Two days ago I was able to share some time with NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis and “The National Treasure” is indeed living up to that moniker. Not only does he flex his knowledge when it comes to the economy and stock market, but Aldis undoubtedly has a mind for the core intention of the wrestling product. With Cody Rhodes being an EVP in AEW and his friend/rival Marty Scurll being creative booker in ROH, Nick shares a bond with those two as he helps NWA move forward as a brand. I asked him if he felt that the three share in the same philosophy when it comes to wrestling and here’s his response:
“Oh most definitely. Stylistically, you can be different but you can still have the same philosophical approach and ultimately, the philosophical or stylistic difference is what make the business so great,” Nick said. “If you take the approaches of the three of us and look, those two guys, they’re a couple stages ahead of me in the development in the terms of this new era because they were kind of ahead of the curve on that and I kind of jumped in a year or two later…”
Aldis pointed out that there is one main point that fuels their approach to performing in the ring.
“The one thing that I think that we all agree on, the one thing that is the underlying principal to our approach compared to a lot of other guys is that we’re going like, ‘Okay, does it sell? Does it sell tickets?’ You know? ‘Does it draw? Did people care? Did it have an effect, right? Did people buy a PPV? Did people buy a ticket? Did people tune in for that?’ Because, ultimately it has to work, right? Getting a nice review or getting nice feedback and critical acclaim and everything is fine, but it don’t pay the bills. And it’s this weird thing that like, so often you say stuff like that and then all these people will think that it’s a dig at certain people. No, it’s not it’s just pay to attention to the ones that are able to take the stuff that’s getting a good review and then monetize it. That’s the difference.”
Nick cites his two NWA Worlds Title matches with Cody as a perfect example of this principal.
“The ALL IN match was all about the spectacle. We got a whole lot out of not much, but that was also by design because we’re already thinking like, ‘This ain’t gonna be the last time,’ you know? We knew what we had to achieve and obviously we knew we had to deliver in terms of the work in the ring to a degree. It has to be a match befitting of the NWA Worlds Championship, I feel like that every time I go into the ring to defend the title, but I also knew like, ‘Well, the tickets are already sold and the PPV’s already sold here.’ You know what I mean? We gotta keep some in the back pocket, plant seeds for the next one and there were a lot, the continuation. The second match, that was the reason for the introduction of Camille, you know was cause I was ‘Okay, Brandi got involved at ALL IN so now I need an insurance policy to make sure that doesn’t happen again,’ and now that’s provided a nice launching pad for her and she’s gone on to make the most of that and now she’s an integral character on NWA Powerrr.”
“The great thing when it came to Cody and I is that we never really had to sort of discuss too much. We kind of always knew that we’re always kind of on the same page with a lot of things. Cody’s like me, he wants his match to feel the most important, and that’s it. And, that’s all there is to it. If you can make it where your match feels the most important then you’re winning.”
(Transcription credit should go to @DominicDeAngelo of WrestleZone)
So much more from our hour-and-a-half long conversation as we talk plenty about NWA Powerrr’s presentation, development and goals for the future. More transcriptions to come within the next week, but you can listen to the entire interview below:
Be sure to check out Powerrr on the NWA’s YouTube Channel!
