Nick Aldis Goes Into The Fire With NWA
The world champion is highly influential in the resurrected brand.
Nick Aldis is much more influential in the NWA than I thought.
Sure, he has been the centerpiece of the brand’s resurrection since winning the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in December of 2017. But titleholders typically don’t have the sway they had back in the day. On the surface, it appeared the ring veteran joined Billy Corgan’s reimagined enterprise because there weren’t many other options. AEW didn’t exist, MLW was just returning and he declined an offer from Anthem Sports & Entertainment to work for Global Force Wrestling/Impact Wrestling because it wasn’t “a contract that anyone with any value, any sense of self-value or self-worth would sign.” (Pancakes and Powerslams)
Apparently, being an English export didn’t help matters. “Companies used to think there’s only room for one British guy on the roster,” Aldis said during the FITE TV media call on Tuesday. “WWE would tell me they already have Wade Barrett. TNA doesn’t get enough credit for moving beyond that mentality.”
So, when the Smashing Pumpkins front man purchased the NWA in the summer of 2017, stirring laughter and confusion throughout the industry for acquiring a belt, limited footage and three letters that hadn’t had meaning since the 1980s, Aldis decided to gamble with him. After a year of being reintroduced to the wrestling world via Dave Lagana’s Ten Pounds of Gold series on YouTube, Aldis ended up in what he considers the “true main event” of All In – the most talked about pro wrestling event of the decade. He and Cody stole the show, and their rematch fueled the standalone NWA 70th Anniversary Show a month later. He regained his title and since then, has defended it at independent events, as well as in Ring of Honor, restoring value to what was once considered the most prestigious championship in all of wrestling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQOV0phwLFM
“Our main asset is the Ten Pounds of Gold and the men who’ve held it before me,” Aldis said. “I’ve wrestled all over the world to make people give a shit about this championship again.”
Aldis mentioned that he has spent two years working closely with Lagana on reviving the NWA. When the weekly YouTube series – NWA Powerrr – began airing in October, all their hard work paid off as the retro presentation drew universal praise. Fans were delighted in the return of studio wrestling, with squash matches, unscripted pre- and post-match interviews, familiar faces, colorful characters and an overall sports-feel. According to Aldis, this throwback atmosphere was always the plan, as Corgan was a big fan of Georgia Championship Wrestling.
“Wrestling in its purest form is big personalities and conflict resolution,” Aldis said. “When you dress it up with so much elaborate entrances and technology and production value, sometimes that can be lost and glossed over. That’s not a knock on WWE. If we had their budget, who knows what we’d be doing.”
Nine weeks of television (including a placeholder show dedicated to video packages) were filmed over two nights at GPB (Georgia Public Broadcasting) Studios in Atlanta. While plans could change throughout the tapings due to the reactions of the live crowd, nobody knew how viewers would react over the next two months. Aldis mentioned how the powers that be have read all the feedback, noting how Thunder Rosa and Trevor Murdoch have become quite popular. And of course, Question Mark.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Te3bgqh3Foo
“What people really like about our show is guys coming out and cutting money promos because it’s been so long since people have seen that,” Aldis said. “I will stand by episode 1 as one of the best examples to come out of the gate to show everybody what your brand is all about and how you’re different from everybody else in a crowded market place We knew like most shows we would have a strong opening, then have some of our viewers get siphoned off, and then we’d build off the remaining core audience.”
While the champion can obviously deliver in the ring, he also has been instrumental behind the scenes, particularly when it comes to recruiting wrestlers. Having promoted shows in the United Kingdom in the past, Aldis claims to have a good eye for talent. “Ricky Starks is a guy I very strongly endorsed,” he said. “It’s fair to say Billy was just trusting my judgment. By the time he saw his first segment, he went ‘okay, you sold me.’ We know who works and who can help us make money.”
Ultimately, that’s what it’s all about. Lagana has stated that pay-per-view buys have come from 41 different countries thus far. Furthermore, as of Dec. 8, Into The Fire has already exceeded the number of buys for NWA’s 70th Anniversary Show – and that’s just pre-orders!
“We are so much closer to being profitable than any of us expected at this stage in our life,” Aldis said. “We pride ourselves on traditional values with a modern delivery system. Prior to big money TV rights deals, TV was a means to promote live events and pay-per-views. YouTube is our TV – we’re converting those eyeballs to PPV buys, live events and merchandise. All those areas are showing steady growth.”
All the momentum came to a screeching halt on Nov. 19, when many people on Twitter expressed outrage over a joke that Jim Cornette made on commentary. The NWA yanked that week’s episode to edit out the line and Lagana offered an apology to those offended. The next day, Cornette resigned from the NWA.
However, the NWA has bounced back from the incident, thanking Cornette for his contributions and announcing Stu Bennett (formerly known as Wade Barrett) would replace him at the commentary table.
“Jim was a hugely valuable resource to us,” Aldis said. “It’s just unfortunate he made a faux pas and refused to own it. It was a dumb line, it was unnecessary. It’s not the reason I want the NWA to be trending.
I guarantee you after this weekend, nobody will be talking about this shit again.”
Into The Fire is available at 6:05 p.m. EST this Saturday on FITE TV.
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