m going. That’s work-work.’ They said, ‘Just come down. You don’t even have to wrestle. Have you produce a match. Your experience is needed in the background. Bur bring your gear. You never know, right, Trevor? You never know.’ So I said, ‘Alright. I’ll come down for one show.’

“I came in and I walked into GPB Studios. I ran right into Dave Lagana, first thing. ‘Hey, Trevor! How’s it going?’ ‘Great, great.’ He goes, ‘Did you bring your gear.’ I said, ‘Yeah. I always do.’ He goes, ‘Alright, you’re wrestling Ricky Starks tonight.’ ‘…alright.’ So I go out there, have that match with Ricky, thinking, ‘Alright. One and done.’ Again, I have no problem putting this young cat over. He’s the next big thing. I go out there and have a great match with Ricky. The people are extremely supportive. Ricky’s very respectful. I get done with the match and as I walk through the curtain, Nick, Dave and Billy are all standing there and are like, ‘You got way more in the tank than you give yourself credit for.’ I was like, ‘Thank you, thank you.’ They’re like, ‘We’ve already got you booked for tomorrow.’ In one day, yeah. It just worked out that way, you know what I mean? Obviously, if there wasn’t something left in me, I wouldn’t be where I’m at,” Murdoch continued. “Those guys are very honest. That’s the cool thing about NWA. Not just with the office, but with the other wrestlers. We’re all really honest with each other. We elevate through honesty. A lot of times, if you hear honesty it’s not gonna be something you like to hear. It’s not always gonna be pleasant, but it’s the truth and it’s the way we’re gonna move forward. I’ve never gotten better in this business, in pro wrestling, with someone patting me on the back going, ‘Trevor, good time. You’re amazing. Jesus Christ, you’re fucking money, brother.’ Never.”

On creative freedom in the company: “But when the guy’s come up to me after the match and go, ‘Hey, man. I was watching your match and saw you do this. Maybe don’t do that or what about this or what about that?’ It’s not taking shots at each other,” he said. “It’s just trying to elevate through honesty. Man, that’s really powerful. You’ve got a really good locker room of guys that just want to help elevate everybody. You’ve got an honest with Billy and all the NWA executives who have their ears open to us. Which, we may not always get to do everything we want, but they’re very trusting in us as the talent to go out there and be successful. This is what we get a lot, ‘This is our idea. You do the wrestling part and go make that work,’ and I’m like, ‘Well, fuck yeah. I can do that.’ That’s my job,” he continued. “Let me be the wrestler. Let me make this make sense. Let me find the emotional connection to the people that make them want to see more of this and want to buy a ticket to come watch. Billy and all the producers are smart enough to know, ‘Hey, we’re not the ones doing it. So maybe we need to trust the guys that we’ve brought in as talent, trust these guys we have given responsibilities to, to go out there and do it.’”

On the company’s production style: “It’s a different scene for wrestling, too. You walk in, there’s no music. There’s no smoke. There’s nothing to hide you at all. There’s just a ring, some ropes and you’ve got three rows of people and half the ring you’ve got to impress, and some of those critics are way worse than having a five hundred-seat house. Because those people are right there. They see everything. So there is no, ‘Let’s stop and re-tape.’ This is live, on-the-go, sink or swim scenario. Man, I get fired up with that pressure. That’s some good shit right there. It produces some of the best pro wrestling.”