Nick Aldis Says WWE SummerSlam Match Against GUNTHER Came As A 'Total Shock'

This past weekend at WWE SummerSlam, "SmackDown" General Manager Nick Aldis made his in-ring debut for the promotion against GUNTHER. Sitting down for an interview with Chris Van Vliet on "Insight" ahead of the match, he opened up about his journey to stepping back inside the squared circle.

"That doesn't mean that this one didn't come as a total shock, because it did," he said. "When there were other moments where it looked like that might be on the cards, [there were] two people that said to me, 'You have to stay somewhat ready, because they're not going to give you three months notice. You're going to get a couple weeks.' One was Mickey [James] and one was Randy [Orton].'"

Aldis pointed out that some believed he might wrestle at last year's WWE WrestleMania 41. When it didn't happen, Orton reassured Aldis that his time would come and he needed to stay in ring shape.

Although Aldis lost to GUNTHER on Saturday, he still impressed given that he had not wrestled in three years, which led to WWE CCO Paul "Triple H" Levesque to reinstate him as "SmackDown" General Manger. In order to fight GUNTHER at SummerSlam, Aldis was forced to resign from his position, but Triple H ripped apart his resignation letter following his match for having the courage to wrestle the "Career Killer."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Insight" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.