Billy Corgan is open to more collaborations between the NWA and AEW, but don’t expect it to be a full-blown crossover like we’ve seen before in wrestling.
During an appearance on Two Man Power Trip Of Wrestling podcast, NWA President Billy Corgan recalled the beginning of his relationship with AEW President Tony Khan; the two men met at one of Corgan’s musical shows, and they have kept in touch ever since.
“We had met back then, just kind of socially, and then when Tony looked like he was lining up to launch what is now AEW, we had a conversation then to sort of see where he was going and where I was going,” said Corgan. “And so we’ve stayed in touch and we’ve built a business relationship on top of that. And he’s just been a great business partner, I can’t say enough good things about him as how’s he’s been, in terms of the business side of the thing.”
Corgan then explained that the NWA has already benefitted from that business relationship, pointing to how NWA talent was featured on AEW TV during the pandemic.
“Having the NWA Women’s title on AEW television has been super valuable to us. Tony kept the name of the brand up when we were shut down for a while due to the pandemic. And then Tony allowing his talent to come wrestle on NWA television is huge. And of course, Tony helped bring Thunder Rosa to national, international prominence as she should. She’s an incredibly talented person,” Corgan said, “so that’s been a cool relationship I think for everybody involved.”
Corgan was also asked if he would he want NWA to work with AEW more frequently, and he said he’s open to situations with proper balance, like a potential rubber match between Cody Rhodes and Nick Aldis or how Thunder Rosa has been used by AEW.
“I’m open to all that stuff. I think it’s sort of like, where do you want it to go? Because right now, the NWA is in a position where we’re just building back up, so like I said, I totally appreciate those opportunities but we’re not really geared in that way. If you saw some of the comments that Chris Jericho had about AEW working with IMPACT, who I’m publicly no fan because of my dealings with them…Jericho completely buried the situation with IMPACT, because he basically was talking about the disparity in power and star attraction. Now there’s plenty of talented people at IMPACT, not to denigrate them and I worked with some of them…but look, you’re not an equal in the situation. So you’re put in a situation where you’re trying to convince another fan base to believe in some form of equity,” Corgan explained. “It’s always a bit wonky. So I think under the right circumstances, light the Serena dynamic, being the holder of the title, Thunder Rosa as an NWA talent working for AEW with great regularity, that’s a nice balance. If Tony calls and wants to do Cody/Nick Aldis III, yeah I’m all over it. Some of the traditional ways that people work together, invasion angles and stuff like that, I don’t think that’s a good fit for either one of us.”
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