10 Things We Learned From NWA Worlds Champion Nick Aldis (Exclusive Interview)

3. The Vision For The National Wrestling Alliance

Nick Aldis
NWA

Having nearly quit the business after departing IMPACT Wrestling in 2017, it was a phone call with Dave Lagana that sowed the seeds for Nick Aldis to ultimately go on and become the brand leader of the reborn National Wrestling Alliance.

As Lagana put it to Nick at that time, "What the hell's going on with you? You're just turning 30, you've got all this experience, you've worked with all these top guys. You can talk, you can work. What's happening, why aren't you doing anything?"

From there, Aldis was put in touch with NWA President Billy Corgan and the two began to discuss their vision for an organisation which, at least at that point in time, consisted purely of three letters. In a case of perfect timing, all three of Aldis, Lagana, and Corgan shared the same collected vision for what the professional wrestling landscape needed.

Aldis explained how wrestling is a variety show to him, but that he felt that the classic heavyweight style of storytelling and slowly building to a hotly anticipated contest had been a little lost. For the NWA, it was about offering something different and likewise exploring what would appeal to lapsed wrestling fans.

"I don't require every wrestler to be Mr. Olympia," the National Treasure said, "I don't want every wrestler to be super-tanned and jacked. But I want some of them to be, and I want most of them to look like professional athletes. I don't want to celebrate mediocrity anymore. The problem is, the fans that drop off don't go on social media and tell you these things. What we should be doing, and what we have done, is we've tried to go out and focus group fans that used to watch the business but don't anymore."

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.