The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) World Heavyweight Champion, Nick Aldis, recently appeared on the This is the NWA podcast. During the interview, Aldis opened up about his ambitions for NWA and the kinds of fans they want to attract.
He recalled how NWA Vice President David Lagana told him how NWA President Billy Corgan wanted a modern equivalent to the kind of wrestling he grew up watching.
“He wants men cutting promos and having physical rough and tumble wrestling matches,” Aldis explained. “I said, ‘That I can do.’ That was them describing their vision of what they wanted and then they asked ‘What is your vision?’ I said, ‘I wanted matches to feel like prize fights.'”
Aldis continued, “I said ‘I’m sitting here watching the build to Mayweather/McGregor and it’s just the best s*** I’ve ever seen. It’s fantastic theater. They’re taking everything that pro wrestling did first, doing it better and pro wrestling’s not even doing it anymore. We’re just literally handing over all of this money to MMA and boxing. We gave them secret sauce and then stopped using the secret sauce ourselves.”
“We’re Trying To Go After A Different Demographic”
When it comes to the type of fan NWA is hoping to attract, Aldis shared his concern that the “whittled down niche audience compared to better days for our business is gonna be divided up even further.”
He added that they intend on going after a different market for their fanbase, explaining that, “If wrestling fans who predominantly exist in the current form decide not to watch our product, we’re okay with that because we’re trying to go after a different audience like any smart business would. We’re trying to go after a different demographic, and that demographic is fans who’ve fallen off for whatever reason because they preferred a certain style of stuff.”
Future Plans
The NWA World Champion already knows where he would like himself and the NWA to be in five years time. He shared that he would like to turn the NWA into the pro wrestling equivalent of HBO Boxing.
“You know I’d like to think that in five years I’ll be firmly established as a top performer and a top attraction, a sort of respectable OG character,” Aldis said. “I think that the NWA, if we keep on our current trajectory and our current milestones, within five years we could be a very solidly established brand, attraction and organization. I think brand is the best way to put it because I could see us working with multiple different companies here and there but ultimately what I’ve always wanted for us is to be like the HBO Boxing of pro wrestling.”
NWA Powerrr recently premiered their first episode. The show is available to watch in its entirety on YouTube.
H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.Â
