In a recent interview with Sam Roberts as part of the Not Sam Wrestling podcast, former NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis discussed several topics, including his decision to move on from the National Wrestling Alliance when his contract expires, no longer being advertised for the event due to suspension stemming from his comments on his contract, Billy Corgan’s comments and more.

Highlights of the interview are below:

On the video he posted and later deleted explaining that he would be leaving the NWA when his contract expired: “I was planning to let my fans know that I had given my notice, but not in a nefarious way and certainly, not in a negative way. I was just going to let people know, hey I’ve decided to move on, I’ve given my notice so that my final shows with the NWA, people would know that this is it. I thought hey, this is a good opportunity to give something exclusive to my subscribers, and then, a couple of days from now, I’ll then let everyone else know and then, these people will go hey, this was worth it, hopefully. The whole thing about paywall content, it’s got to be stuff that people feel is worth the money. It was my first time, I thought I had done everything right, I had clicked the little button that said Subscribers Only, but I guess maybe because it’s real, I don’t know, I still don’t know. This is exactly how it happened, I was on the terrace on the condo, I decided screw it, let’s do that, just very candid, that’s how I built my fan-base, is authenticity. Then, when that was done, we had dinner reservations and I was like oh, I’ve got enough time to go and get a little 30-minute cardio in at the fitness center, I go do 30 minutes of cardio, and by the time I come back, I see people going like, man that was really great what you said and I’m going wait a minute, I don’t think he’s a subscriber, that’s my friend and I don’t think my friends are paying to see my content. I went ugh, damn it and I deleted it, but I probably shouldn’t have even bothered, I should have just left it, whatever, but look, I gave my notice, I said I gave my notice and I sort of alluded to why. It certainly wasn’t intended to be this sort of burial of the NWA, or anything like that, why would I do that, that would bury myself. The thing that I’ve been most heavily associated with for the last 5 years and then, I would turn around and go no, it sucks. No.”

On why he felt the NWA product has changed: “Look, I can’t get around it. I’m not saying all of it, but there was enough of it that, for me, didn’t pass the Harley Race test. I know that people will hear that and be like, Harley Race, what the hell, but what you have to understand, Harley Race wanted nothing to do with the NWA because of what it had been prior, it had some pretty dark days. Then, he agreed not only to be back associated with it, he asked me to come to Missouri to defend the title, agreed to appear on-camera talking to me about being NWA Champion and that ended up being the last interview that he ever gave on-camera before he passed away. That means a lot to me, it was because of how we had presented pro wrestling consistently for 3 years at that point, or whatever it was, we had consistently presented pro wrestling in a serious and dignified way. I know people will hear dignified and pro wrestling in the same sentence and say it’s an oxymoron, you know what I’m saying. I just found myself, again, this isn’t me trying to do scorched earth, I’m just saying this is what factored into my decision to give my notice. I started looking at stuff like Gaagz The Gimp, a Social Distancing match where the two wrestlers can’t touch each other, on and on it went with different, wacky, silly comedy nonsensical stuff, and I said, how would I have justified this to Harley Race if Harley Race had been here today. Imagine if I’d have been stood there with Harley Race, and what would Harley Race say watching this, or Dory Funk, or Ric Flair. I thought, if I was stood here with those guys right now, I’d be kind of embarrassed because they would look at me and go, this is you, this is your company, and I’d have to go no. I didn’t want to be in a position where I’m like, oh that’s not me, because if I’m in, I’m in. When we first talked, I was doing the Ten Pounds Of Gold series, I got paid zero for those, I know that Billy spent a lot of time talking about, I gave him this money, well, we exchanged money for services, I gave you pro wrestling services in exchange for money, you didn’t give me money. Also, for the first year that we were doing business together, my money came from third-party independent promoters, it didn’t come from you at all, so I made all that content, I wasn’t getting paid for that, I was benefiting from it. I’m not upset about it, but I just think it provides a bit of context. I was very invested in building this thing.”

On Billy Corgan appearing on Busted Open Radio stating that he was upset that Aldis buried the NWA and talent with his comments and whether he regrets stating his dislike of the product: “I’m sure that’s the trigger. Yes, I regret it. No, I didn’t do it to trigger him. The truth is, I understood that a large portion of the NWA core audience evolved from being my core audience. The NWA at first, it was me and Tim Storm, the success of that approach and the effort I put in, it’s not easy to wear a suit and carry yourself and present yourself in a certain way when you know you’re about to work a rec center in front of 100 people, that takes a different level of courage. I’m the man, and you don’t think there were times when I didn’t feel like a complete buffoon. This is 100 million miles away from WrestleMania, if you believe, they believe it, my career wasn’t doing s***, I had to bootstrap that whole thing, I had a run in TNA, but by the time I left TNA, they had a stink. You would think, coming off a show that was doing 2 million viewers on SpikeTV on prime-time, I’ve got to get an opportunity somewhere. was left holding the bag, I had to start from scratch, if I’m going to do it and commit, then I’m going to commit. When I see guys stroll into NWA Powerrr, march up to catering, stuff their faces and make another box to go, and me and Trevor aren’t getting any food, do I start to get a chip on my shoulder, yeah, you guys have no clue what it took to get to this point. By the same token, I know what it’s like to resonate with the audience and to pound the pavement. When people come up to me and say, you brought back the wrestling that I love, I used to watch this with my Grandpa and it brings back these memories of my Grandpa and makes me so happy, he would love this and I wish he was around to see this, that means something to me. When I saw it get betrayed, I felt betrayed too. The irony is, I’, sure he feels betrayed too, he believes in the product that he’s putting out now and I don’t. I’m sure for him, it’s a difficult pill to swallow, that’s the business part of it, this isn’t good for my business anymore, so I’m going to move on and see if I can do business some other way.”

The full interview is available at this link.