Billy Corgan Talks Lawsuit With Anthem Over Impact Wrestling, Surprise Over Recent Impact Departure
Musician and NWA owner Billy Corgan is the special guest on this week's episode of X-Pac12360. You can watch the episode in the video above or download the podcast version on iTunes. They sent us these highlights from Corgan:
PWG (Pro Wrestling Guerrilla) experience:
"I had never been to PWG , I went a couple times and that was the first time. I was blown away by the atmosphere and I had heard about Bryan Danielson, now known as Daniel Bryan. I heard about him and I'd heard about the mystique, but when I saw it for myself and I saw the reaction of the fans and I saw his in-ring work, I thought, 'wow this guy is really a star.' PWG: great atmosphere, great fans, really made me start to appreciate that level of work at the indie level. I'd seen Ring of Honor and I'd seen a lot of that stuff but PWG sort of showed me that there was this other thing coming. That is way more obvious now with the way the Internet works but at the time it was sort of new to me? PWG put it all together."
Rick Rubin producing and loving wrestling:
"Rick produced the album that's out now, and its acoustics, kinda like a mellow record. It's the best-received record I've had out in about 20 years. It's been a great thing and between takes, all Rick wanted to talk about is wrestling."
Billy Corgan talks NWA:
"What I love about wrestling is that it really has an unlimited schedule creativity, and who you work with and the ideas that they have. I'm very excited about the future of wrestling and NWA because I have nobody standing in my way with my crazy ideas."
Billy talks about the time he used a song by Marilyn Manson for Crazzy Steve and Rosemary:
"We were talking about what music we were going to use and I was talking to Crazzy Steve, and I said, "Do you have anything in mind?" He said, 'there is this Marilyn Manson song. If we can find the song, it would be awesome.' So I said, 'why don't I call Marilyn Manson and see if we can use the song?' Two hours later they were walking up the ramp to the studio. We couldn't believe we got the song."
Thoughts on Rockstar Spud leaving Impact Wrestling:
"First off, I can't believe they let him go. He's one of the most talented people, literally can do anything. Let's set aside his size, he's obviously not a big guy but beyond his size. There isn't anything he can't do, he's a great talker, ring technician, he can put together a great match. Any spot you put him in. He really is a super talented guy."
The Lawsuit with Anthem:
"It gets super complicated with the lawsuit that I had filed because at that point Anthem was on some sort of side of the fence, representing the interest of their own at that time. They were a minority owner called this company, Aeroluxe, who was doing production and then Dixie Carter. Not saying they lined up against me with the lawsuit to be made to go away, but it was Anthem who settled the suit since they were taking over the company."