Billy Corgan clears the air about NWA.
On November 16, Haus of Wrestling reported that the NWA was expected to make cuts to its talent roster and production. The report noted that the cuts stemmed from the financial health of the company, as Corgan has been funding the NWA out of pocket with "little to no sponsorhip money coming in."
Speaking with PWInsider, NWA President Billy Corgan was asked whether there are any planned roster cuts.
"None. The territorial system being reinstated is partly to make sure that if key roster talents are not in a particular tv taping cycle they keep working in our NWA ecosystem. We value everyone that works for us; and some are under contract and some are not, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want everyone working for us all the time. [If I didn't want them], I would not have invested time (and money by extension) in storylines and promotion of a character they own," Corgan said.
Corgan also responded to Haus of Wrestling reporting that the upcoming tapings in Sarasota, Florida, would be mostly limited to contracted talent appearing at the show, and that in January, the company would stop having talent fly in the day before shows in order to save on expenses. He stated that the NWA tries to balance the talent that is flying in for the show. Corgan also claimed that 2023 has been the most expensive year yet of the Lighting One era.
"This is where the stupidity of this kind of ‘reporting’ shows itself. Sarasota, Florida [tomorrow's NWA event] is a live-to-tape event which will turn into future episodes of Powerrrr. So we try to balance who’s flying in from where, etc. to ensure the quality of the show is very high against the cost of running a live remote. [The live remote] is much more expensive than running, say at Skyway in Nashville in a TV studio. So by definition, this live ‘taping’ is more expensive than Powerrr in the studio. So we are actually spending more money, not less. 2023 has been the most expensive year yet of the Lightning One era and that’s a good thing because the wrestling and quality of our productions has never been higher, which feeds into landing TV deals," Corgan said.
As for the NWA's financial health, Corgan stated that it is fine. He said there are no investors, and he only answers to himself regarding expenditures. Corgan also claimed that he could get additional funding, if needed, due to his success outside of the wrestling world.
"[The] financial health is fine. I’m 100 percent owner, still. No investors. So I answer to no one on expenditures except myself. For those who have noticed, this has been an incredibly successful period in my musical life; including a massive summer tour in 2023 and two more tours on the books for 2024 with an arena and festival summer run in Europe flowing into stadium tour with Green Day. So if I needed additional funding (I don’t currently) I can get it easily, because I also own all my songs as well as my recorded work (what they call ‘masters’) since 2001; and which one could get loans on against future earnings, etc. if needed," Corgan said.
Finally, Corgan again addressed the rumors about NWA's reported television deals and maintained that the company has two television deals, and nothing has changed. He stated that the deals have been in place for a good while, and he looks forward to the day that the situation comes to light.
"As I’ve said I cannot comment on TV deals, but I stand by what I have said previously, which is, we do have two TV deals and nothing has changed in that regard despite countless false reports - and those deals have been in place for a good, good while. How that all plays out is yet to come, obviously, and we certainly look forward to that day when the reality (no pun intended) of our situation comes to light," Corgan said.
Corgan recently stated that NWA has two television deals with a top 20 network. Check out his comments here.
Fightful will provide more information as it becomes available.
Catch up on our coverage of the November 14 episode of NWA Powerrr here.
