Former WWE Star Damien Sandow Details His Time In Billy Corgan's NWA

Former WWE talent Damien Sandow, now going by his real name, Aron Stevens, has established himself as a regular name in the NWA following his brief TNA run after originally leaving WWE in 2016. Stevens has since won both the NWA National and Tag Team Championships across his tenure, and looked back at why he joined with the promotion during an interview with "TMZ's Inside The Ring."

"I was completely out of wrestling. I was in Hawaii doing a TV show when Billy [Corgan] called me, and he was like: 'Hey, I bought the NWA. You need to come back to work!' I was like, 'No, I don't!' and then, 'You already got a plane ticket, just come on.' So I went there," he remembered, comparing the feeling of walking back into NWA as stepping into the 80s version of Georgia Championship Wrestling, sparking his love for pro wrestling once again.

"I've worked for almost every major promotion there is, and the one thing I will say about Billy is, the thing that keeps me loyal to not just the NWA, but to him is his integrity," Stevens added. "That, to me, goes far more, or far further,  than a lot of the other attributes that some wrestlers may kind of take into consideration when picking a promotion."

Aron Stevens then recounted a lesson he was taught early in his life that being smart with his money would benefit him later on in life, and since he did exactly that, he can afford to work in smaller promotions like NWA. 

"I don't really have to kind of go and look for work, which is why I don't do a lot of signings," he said. "But the NWA? It's a place that I want to be. It's a place that I feel I can kind of give back to." 

Stevens then claimed that in NWA, he both performs and helps the talent backstage, where he's able to teach the talent things he doesn't see being taught in the industry today.

When it comes to the locker room, Stevens claims it's very positive and that in wrestling, there's a claim that you're a part of a family, but while he's never felt that elsewhere, he does in NWA. 

"We are very interdependent on each other," he explained, noting that the entire production team works together with the wrestlers as one big team. "We all just want to put on the best show that we can."

Stevens then addressed the critics, pointing out that when it comes to the fans who actually attend the show, they leave with smiles. "A year and a half a year ago, it was our anniversary show at the ECW arena, and we had never run there before," he added, expressing that the Philadelphia audience is blunt. "If you're not good, Philly will let you know it."

With a career that spans 25 years and stints in WWE, TNA, NWA, and various other promotions on the independent circuit, the former "Mizdow" has seen many different locker rooms. While there were specific things that stood out about his runs in each major promotion, the one thing he noticed in the NWA was the locker room. 

"They appreciate the talent, and they give the creative freedom to do what you need to do to get over," Stevens continued And if you're getting over, it's going to be acknowledged."

Stevens had taken issue with not just WWE but the pro wrestling industry at the time of his departure from WWE. He claimed that he was in an unhealthy mental state around that time, noting that while he pretended that everything was fine with his character and utilization, he felt that it was killing him inside, which hurt his personal relationships.

Stevens ultimately became someone that he hated, making his glowing remarks about NWA a vast departure from the things he said about wrestling back in 2021.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "TMZ's Inside The Ring" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.