NWA President Billy Corgan recently appeared on One-On-One with Jon Alba to discuss a number of different topics, most notably how he hopes to work with the very popular GCW promotion, and how he envisions NWA world champion Matt Cardona defending the title at one of their events. Highlights from the interview can be found below.
Says NWA isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel, but reapply the principles of wrestling that worked in the past:
“If you watch the NWA product and have any understanding of it, it would be, ‘wow, they’re actually trying to do something different.’ It’s not a reinvention of the wheel, it’s a reapplication of the principles that worked in wrestling for almost 100 years. Through the changes in television and digital viewing, a lot of wrestling has gotten away from a certain amount of core principles that I believe will always work like rock n’ roll will always work. A certain type of rebelliousness, a certain freedom of spirit, a certain willingness to let talent go too far and the first thing we have to do is say, ‘Okay, we crossed the line.’ That combination will always work out and appeal to punk rock as a crowd and there are enough punk rockers in wrestling that feel that what they’re watching is not an insult to their intelligence but is an application of the intelligence and the way it exists and together we can build something fresh and new. It doesn’t have to be everything for everybody at all times. That’s where people get lost.”
Talks the addition of Matt Cardona and how he hopes that opens doors for NWA to work with GCW:
“A lot of mainstream product is not designed to be everything for everybody at all times. It’s designed to have a wide appeal to a particular audience that in its values can sustain itself for over a long period of time. It’s not to be all things to all people and it’s not to be so niche that only your uncle who is in the basement all day can understand what the hell is happening. It has to be somewhere in the middle and I’m proud we’ve been able to build that, basically with limited resources and a lot of doubt coming in. Even with a lot of the talent, they have to hear from other talent what it’s like to work for the NWA and, by extension, me. ‘Is it some sort of weird hobby that he’s running or is he really serious?’ The more other people see that I’m serious and see the growth in the company, and you see…for a long time it was, ‘The NWA, that’s Nick Aldis’ thing and they’re doing a throwback thing.’ Cardona comes in and turns the whole thing upside down, so now what are we? I really respect what Game Changer is doing and respect what Tony (Khan) is doing. It’s not that I look and say, ‘I don’t want to be that, I want to be that,’ no, there are things that people are getting right. Nobody is doing better at gaining instant heat and attention than Game Changer. They are doing a fantastic job. When you look at what Cardona is doing at Game Changer, they helped set the template that I go, ‘I would like to be part of that too.’ I would love to be in business with Game Changer to where it works out that Cardona is the champ and goes there. I’m open to all that stuff. I hope we do a lot more of that and it’s great for the fans.”
(H/T and transcribed by Fightful)