Nick Aldis Goes In-Depth About The Growth Of The NWA In The Modern Era Ahead Of The Crockett Cup
Nick Aldis takes pride in representing the NWA, standing tall as the reigning and defending heavyweight champion. Rooted in the fundamentals that made this organization associated with excellence in pro wrestling, Aldis is proud to help owner in Billy Corgan's mission to bring the coveted "Ten Pounds of Gold" back to prominence.
In the midst of preparation for an important title defense against fellow English performer Marty Scurll, in this interview with Wrestling Inc. the 32-year-old delves into all the he and the NWA have been able to accomplish in such a short amount of time. Fans can check out the Crockett Cup, an NWA and Ring of Honor co-branded event, 7 p.m. ET on April 27 via Pay-Per-View, FITE TV and HonorClub. We will have live coverage of the event this Saturday.
It is so important to preserve the lineage and history of pro wrestling these days as we are moving so quickly from one thing to the next. A lot of the foundation was built on the NWA. What's old is new again, and I think fans are a little nostalgic for this.
I think that is part of it. I think the other part of it is there are so few things in the wrestling business that have historical value that WWE doesn't own. All credit to them. They were very smart to acquire so much property over the years. So, they pretty much own the wrestling business and its lineage to an extent. The NWA was available and has a very strong history and strong brand. I think we've proven that with the right presentation and with a fresh coat of paint. I think we aren't doing anything that is particularly revolutionary. I think we are reminding people of what this name means, what this championship means.
With the Crockett Cup, yeah, it's cool and something that has a history. Any time you have a history it just adds a little prestige to it because people can go back over the years and say, "Dusty Rhodes and Nikita won it. And these guys were in it. And these guys were in it." It's the same concept with the championship. It wasn't like it disappeared. I just wasn't on a particularly high profile. When we were able to give it a better profile again through the collaboration with Ring of Honor and all these independents all over the world. Literally, we've defended the title in four different continents in 2018. I think it just sort of gave people access that they've only read about in the past.
Obviously, Ric Flair is the greatest wrestler of all-time. He is Elvis. He is untouchable. Such a big part of his legacy is that and his role as traveling champion. He went to all these places and brought out the best in different people across different territories. It wasn't just Flair. Obviously, Harley did it, and Dory did it. That's why when the time came, and they saw what we were doing, they were willing to put their seal of approval on us and on me. That means a great deal because it adds on to what we believed from the start when we took on this challenge and when Billy decided to buy the NWA. I think people cared about it. I just people needed reminding of what it means.
You are now in your second reign as the NWA champion. Compare how it feels after all the work you've put into the first reign and making the title mean something. I think it's great what you guys do with social media and digitally with the series building up to all the defenses and events. What's the feeling and mindset now?
There is more prestige attached to it. We don't have to remind people as much. If you go back and look back at the Ten Pounds of Gold series, we've consistently paid homage to the legends who held that championship, but as time has gone on, we've been able to draw more from our more recent past because ultimately that's what we have to do. I think in the beginning it was a case of reminding people over and over again this is the title Dusty Rhodes had, Harley Race had, Ricky Steamboat had, and Ric Flair had. Over time, now people are like, "Yeah, that's the NWA champion Nick Aldis. That's the title Cody and Nick feuded over. It was the belt that had this iconic moment in Chicago in September." We're creating our own legacy, so as time goes on, we see that. We're still working for third party promotions. For how long, we don't know. We've got a number of different roads ahead of us we can potentially take. Obviously, we are working with Ring of Honor right now.
That has been beneficial to us. How far we continue with that, we don't know. We're a promotion in a true sense of the word. People are always asking us when we are going to get our own show and sign a bunch of wrestlers and get a building. That's not a promotion. A promotion if you look at boxing and MMA to an extent, with the exception of UFC, which took the WWE model. Promotions usually represent other fighters and athletes, and they work with other promotions to organize an event and promote it.
That's where we are at. We've partnered with Ring of Honor and independent promotions. And we've run one event ourselves That's a promotion in a true sense of the word. I'm contracted to that promotion because I'm the NWA champion. But as you've seen, Cody wasn't under contract with the NWA. He was under contract with Ring of Honor at the time, but a business arrangement was made. That's one of the things we want to stay on track with is keeping that thought in people's minds that anyone can win this potentially.
That's something that is exciting to people. The possibility it's a real world's championship that could be defended in any promotion anywhere in the world. We like that and sort of build our content based on that. And as different opportunities present themselves, we'll grow with that. I don't think anyone can deny our growth as far as brand recognition and everything like that. That's what we had to do first. I think it would have been foolish to pump a bunch of money into another company and doing another set of shows and trying to crack a TV market, which is absolutely changing fundamentally. That would be foolish. We have to build that trust first, and I think that is what we have been able to do.
One of the great things about the Crockett Cup is you guys are using a lot of legends and veterans, whether it's appearing or competing. You yourself have gotten a chance to interact with a lot of past NWA champions. I know you got to talk to Harley Race. When you are meeting these pillars of the industry, what does it mean to you? Do you get the chance to hear their war stories and take in their advice even at this stage of your career?
Absolutely. You are always learning. I went to Harley's camp in 2007, so it's really cool for me. I saw him in St. Louis when I had this match with AJ on Impact on live TV, so it was really cool to see him that day and be in that spot and get the reaction I got. I've seen him a couple of times during house shows when we were in the area. I hadn't seen him for a long time, so I was curious if he knew anything about any of the NWA stuff. I know in the beginning when we first started to do this stuff we reached out to Harley. He had basically said, "Thanks but no thanks. No offense, but I've seen too many reincarnations attempts with the NWA and wasn't very impressed."
He had a right to say that. I think over time once he saw what we were doing. This was not another bunch of ho-hum indies trying to band together and hop on an old legacy. This was a totally different approach. Obviously, with All In, that was arguably the most talked about show of the year in 2018. The true main event of that show was Cody and I for the NWA title. For Harley and Dory, I'm sure it meant a lot to them. They've told me privately that it meant a lot to them to see someone was able to make people care about the championship again to the point 10-11,000 were on their feet at the bell. Once you're able to do that, you kind of earn your stripes with them. It meant a great deal that Harley was so gracious to me. He is an icon.
When you talk to him, you listen because he is a genuine, authentic former world's champion. The same with Dory Funk Jr. I'm actually working on my speech because I'm presenting Dory Funk with the Lou Thesz Award for the Cauliflower Alley Club. That means a lot to me because he could have asked any number of people to do that, and they probably would have done it. People who are more well known than me and more qualified than me. He chose me because he proud of what I'm doing. He still watches everything. He is still active in this business.
He still has a school. He was at NWA 70 to shake mine and Cody's hands when we went into the main event. Guys like that, that's passion. You can't teach that. That's what the NWA has because of the history and legacy, there is a passion attached to it. I think you're seeing that with the fans. The fans I saw in Winston Salem at WresstleCade, I was the TNA champion when we were on Spike TV, national television. I was on prime-time and the world champion, but I didn't have anyone say the things that are said to me now as the NWA champion with a YouTube show. Young, old have shook my hand telling me it means a lot to them what we are doing.
They thank us for bringing it back to prominence because the NWA unites generations of fans. To a lot of people, especially in the South, it represents their childhood, their father's childhood. There is a credibility attached to it that we can plug into it. That helps our product and helps us grow. Ultimately, everyone has their taste of what they like and don't like about the business, but overall, it's safe to say one thing that has been lacking is credibility and authenticity about how it's presented. It's purely entertainment now, and we've lost the sports part of sports entertainment. I think we've brought back the sports feel.
You're facing Marty Scurll at the Crockett Cup. I was there during the TV tapings when the match was made official. You can feel the energy in the arena and the emotion you both had. What is it like for you to have this match with Marty, someone you have essentially grown up in the business with, and have it come full circle in this way?
It's great. I hope it's the first of many. You can't fake authenticity. When you have that serendipitous situation where both of us have taken very different paths, but we did train together and have been close friends right from the start. We've always been each other's advisers. I 'm a coupe of years older than him and I was a heavyweight and a better look, in the beginning I got more opportunities. But we always knew he was good enough. It just took a longer for him because when you are that size, you have to prove you can go. You're not going to get your foot in the door as quickly, but everywhere I went whether it was for Brian Dixon in the U.K. for All Star Wrestling or TNA.
Whenever there was the question of who we should be looking at, he was always on my list because I knew what was there. Then what was interesting, fast forward to 2015 and I find myself a free agent again kind of disappointed WWE didn't extend an opportunity to me. WWE has their reasons. Whatever they are, nobody seemed to be talking. I'm sick and tired of getting the question because I don't know the answer. It left me in a predicament of what do I do from here? The business is so dominated by one thing. There places like New Japan and Ring of Honor, but as far as exposure and money and everything, I pretty much had gone as high as I could go. When I was on top at TNA, they were on Spike. I wasn't sure where I was going. I had a real cross roads there for a moment. It was actually looking at Marty and his success that inspired me. It worked out because when it was Dave Lagana, Billy Corgan and myself together, a lot of that stuff was inspired by people like Marty who went out there and said, "I can reach this audience without needing to be under contract with any one promotion. I can just produce my own vignettes. I can create a character and present it in a far more effective way in this modern era than you ever could before. I ended up asking him to put me in touch with the guy who shot and edited his first Villain vignettes. I ended up shooting stuff with him in London.
It was also around the time Tommy Dreamer contacted me to do some stuff for House of Hardcore. We used those there. I think those few vignettes I shot; they didn't get so much traction worldwide really. But when you played them, you had this moment people went, "Oh yeah." I knew then what was Dave's talent as producer, editor. Then with the NWA and everything, I knew what we had to do. We all kind of got it quickly. Anyone can book a bunch of wrestlers, book all the hot indie darlings and put on a super card and dream matches. It's whatever and will be good for one night and people will say it was awesome and that will be the end of it. To get people to care, you have to really do long-form artistic stuff. It's funny to me people sort of say what we do is old school. I keep getting labeled a throwback. I take that as a compliment. But what is interesting is we're done things in the most modern way. Look around and you see how many people are ripping off Ten Pounds now.
There are suddenly these series like the "Road to.." ...where did they get that from? It's cool. We're cool with it because at the end of the day we've built our legacy and brand on the 10 pounds of gold and the NWA. This is just the beginning and what we've done with essentially a three-man operation. Obviously, there are other players so to speak. But as far as the creative, there are three people. Billy Dave and myself We've proven that when you collaborate with talented people and everybody works toward common goals and what is best for business. Everyone looks to protect themselves, which is what you're supposed to do in this business. Ultimately, what comes out is something what the fans can latch on to and really believe in and is authentic. There is this negativity attached to wrestlers who are trying to protect themselves or who are looking out for their interests in the modern era.
That's not right because we are independent contractors, so as long as we are independent contractors everyone has to look out for their own self interests. But it doesn't mean you can't work with other people and agree with other people. What happens is you make compromises and make plans and if you're about business and you know, the fans ultimately ...are fans going to pay to see this. We've proven that they will with Cody and I and now with Mary and I and the other things I've done. We've been to several independent promotions that sold out when I've been there. Ring of Honor sold out Center Stage that first TV taping without Cody, Young Bucks, Hangman. They headlined it with PJ Black and I and its's sold out. We are confident what we are doing is resonating. All I say is anyone who is unsure about it go check out the Ten Pounds and the Crockett Cup and Cody and I from All In and NWA 70 ?Realize what you've seen so far is us on a shoestring budget. Collaborating with other people and as things move forward and when we level up, look out.
Aldis' full interview with Fishman was released as part of today's WINCLY podcast. It can be heard in the embedded player below.
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