Nick Aldis reflects on his WWE debut in October 2023.
After an exceptional career in TNA Wrestling, the NWA, and more, Nick Aldis arrived on WWE programming on October 13, 2023. He was announced as the new WWE Friday Night SmackDown GM by Triple H and he also introduced Kevin Owens as the newest WWE SmackDown star. Dominik Mysterio was also in the ring with Triple H, Aldis, and Adam Pearce during this segment.
Speaking about his debut with Chris Van Vliet on the Insight podcast, Aldis reflected on the segment's inclusion of the younger Mysterio. Aldis felt "Dirty" Dom's involvement gave him leeway to deliver a punchy line that would allow him to showcase his unique personality and sense of humor.
"If 'Dirty' Dom Mysterio hadn’t been in that segment, it would have been a much more difficult position for me to get that one thing, which was the ‘big fan of your dad’ line," he said. "When I was looking over it during the day, I’m brand new, but I’m also a producer so I have a bit of freedom and leeway to make suggestions. I remember looking at the way it was laid out, and I saw the suggestion of ‘big fan.’ I was like, ‘What if I put a pause in there?’ In my mind, that’s my sense of humor and shit-talker style. ‘Big fan...of your dad.’ I said it and Hunter and whoever was around at the time laughed. I was like, ‘That might work.’ Looking at it, the segment isn’t necessarily about me. I’m here to facilitate.
"At the same time, I’ve got ten seconds to smash something. That’s it," he continued. "That’s my kick-the-door-down moment. I knew I had to do that. I knew the majority of people watching didn’t know who I was. I would have loved to debuted in Chicago or New York or Philly where there may have been a higher concentration of fans who were familiar. Tulsa, Oklahoma, not what I would describe as my strongest market, brother, but I’ll take it. Dom has so much heat and he’s the guy you love to hate. That is the sweet spot, especially in the modern era, that’s the sweet spot as a heel character. You have to be the guy they love to hate. It’s hard now to have real heat because real heat becomes, ‘is it real?’ We don’t want to have a disclaimer, ‘Oh, it’s not real.’ That ruins the whole thing. You have to be a guy they love to hate. That’s Dirty Dom."
Elsewhere in the interview, Aldis spoke about being ready to return to in-ring action if WWE needs him to. Learn more here.
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