Nick Aldis couldn't understand Billy Corgan's reasoning for pulling him from the main event of NWA 74.
Aldis was scheduled to challenge Trevor Murdoch for the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship; he won the Race to the Chase tournament to earn a shot at the gold. But Corgan, the NWA president, subsequently took him out of the match and replaced him with Tyrus.
In an interview with Ella Jay for SEScoops, Aldis was asked to describe his reaction to the news. He noted that he doesn't have a problem with Tyrus, but he doesn't understand the reasoning behind the move. He recalled how Corgan claimed that he had been politicking and expressed his doubt about this reasoning.
"I just couldn’t believe it. Here’s the thing. I’ve got nothing against Tyrus. If you wanna do that to the audience, that’s up to you. What I couldn’t understand was the very vague justification, like someone needs to explain to me how, if you own the company, it’s yours, and we hear it all the time, folks , ‘It’s my money, I pay for it, it’s my company, mine, mine, mine, me, me, me.’ How can someone be politicking? How has he been the victim of politics? I don’t understand that. When you’re ruling with an iron fist and you make every decision, all the way down to what they have at catering, I don’t understand. I’ve been very careful about how I respond because I’m like, if you just use common sense, you can just see right through it. There are certain words that people throw around in wrestling that are like nice trigger words that get the Internet all in a flutter and get everyone’s panties all wet, and one of them is politics, politicking, right. So he just threw that word out there, hoping that everyone would go, oh, yeah, that must be it," Aldis said.
He continued by noting that he's always had doubters and people who assumed he got pushed because the higher-ups have lobbied for him, dating back to his days in TNA. With the current situation in the NWA, he again questioned Corgan's claim that he politicked, given that the latter owns the company.
"Because when you see a guy who’s successful, who’s been in the main events, again, more of this is other people saying it, not me. I’m very careful not to say a lot of stuff, but people have said to me, you did this, you did that, when I think of the NWA, I think of you. I’m very grateful for all of that, but naturally there comes a time when people start looking like oh, there must be something, there must be some other reason. I always laughed because in TNA, it was like oh, he’s Dixie Carter’s favorite, and then when I finished up there and started working with Jeff, it was, ‘Oh, he’s always been a Jeff Jarrett guy, Jeff Jarrett’s always been lobbying for him. He’s always had Jeff Jarrett on his size.’ It’s like if you knew anything about TNA, you would know that Jeff and Dixie were like complete warring factions. So which one is it? Now here it’s, ‘Oh, he’s politicking.’ With who? You’re the owner," he said.
Regarding the buzz that the announcement about his replacement got, Aldis noted that fans love bad news and gossip. He emphasized his belief that, around the wrestling world, main-eventers have differences of opinion with owners and promoters.
“Well because wrestling fans love gossip. There’s no news like bad news. No one’s gonna click on a headline that says, ‘Billy Corgan says Nick Aldis has been a joy to work with for the last four years.’ By the way, name me one main-evented in any promotion who has been a main-eventer for more than a year who hasn’t at some point had some sort of difference with the booker and the promoter. Sorry, it does not exist, folks. Your favorites, whoever they may be, your keyboard Warrior Internet darlings guys, they complain, they have an opinion, they do and say this stuff. Y’all don’t report it because you don’t like to destroy your illusion, but it happens. It happens everywhere. If you want to make money, if you want to be someone significant in this line of work, you have to have a fucking opinion sometimes, and I do," he said.
The former champion then stated that, at the end of the day, he knows that he adds value to any company, so he's not worried about the future. For him, the most important thing is that he has made a difference for the fans, and he thanked them for their support.
"Here’s the bottom line on it for me. I told this to Billy straight up. I don’t think I’m right all the time. I just think I’m right more than I’m wrong. Can you say the same thing? I’m not gonna answer that. But I sit here, and I’m very calm about the future. Once you get to point where it’s like I know I can add value to any company, I can add value to any promotion, and who’s to say you even need a promotion? The people decide and to all the people around the country, particularly in the south, I love the south, but all over the world who have taken the time to shake my hand over the last four or five years and thank me for my contributions to the industry and for many of them, bringing back something that was a big part of their family’s tapestry, I can’t tell you how rewarding it is to get someone who says I used to watch this with my grandfather and it’s brought back so many memories, and they got tears in their eyes. I’m sitting there going, I’m just a guy who puts on tights and wrestles. But to them, they’re saying you brought back something that means so much to me and my father or my grandfather and now I get to share it with my son, that’s big, and that’s bigger than any championship or any main event. I always say, the people decide. The people will let you know, and I’m very grateful to my fans," he said.
Aldis previously discussed his issues with Corgan. You can check out his comments here. Meanwhile, Corgan recently talked about Aldis during an interview with Fightful, which can be found here.
Aldis will still compete at NWA 74; he will face Flip Gordon in a singles match. More information is available here.
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