Nick Aldis opens up about his WWE run so far.
The National Treasure, who was a former multi-time TNA and NWA world champion, joined WWE last year as the new General Manager for SmackDown. Since then he has been keeping the blue-brand in tip-top shape, even referring to it as the land of opportunity. Aldis spoke about his role, and how much he’s been enjoying it, during a recent interview with the Daily Mail.
I’ve been having a blast. I’ve come in blessed with the gift of managed expectations. I had sort of made peace with the idea that maybe WWE was never going to be on the cards for me at all. So I certainly have come in with a with a level of gratitude that I perhaps wouldn’t have had as a guy in his 20s. I came in on a day rate, try out as a producer behind the scenes, which I, again, had fully made peace with the idea of if that’s going to be my job, then that’s going to be my job, and I’ll do that job to the best of my ability, because I decided that at this point in my life and my career, I wanted to contribute to the big leagues. That may be because I put in my 10,000 hours, I felt like I had done enough and had enough experience, enough expertise and my own unique sort of philosophy and my own track record of success in the wrestling business that I was ready to work at the top level. I felt one way or another that my skill set as a professional was best suited to be contributing to the number one company. I finished up with the NWA. And at that time, I decided that if there was any kind of opportunity whatsoever with WWE, that was where I wanted to be. I felt like I’d done everything I could do at a place with limited resources and just decided one way or another that I wanted a chance to contribute there.
Aldis later states that he feels he has delivered his General Manager character in a different note than previous GMs.
I had no, no expectations really (about possibly having an increased role at WWE). I had no idea whether or not Hunter had any idea of who I was or what I had done, or what I was capable of doing, and why would he? He’s got a lot going on. I think it was in Hershey, it was the night that (John) Cena came back. We were in the production meeting, and Bruce Prichard pulled me out of the meeting and asked me how I was feeling physically because they had an idea for you, for a character. And that was that, they didn’t mention anything more about it for a few weeks. I suppose at that point, I started thinking logically about what it could be, so I started sort of preparing, and then a few weeks later, he called again and said the SmackDown General Manager, and I was like, ‘Yes, please, where do I sign?’ It was a very, very easy deal to get done. I love the the prospects. I remember getting off the phone and talking to Mickie (James) about it right away. And she was just like, ‘Oh my God, yes. You’ll be great at that.’ I’ve been very blessed that they’ve given me some good opportunities to show what I can do. And I feel like I’ve delivered the character in a way that’s sort of different. I do think there’s been some really great authority figures over the years, but I think the ones who people remember are the ones who sort of did it in their own unique way. (Eric) Bischoff, Teddy (Long), Stephanie (McMahon). I had a vision of what this character could be, and that’s what you’re starting to see now on TV.
You can check out Aldis’ full interview here.
