NWA star Elijah “Pope” Burke recently appeared on the Battleground podcast to discuss a number of different topics, including how he hopes to become the next NWA world’s champion, and his hope of defending that title against the great Dustin Rhodes.
Hopes to become the second black NWA world’s champion:
The next goal is real simple and that’s to become the second black man in the history of the NWA to become world champion. It makes me emotional just to think about it. A little boy from Jacksonville, an Afro-headed black kid that had no black heroes in the National Wrestling Alliance. The closest thing we had to a black champion was ‘The American Dream’ Dusty Rhodes. When he reached out and said, ‘Your hand touching my hand,’ I was at the TV reaching out to him. He made me believe. Yes, I never overlooked my Rocky Kings. I never overlooked ‘Pistol’ Pez Whatley, ‘Big Cat’ Ernie Ladd, and all of them that came through from time to time, Abdullah The Butcher, but we just never had that black representative. That representation has never been there even dating back to when they were doing it — a shout out to my man R-Truth who succeeded in joining the TNA version, affiliation with the NWA.
How he hopes to be able to defend the NWA title against Dustin Rhodes:
As soon as I win the Ten Pounds of Gold, if I am to welcome anyone to come through my door, or anyone that I want to defend the NWA Ten Pounds of Gold against, It is ‘The Natural’ Dustin Rhodes. It would be so fitting. He knows what he means to me. He knows what his dad has meant, and means to me. I think it would only be fitting that Dustin and Pope go at it for the Ten Pounds of Gold. Dustin, we go back, we go way back to my arrival on the professional scene, and we’ve only had nothing but respect for each other. nothing but love. Dustin, Tony Khan, I’m telling you now, go ahead and make it happen when that time comes, Pope’s walking through that Forbidden Door, and I want Dustin Rhodes. Whether that’s under the AEW banner, or headlining for the NWA, we’re gonna get funky like a monkey.
(H/T and transcribed by Fightful)
