On the latest episode of The Kurt Angle Show, NWA President Billy Corgan shared how he came across the opportunity to buy the NWA, and why WWE was not interested in buying out the historic organization.
Corgan, continuing on from having recalled his tumultuous experiences in the wrestling world, spanning across promotions like MLW, ECW, and TNA, said (with reference to his having finally settled all disputes vis-a-vis his TNA ownership),
“About a month goes by, somebody calls and says, ‘The NWA is for sale.’ I said, ‘How is that possible? Isn’t the NWA owned by like 400 people?’ He said ‘No, it’s one owner out of Texas, and he’s willing to sell it to you.’ I poked around, I found out that WWE had passed on it. You know, basically, the general consensus in the business is that it didn’t have any value anymore, that its best days were certainly long past it.”
As to why he chose to go ahead with the purchase despite his having twice declared an exit from the wrestling industry, Corgan cited nostalgia, nay, a childhood dream. He continued,
“And so I was like, ‘This is really tempting.’ Because go back to the kid in the basement, if you had gone to time machine and told that kid, ‘Hey, one day you’re going to own this company.’ And you can own it right now if you want. It was like, ‘Oh geez, I thought I was done with professional wrestling.’ So we could talk about any of those moments, but that’s how we got here.”
Corgan today stands as the owner of a rejuvenated NWA, with the organization having recently announced the return of the historic territory system.
(h/t 411mania)