"Da Pope" Elijah Burke Interview: NWA, Charity Work, IMPACT Stint, WWE/AEW, More

Who are you looking forward to facing in the NWA at some point, and does current NWA Worlds Heavyweight champion Nick Aldis lead your list of desired opponents?

Pope: That's it. There's no point in me even addressing anything else. If I'm addressing anyone else, why am I even there? That's it. Nick Aldis and the Ten Pounds of Gold. That is what I want. I never thought in a million years watching Dusty and Tully [Blanchard] and Arn [Anderson] and Nikita [Koloff] and “Stunning” Steve Austin, watching them wear that title... When I won that title, it was business as usual, I got back to my hotel room in Los Angeles, California. I opened up my phone since winning and my text messages were so many that I kept scrolling and couldn't respond to them all. I went to social media and my messages started filling up and then Twitter sent me a message asking me if I wanted their help because there was so many messages and they thought it was spam. Same with Instagram and everything else.

It was business as usual until it became that much more real to me by everybody's support. It was really touching. It's moments like this. To go after Nick Aldis and the Ten Pounds of Gold, that's the endgame. If Pope steps in the ring with Nick Aldis, and this isn't a promo or a “work,” I am winning the NWA Ten Pounds of Gold. I will become the next NWA Worlds Heavyweight champion. If I'm able to do that and accomplish that great goal, I'll be somewhat complete. I'm satisfied now, but to get that, that would mean the world.