During a recent interview with Spencer Love, Nick Aldis commented on the return of the NWA, his match with Cody Rhodes not main eventing AEW’s All In pay-per-view event, and more. You can check out some highlights from the interview below:
On the NWA’s return: “Wrestling is not alone in that ideal, but there are – in wrestling, there’s a hell of a lot of people who really seem to think they know how things are supposed to be done. I know that since the move to FITE, there’s been a lot of talk like, ‘oh, is the NWA even a thing, yadda yadda,’ and I was pleased to see that some of the news sites have picked up that FITE are, [and] we’re way ahead of expectations with subscribers on FITE. The company is performing very well for them, and FITE are thrilled with how things are going. I’m not naive. I know that less people are seeing Powerrr than used to see it, but people are paying for it, and it’s a business. We could give away 250,000 hamburgers, or we could sell 10,000, and one business model is going to work and one is not. It’s kind of like, okay, sorry to the people who were upset that they can’t watch another thing for free, but there you go.
“But, with that out of the way, like I said, things are going great. The company’s in a really good flow, I think, at the moment. I feel like the people who are in the important positions, as far as sort of decision making and strategic stuff, we’re very much on the same page. Everybody’s very focused on the right areas. We’re less distracted by some of the noise of the online stuff that perhaps used to be a little bit of a distraction and perhaps used to influence us a little too much. And not to say – look, at the end of the day, the world is online. So, it’s not like I’m saying ‘oh, you’ve got to ignore online,’ it’s just you have to be able to put everything in context and understand, like, ‘what’s our priority here?’ Our priority here is to make a viable business enterprise. Now that we’re all kind of sharing that goal and we’re not distracted by sort of other goals that are perhaps, you know, not really worthwhile, I feel like everything’s flowing in the right direction. It’s been very well documented, probably too well documented, that there were perhaps opportunities for me to go other places, but you know, I have no ill will towards any wrestling company. I really don’t. I’m just proud of what I’ve been able to do with Billy and I really like working here. I like doing what we’re doing, and it’s hard for people to wrap their head around that, but it’s like, I make a good living and my quality of life is excellent, and I feel very rewarded. I feel very valued. And, when I see the progress of the company, I know I played a major part in that. You get to a point in your life where that becomes a much stronger currency than how many people are talking about me on Twitter or how many people are whatever. I know we’re going down quite a spiritual road right away, but I’m just kind of like, hey, I’ve got no ill will towards any wrestling companies [or] any wrestlers. I’m glad that the business outside of WWE is thriving because that’s important for the industry. It wasn’t an intention of mine, it was never something that I set out to do. But, I’m proud of the fact that I play a significant role in that. You know, in that there’s a healthy wrestling industry outside of WWE for guys to be able to make a living. I’m proud that I’m a part of that.”
On his match with Cody for the NWA World’s Heavyweight Championship not headlining All In: “It never bothered me. There was never really any discussion. Cody, obviously, was helping run that event with Nick and Matt [Jackson]. I think that Cody was being gracious, and I also think that we understood that on that night, it wasn’t going to matter. We didn’t try to go and sort of steal the show from anyone, and make it hard for anyone else after us. Every match on that show was very unique and different. We knew what we had was special. And, if you look at that show, the thing that doesn’t get brought up very much, but, you know, that there was some time issues. None of it to do with us! But, it’s like in hindsight, it’s a real blessing that we didn’t go on last, because there’s no way we would have been able to achieve what we achieved … I don’t know. Maybe Cody had a premonition! I don’t know. But, it’s never been an issue. Maybe it’s just me. I don’t know about that many guys in the business who are that concerned about whether they go on last or not.
“Obviously, it’s a pride thing. It’s not a sort of – I’m not saying nobody cares. But, I think on a situation like that, where it’s not like, ‘if we’re not on last, the whole thing’s ruined.’ We were just kind of like, ‘hey, man, I know this is special. We’re gonna rock it.’ Hogan and Rock wasn’t on last!”
