Nick "Magnus" Aldis Talks TNA's Internal Problems, Why He Stayed With TNA In The Past, GFW, More

On last week's episode of Chris Jericho's podcast, Talk Is Jericho, Nick Aldis, f.k.a. as Magnus in TNA, discussed his departure from TNA and the morale within the company, among other topics. Aldis indicated that the timing of his TNA departure and signing with GFW was mostly coincidental.

"A lot of the chat has obviously been that I left TNA for Global Force [Wrestling] and while it is kind of true, it is also just a coincidence of timing," Aldis said. "I had sort of made the decision, myself, that when my contract [with TNA] came up this time that I just wasn't going to stick around – that decision was independent of what Jeff [Jarrett] had been doing [with GFW]."

Although Aldis claimed to have made the decision to leave TNA prior to engaging in serious talks with Jarrett to join GFW, Jarrett was the first person to offer Aldis work after leaving TNA and Aldis knew he had a spot with GFW from the get-go.

"Jeff [Jarrett] was the first guy that called me and I have a lot of time for Jeff [Jarrett] because he was one of the guys I really believe sort of helped recognize me, I guess, in the early days," Aldis admitted. "I kept my ear to the ground with everything [Jarrett] was doing and obviously have a relationship with Jeff [Jarrett], but I made that decision already; I had already sort of made peace with it and said, 'I've done everything I could do here'." Aldis told Jericho that "I knew one of [the great opportunities outside TNA] would be [with] Jeff [Jarrett]," Aldis continued, "Jeff [Jarrett] and I never had too many serious discussions, obviously, out of respect for TNA while I was under contract, but there was always a mutual understanding there that I'm always going to go to bat for him, if the time came up."

As for Aldis's rationale for leaving TNA, the former TNA World Heavyweight Champion believed it was time to move on even though he "utilized [his] time and opportunity [at TNA] to the max" and compared his time with TNA to the old territory days.

"I just got to a point where I just went, 'you know, I've done everything I can here to try and help on every level'," moreover, "I just went, 'you know, my time here is done, like, it's time for me as a businessman and as a performer to venture into the unknown.'"

Aldis stated that he stayed in TNA for economic reasons alone in the past and wanted to avoid getting stagnant.

"I stuck around one time before because, frankly, the money was right and I had to make a decision that was based on making a living. But this time around, I just said, 'it's time to get outside of a comfort zone and start looking for other opportunities'," Aldis said. "I was curious as to how things would go, but at the same time I had to take that risk for myself because it was like, when you are in a comfort zone or you're in a sort of funk, and you know you're not really 100% sort of committing to what you're doing, then you're no use to anybody and you shouldn't be there and that was sort of how I felt."

With respect to the morale within TNA, Aldis cited a "lack of balance" and inexperience as reasons for internal problems.

"I always felt and believed that after we lost that balance of this sort of third generation wrestling guy in the company [Jarrett], that things were always, to me, there were a lot of things that got through the filter that shouldn't have got through, and, in my opinion, a lot of guys were being rewarded for the wrong reasons and sort of put in positions, and, really, just a lot of decisions were being made that, to a lot of us, just seemed sort of wacky or just seemed like they didn't have a grounded sort of experience behind them, that a lot of them were sort of knee jerk reactions, a very good example of what I thought was a lack of experience in management in those positions."

In addition to talking about breaking into the professional wrestling business, Aldis discusses the current independent wrestling scene. Also, on this episode of Talk Is Jericho, Jericho also spoke with GFW's Jeff Jarrett. To listen to the entire podcast, click here.

Source: Talk Is Jericho