Billy Corgan saw Kamille as the future of the NWA women’s division long before anyone else.
NWA owner Billy Corgan recently sat down with WrestleZone’s Managing Editor Bill Pritchard. When asked why he thinks fans haven’t gotten fatigued with Kamille’s title reign despite it surpassing 800 days, Corgan had an interesting perspective on that.
“When we brought Kamille in, since really the beginning, there was a sense that this is somebody who has no upside as a professional wrestler. She might have an upside as a valet,” Corgan explained. “She might have an upside as a sort of a person. But a future champion? No way, too green. [She] doesn’t have whatever it takes. For whatever reason, maybe because I got to know her a bit as a person and knowing her background as an athlete in that division one sports, I said, ‘That’s my future champion. That’s my future of the women’s division.’
“And when I think Kamille won the belt, I think she maybe had had something like 12, 14, 15 matches. There wasn’t a ton of work there. And people did question, ‘How can you be putting the belt on somebody that has this level of experience,’ internally, not just externally. She has proven basically anybody who ever doubted her in the professional wrestling business, and I would include a company that she at one point worked for and decided that she didn’t have an upside. She’s proven everybody wrong.
“So, we haven’t seen her at her absolute peak yet. Which is kind of weird because usually, people don’t win belts until they kind of actually have shown they have a peak. I think the audience, for lack of a better way to put it, is watching her grow month to month into that stature that a true champion carries, the mystique, the charisma, the ability to wrestle at the highest levels.”
Kamille vs. Markova
Corgan explained how Kamille is a “gamer” in his eyes because her best matches happen when “the lights are the brightest and the opponent is the toughest.” Corgan doesn’t have much empathy for people that crumble in the spotlight, but Kamille feeds off of pressure.
“If you’re a gamer or you’re a star, you want the pressure. You want the lights on you, you want your name being called, and she has that thing. And so, she’s been complaining personally and publicly about facing Markova again on the first night of the pay-per-view. Because in her mind, she’s already beaten Markova, and Markova is not up to her level. I not only disagree, I think Markova has got her number on a lot of different levels psychologically, physically. And you could argue that although Markova is smaller than her, she is just as tough as Kamille.”
“I like that Kamille is going to have to up her game on the biggest stage with the brightest lights against Markova. Because I don’t think the world has seen Markova at her best yet either, because Markova is also a gamer. So, I like that matchup on paper.”
Corgan noted that the pressure doesn’t go away after night one, because the winner of this match still needs to defend the title on Sunday. Kamille has done that successfully the past to years, but can she make it a third?
“So, if Kamille can get through Markova, which obviously she feels she can, then Kamille’s got to face whoever comes out of that gauntlet as well. That’s a tough thing to — Do you keep something in the tank? Is it one of those things where you’re trying to give everything you got to beat Markova? But then you got to keep something in the tank because you got to beat somebody else the next night?
“I love that, and Kamille has been up to it. This would be the third year in a row where she’ll have the chance to pull that feat off. She hates she hates having to wrestle both nights, but that’s the way we roll in the NWA. We want the toughest champions out there.”
NWA 75 takes place on August 26 and 27. You can check out our complete interview with Billy Corgan in the embedded video below.
READ MORE: Billy Corgan Can Envision Pitching Pro Wrestling Tours To Live Nation
What do you make of Billy Corgan’s comments? Have you grown tired of Kamille’s title reign? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
If you use any of these quotes, please credit WrestleZone with a link to this article for the transcription.
