The real Nick Aldis has returned.
On the June 15 episode of IMPACT Wrestling, Nick Aldis was finally able to reveal his true colors and drop the “nice guy” routine. After the conclusion of their five-on-five mixed tag team match, Aldis stunned Alex Shelley, and IMPACT fans, by hitting him in the head with the IMPACT World Championship. Speaking with WrestleZone Managing Editor Bill Pritchard, it was suggested that Aldis was “returning to form” in a sense.
“I’ve seen a lot of sentiment to the effect of, ‘Finally, we’re seeing the real Nick Aldis’ or ‘the Nick Aldis that we want to see is back.’ It’s almost this sort of love-to-hate situation. I could see that. I suppose I can live with that,” Aldis said in response. “Look, just enough with this, ‘Oh, spirit of competition. Oh, I’m just so honored to be in consideration for the title,’ and blah, blah, blah. It’s so boring. Clearly, I’m the guy that they need to be putting in the title picture. Clearly, I need to be the number one contender. And now that I’ve got myself in a position where I was able to get that, now that I’ve earned my title shot and no one can take it away from me at Slammiversary, now I can take the gloves off and be real again. No more politicking.”
When asked why it took so long for him to turn heel, Aldis says the entire charade was a strategic move to appease the “sensitive” talent in the IMPACT locker room. “You got to play the game a little bit. You know that people are sensitive. People at IMPACT are sensitive, like, ‘Oh, why is he coming in and immediately getting a title shot? Oh, it’s not fair. What about me?’ Look, the reality is that I’m the right guy. So, I did what I had to do. I played the game.”
“Everything I said about the championship, I mean. It is important that you recognize and appreciate what you hold in your hand. And I had every intention of taking it from Steve Maclin. That’s why I was saying the things that I said. ‘I hope you understand that you’re holding 20 plus years of history in your hand, and some of the some of the greatest of all time have held this championship.'”
“It’s got a very respectable lineage and it’s certainly got a great deal of prestige. And I intend to do with it what I’ve done with previous championships where I take the lineage, take the greats that have held it before and honor them and make sure that people look at today’s offering and ‘Go, yeah, this guy could hang with any one of those. This guy’s comparable to any of the great champions that have held this belt before.'”
Many fans are aware of Aldis’ historic run as a heel in the NWA, but even still, Aldis stresses that “playing the game” was the best route for him to reach his desired result.
“I’m not some schlub. I’m not some schlub who showed up with his boots and they had a tryout. No, no, of course. I have a right to be in the main event,” Aldis said. “What I’m saying is, is that I understood that it would make things easier for management, if I played the game a little bit, because otherwise, they’d have to deal with butthurt wrestlers who are going, ‘Oh, it’s not fair. How come he gets to get to come straight here? I’ve been here for X-amount of years and I haven’t had a title shot.’ And it’s like, yeah, look in the mirror.”
“My history with [TNA/IMPACT] is well documented. I rose up through the card in that company when I was surrounded by Hall of Famers. Since then — to think that I beat Jeff Hardy for my first world title, successfully defended it against AJ Styles, Sting, Samoa Joe, a who’s who of the industry, and to think that I did all that in that company, but when I came back to IMPACT Wrestling, what I’m most known for is what I did after I left. My body of work speaks for itself in that respect. But I also understand that I’m not trying to make things difficult for management.”
“I don’t want them to have to be wasting time placating a bunch of upset middle-of-the-road guys. So, like I said, I just did that so that I would get the opportunity that I deserved with as little pushback as possible because I just don’t have the energy to be dealing with it. And now that I’ve got what I came for, the title shot at Slammiversary, okay, great. Now I can finally say what I’ve been thinking this whole time.”
Nick Aldis will challenge Alex Shelley for the IMPACT World Championship at Slammiversary on July 15. Before they meet at Slammiversary, Shelley and Chris Sabin will team against Aldis and Lio Rush at IMPACT’s Summer Sizzler event in Chicago this weekend.
Watch our full interview with Nick Aldis below:
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