Tag: billy corgan

Daily Update: NXT, Jon Moxley, Nick Aldis

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Daily Update

Latest News:

Latest Audio:

Latest Free YouTube Video:

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter:

In this issue:

  • Match and performer of the week
  • C.M. Punk agrees to return to AEW again
  • Plans for Collision
  • Some of the agreements reached for Punk’s return including what happens with Ace Steel
  • Promotion of the United Center show
  • Early ticket sales for United Center and all the Collision tapings
  • Economics of arenas in Chicago
  • Promotion of the Collision shows so far
  • Collision later this year against tougher sports competition
  • Nick Khan talks lots of new potential ideas for television and NXT
  • The U.K. television landscape
  • New ways WWE is looking to make money from its major events
  • A preview of WWE’s two big shows this week, favorites, and business notes
  • AEW Double or Nothing looked at, including business notes on the show, ideas and angles
  • Mercedes Mone injured and Willow Nightingale ends up as New Japan Strong women’s champion
  • A look at the tournament
  • Lots of thoughts and notes on the show
  • Mark Davis injury
  • Angles coming off the New Japan Long Beach show
  • How tickets moved after Mone was announced
  • Match-by-match coverage, star ratings and poll results
  • Rundown of the Best of the Super Juniors tournament, coverage of the biggest matches this pas week and how the tournaments went down
  • UFC show coverage
  • The most in-depth look at the ratings for all the national wrestling shows and how they compare with the same period last year, as well as the competition and what the numbers mean
  • Major wrestling and boxing promotion looking at working with each other
  • More on the CMLL Anniversary plans
  • AEW star debuting in AAA
  • AEW star looks to be done with AAA
  • Stardom building title vs title match this weekend
  • Hana Kimura Memorial show
  • DDT tournament finals
  • Schedule for Dark Side of the Ring and thoughts
  • Cain Velasquez trial update
  • Promotion quietly gets national cable deal
  • A number of different stars on next MLW tapings
  • Impact TV lineups
  • AEW video game update
  • AEW and profits and losses
  • Darby Allin and climbing Mount Everest
  • Tony Khan talks booking team
  • Notes on Forbidden Door
  • Thunder Rosa talks battling depression
  • What stars who believe they can’t appear on Forbidden Door
  • Ticket sales for upcoming WWE and AEW shows
  • International TV numbers
  • Talk about promoting AEW live events
  • Best merchandise sellers
  • Update on how UFC pays fighters
  • Dana White talks Francis Ngannou deal
  • PFL talks the deal and why it makes sense even if it doesn’t seem to
  • Tyson Fury and Jon Jones war of words has predictable outcome
  • Mackenzie Der and divorce issues
  • Lots of Billy Graham history and Hogan & Flair talk about his influence
  • Why Hogan and Graham fell out years ago
  • Graham’s lawsuit against Vince McMahon
  • Graham’s sellout records in MSG and why they are even more impressive than they appear
  • Hogan the face of a new company
  • Women’s’ tag team division issues
  • Lots of injury notes and updates
  • Two WWE stars play women wrestlers of the 30s and 50s in a new movie being filmed soon
  • More on a Ric Flair movie
  • Kota Ibushi talks WWE
  • Three WWE athletes going for a world championship berth in wrestling this year
  • Gable Steveson talks his pro wrestling training
  • Median age of wrestling Tv viewers for the different shows

This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter:

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Tuesday Update

WWE

  • A Carmelo Hayes appearance and Tiffany Stratton holding a “Tiffybration” following her Women’s title win have been added to Tuesday’s NXT.
  • Alexa Bliss noted that she will return to wrestling. Bliss announced on Tuesday that she and Ryan Cabrera are expecting their first child in December.
  • Keiji Muto congratulated Asuka on her title victory at Night of Champions.
  • Natalya on her quick loss to Rhea Ripley on Saturday: “Just saw Rhea’s interview on Raw last night saying I was distracted. The truth is, I thought I was ready for anything out there, and I just had no reply to her dominance. This is on me.”
  • Dexter Lumis vs. Akira Tozawa and Candace LeRae vs. Tegan Nox were taped for this week’s Main Event on Monday.
  • WWE’s YouTube channel surpassed 95 million subscribers this past weekend.
  • Full matches added to WWE’s YouTube page today include Dolph Ziggler vs. Baron Corbin from WWE Money in the Bank 2016, the World Heavyweight title Elimination Chamber match from No Way Out 2009, and Bianca Belair vs. Asuka from the May 30, 2022 episode of Raw.

AEW

  • AEW Road to San Diego focuses on Kris Statlander’s return and the fallout from AEW Double or Nothing.
  • Jon Moxley has been announced for the Pro Wrestling Revolver show on June 17.
  • Jade Cargill commented on her AEW Double or Nothing entrance: “My colors and entrance was paid homage to my sorority. I am a PROUD member of AKA. It is the oldest Greek-letter organization established by African American college-educated women. very personal but I wanted to bring Greek life to the wrestling world.”
  • Fuego Del Sol talked on Twitter about being backstage at AEW this past weekend: “I was at my first AEW show since I was injured in February this past weekend. Though the landscape has changed a bit, I’m more motivated than ever. There is so much more I am going to do and this weekend was the refresher of just how much I dare to be great. Soon.”
  • Jake Roberts is celebrating a birthday today.

Other Wrestling

  • Superstar Billy Graham’s funeral will be streamed at 3 pm ET Thursday at this link.
  • Vice is airing a Dark Side of the Ring marathon prior to tonight’s Season 4 premiere.
  • Nick Aldis talked to Metro about talking to the WWE. ‘I don’t wanna speak too much about my conversations with [WWE]. And I certainly don’t want to imply or suggest that I had a choice of anywhere to go. That would be disingenuous or dishonest. It’s more about, what’s the best option right now? I did need a little bit of a mental break – because I did put a lot of pressure on myself. I’ll be honest, it was kinda heartbreaking to see a lot of my work get undone at the NWA. I needed bit of time to just process it and go, “Hey, what they decide to do now that you’re gone is none of your concern. Your body of work will live on through your fans and that’s it. You build this brand for yourself.” [My wife Mickie James] was good at restoring that confident in me as well.’
  • Former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura was seen with current governor Tim Walz as he signed a bill legalizing recreational marijuana in the state.
  • G-Raver, who previously wrestled for GCW and was later arrested on drug and DUI charges, will face trial in July with jury selection to begin on July 10.
  • Billy Corgan talked about finding a potential television partner in an interview with the Toronto Sun. “I’ve resisted taking any outside money, so it’s 100% self-funded so that way if I do find the right partner, I don’t have to bring somebody else along and convince them that it’s good idea,” he said. “And then secondarily, I resisted taking sea level deals just to sort of puff my chest and say, ‘See I’m with Bob’s BBQ Network.’ You know what I mean?”
  • A match between Low Ki and Minoru Suzuki has been signed for Perth Wrestling’s Crossroads event on August 26 in Perth, Australia.
  • WrestleQuest, an upcoming wrestling-themed RPG video game, released a new trailer ahead of their August 8 release date.
  • TJPW’s Hyper Misao talked to Monthly Puroresu.

Billy Corgan thinks most heat around NWA champion Tyrus is ‘political’

Posted on by Joseph Currier

In an interview on the Under the Ring podcast, Billy Corgan addressed the fan criticism Tyrus has received as NWA World Heavyweight Champion.

Corgan told Under the Ring that he’s very happy with the work Tyrus has done for the NWA as a wrestler. Corgan said he feels most of the heat around Tyrus, who works as a contributor for Fox News, is “political.” Corgan said he doesn’t feel Tyrus has ever crossed the line to where what he’s said has been detrimental to the NWA.

Let’s separate the wrestling and the personal, which isn’t always easy to do. On the wrestling side, I’ve been very, very happy and very satisfied. I think he’s done everything I’ve asked him to do and he’s been great to work with. As far as Tyrus as a public person, I knew Tyrus when he was working at TNA and basically standing with his arms crossed behind Matt Hardy and holding one of the babies, right? I saw when he first started working for Fox — and we’ve stayed in touch through all these years, we have our own relationship. Like myself, when you’re a public person, you say things that not everybody agrees with. But look, he’s on one of the biggest networks in the world, he knows what he’s doing, and so for better or for worse, he writes his own checks that way.

As far as I’m concerned, he has never crossed the line to the point where it’s been detrimental to the NWA. Now, I know not everyone agrees with that opinion, but I think people have this kind of weird sliding scale because there’s lots of blame to go around when you look at the professional wrestling landscape of where people look the other way at different things. Most of the heat around Tyrus is political. And as a person who’s been through some of those things myself, I tend not to pay a lot of attention to that stuff. Not because it’s not important, but because I think a lot of that stuff — there’s a lot of energy behind it which has other agendas. And it’s not really down to the individual as much as it’s like a culture war type of thing. So, as far as I’m concerned, we’re a professional wrestling company and we’re here to wrestle.

Tyrus became NWA World Heavyweight Champion when he defeated Trevor Murdoch and Matt Cardona in a three-way match at NWA Hard Times 3 last November. The next title defense for Tyrus will be against Chris Adonis at the NWA’s 312 pay-per-view this Friday night. Corgan told Under the Ring that he loves the story of whether the Master Lock can beat a giant like Tyrus.

Corgan also spoke about the “old school heat” Tyrus receives:

Can I say one other thing? What people don’t understand is I grew up in a time where wrestling heat was different. This world we live in, it’s like fake heat or a five-star matchup, five-star matches. To me, Tyrus brings that old school heat that an Ernie Ladd brought or an Andre the Giant brought. There’s not a lot of guys who can, at that size, bring that level of heat. And so, look, it’s professional wrestling. Come and boo, come and hate him, come and wish the next guy, in this case, Chris Adonis is gonna take him out. That’s what wrestling is for. When we try to overly kind of bring life into wrestling, I think that’s always an uncomfortable thing. Because you and I could spend an hour talking about where somebody did this and then people look the other way and they still have a job, At some point, like I said, as far as I’m concerned, he’s been a model employee for the NWA and I don’t have anything else to say about it other than he’s been great to work with.

NWA 312 is taking place at Studio One in Highland Park, Illinois on Friday. The NWA Women’s World Championship match at the show will see Kamille defend her title against La Rosa Negra.

Mat Men: A talk with NWA owner Billy Corgan

Posted on by Mat Men

Andrew and Rich are back for a very special episode of Mat Men where they are joined by Billy Corgan, owner of the NWA and lead singer of the Smashing Pumpkins.

Corgan joined us on his birthday to talk about the upcoming NWA 312 pay-per-view and more.

We talk about his earliest influences in pro wrestling and what led to him wanting to get into the wrestling business. We also discussed his experience as a successful musician and how that helps when it comes to dealing with different aspects of the business, including talent and production.

Corgan talked about his overall thoughts on the wrestling business today and why it likely has yet to peak. He shared his philosophy on the modern NWA and how it differs from the nostalgic era that most of us remember. Plus, he discussed the importance of mental health in the business and his approach when it comes to dealing with talent.

Finally, we talk about April 7th’s NWA 312 in Highland Park Illinois, where some of the proceeds will help to benefit the Highland Park Community Fund which will help victims recovering from the mass shooting in that community last July 4th.

Click below to listen or watch on YouTube above.

Click Here to Listen (for free)

NWA vs. AAA announced for Smashing Pumpkins concert in Mexico City

Posted on by Ian Carey

A music festival headlined by Billy Corgan’s Smashing Pumpkins is set to feature pro-wrestling next year. 

On Wednesday, The World is a Vampire Festival was announced for March 4, 2023 from Mexico City. A translation of a poster for the event advertises, “A never-seen-before clash between” the NWA and AAA, with logos for both promotions featured. 

“HUGE announcement!!!! It’s the @nwa vs.@luchalibreaaa in #MexicoCity in March — WITH @smashingpumpkins and many more!! Pre-sale starts Nov 28 at 2pm CT and general on sale is Nov 29 at 2pm CT,” wrote the NWA on Twitter. 

The festival shares its name with a lyric from The Smashing Pumpkins single, “Bullets with Butterfly Wings” from Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness released in 1995. 

Presale tickets go on-sale November 28 with general sale beginning the following day.

Musical acts Interpol, Turnstile, Peter Hook & The Light, Deafhaven, The Warning, Ekkstacy, Chelsea Wolfe, Margaritas Podridas, In The Valley Below, El Shirota, and Acid Waves are also advertised for the festival. 

Billy Corgan says NWA will be ‘toughest, hardest-hitting wrestling promotion in the world’

Posted on by Ian Carey

Billy Corgan has opened up about his approach to booking the NWA. 

Corgan appeared on Stories with Brisco & Bradshaw before NWA Hard Times 3 took place on Saturday. During the discussion, he spoke about his promotion being a mainstream product and why he chooses to book heavyweights in top programs. 

“I basically see that old NWA style and in my mind, what draws money, you take two old big hosses and you put them nose and nose,” Corgan said

“Why do the heavyweights traditionally always draw the biggest money? It only really gets subverted when you have a phenom of a talent like a Shawn Michaels or a Conor McGregor.” 

“At the end of the day, eight times out of ten, it’s the heavyweights who draw the most money,” he continued.  

Later in the show, Corgan continued to talk about putting the biggest and the toughest wrestlers from his roster in main event programs. 

“It’s been very hard for the general wrestling community to understand, to me the NWA is a mainstream product. I want to bring back a mainstream, traditional, mainstream wrestling product to television, national television, or international television. It’s not complicated.”

“In terms of the vibe, I like that old shooter vibe. I want you to watch people that you believe can beat your a**, that’s it. I want the toughest to win and I want the toughest to feel like they’re the stars of our company. It’s interesting because as I’ve pivoted to that over the last 18 months and really built the company around the toughest people, not always the biggest but the toughest people, I really see how it’s starting to really click. In essence, I finally connected that passion that I had for Bruiser [Brody] when I was a kid to the modern version of the NWA.” 

“A lot of people in the wrestling community – and I know it’s a hotly debated topic – they like what’s going on with, I call it the eight-star [Dave] Meltzer matches and all that stuff and I like that stuff too but if we’re just talking business, just straight business, not fan stuff, I still believe in Brock Lesnar vs. Bobby Lashley. And in this upcoming main event (at Hard Times 3), Matt Cardona, who’s recast himself on the independent scene as the star that he is vs. Tyrus, who’s 6’8 375 lbs vs. Trevor Murdoch, who’s 6’3, and another 350 lbs. I want to see that match and if you don’t want to see stuff like that, don’t watch the NWA because that’s what I’m going to give you more and more of that. As we climb, as I’m able to kind of develop younger talent in the mold of the NWA, we will be the toughest, hardest-hitting wrestling promotion in the world. I know there’s the strong style in Japan but to me, that’s a different psychology.” 

Corgan also spoke about the NWA having the toughest female wrestlers in the business.

“I make the argument we probably have the toughest women in the business right now. Women who can be strong, beautiful, and vicious. I just think that’s a beautiful combination and with the men, I want the meanest, toughest, elephants in the middle of the ring. If you can’t hang then go impress somebody else somewhere else. My NWA will be if you want to call it old school, you want to call it AWA, you want to call it Florida with Eddie Graham or you call it whatever you want. I put it this way and I say this, of course, respectfully to Mr. Brisco, I want you, or if Bruiser is in heaven, I want you guys to look at what we’re doing and be proud.” 

NWA’s Billy Corgan confused by Nick Aldis’ actions, thinks he’s ‘working an angle’

Posted on by Josh Nason

NWA owner Billy Corgan isn’t backing down from his decision to suspend former two-time NWA World Champion Nick Aldis, giving his rationale in a spirited defense during a Tuesday appearance on Busted Open Radio.

In a video that was deleted from his Instagram Sunday, Aldis revealed he had given his notice to the NWA and was not complimentary of the company or Corgan. He was then suspended on Monday and pulled from this Saturday’s Hard Times 3 pay-per-view.

Corgan’s main issue is the timing on Aldis vocally criticizing the product when he could do the same thing in less than two months when his deal is up.

“Ask yourself why in a pay-per-view week and with a talent who is leaving the company, does he decide to start blasting me and the product, 55 days before he’s out and he can do whatever he wants to do? Why does he have to bury the locker room and bury the product?” Corgan said.

Corgan reiterated that Aldis was the highest-paid talent in his company the last five years and that their business relationship “proved to be a good bet” with Aldis having his voice heard in both how the NWA was run and how he was booked.

He said Aldis is still being paid throughout the end of his deal and that they simply disinvited him from appearing Saturday. Aldis emailed in his notice to head of talent relations Pat Kenney about a week ago and while Corgan wished he could have heard it from Aldis directly given their history, he was fine with the decision to move on.

However, he is not happy with Aldis turning the focus to himself ahead of Saturday’s show and apparently, he isn’t the only one.

“How do I, as the leader of this company, allow a key talent, the most highly visible talent in the company, up until he opens his mouth and tells people he’s leaving, blast the company?,” he said. “I can’t have a guy like that show up because what message does that send to the locker room? There are a lot of people in the locker room not happy about this. They have to do their job. Why is the focus not on Matt Cardona, Tyrus, Trevor Murdoch, Kamille, KiLynn King, or Chelsea (Green)? The focus is on Nick Aldis, who is not on the show anymore. It’s not animosity. It’s just ‘Why are we doing this?'”

Corgan was confused as to why Aldis was using the NWA and his name to “work an angle” when he’s leaving. 

“He’s working something. I don’t know what he’s working, but he’s willing to sacrifice me and the NWA to prove something or get something going or get out early to go do something…This is not cool,” he said.

Corgan said Aldis never came to him to ask for an early release if that is what he wanted and said he told Aldis years ago that if Vince McMahon wanted him to come to WWE, he would release him from his deal. 

Corgan also said his decision has nothing to do with Aldis’ critiques of the company.

“I want to remind everybody: everything that he’s said, I’ve been hearing that stuff for years. It’s not like I heard it and got sensitive,” Corgan explained. “Again, I’ve heard all of this stuff privately for years. These are not new criticisms. He and I have battled about the product for years and he’s helped make the product behind the scenes better with those battles. This is not a sensitive reactionary thing.”

Corgan admitted that a few months ago when he ripped on Aldis on Busted Open Radio, they were working an angle that was going to build to something between them in 2023.

He said Aldis wasn’t happy with how he was booked with Corgan rationalizing that he couldn’t just build the company around Aldis or else it would become the Nick Wrestling Alliance. 

He also railed against the narrative that he is against women’s wrestling, defending his comments that there isn’t enough top talent available to do a better show than the first Empower event they did. He said they are not in a working agreement with AEW right now and part of the reason is because Tony Khan tried to take credit for Mickie James’ accomplishments in putting Empower together. 

He said he told James they would table the discussion for a second Empower for now and has been friends with her for 20 years. He said any related issues didn’t come up until this Aldis situation happened.

“It seems pretty obvious they are after something. She doesn’t work for me. He does. They want to get out early for some reason. Just say you want to get out,” he said.

NWA suspends Nick Aldis, won’t appear at Hard Times 3

Posted on by Ian Carey

The National Wrestling Alliance has suspended former two-time World champion Nick Aldis. 

The NWA released a statement to PWInsider on Monday announcing Aldis will not be at Saturday’s Hard Times 3 or the promotion’s television tapings scheduled for this weekend. He had been scheduled to wrestle Odinson on the pay-per-view.

In a since-deleted video posted to his Instagram on Sunday, Aldis announced that he has given the promotion his notice and intends to become a free agent in January. According to those who saw the video, Aldis also stated he’s had creative differences with Billy Corgan and finds the current NWA product “embarrassing.”

From the NWA’s statement:

“Pursuant to the recent comments made by Nick Aldis, the National Wrestling Alliance has suspended Aldis from the main roster and effective immediately, Aldis will not appear for the Hard Times 3 PPV and Revolution Rumble television tapings in New Orleans, LA on Nov. 12, 2022, and Nov. 13, 2022. As such, the National Wrestling Alliance reserves its right to comment on this matter at a future date.”

NWA Chief Operating Officer Joe Galli later said that it is unclear if Aldis will be scheduled for the company’s television tapings in December. 

“This is not a wrestling angle,” Galli also clarified.

Aldis also responded to an article regarding the NWA not running an all-female Empower event this year. 

“If some of you are wondering whether stuff like this factored into my decision to give my notice you’d be correct,” he tweeted. 

“Also, fans in NOLA: Sorry to disappoint but I was removed from the shows this weekend after giving my notice. I fully intended to fulfill my obligations to the audience but unfortunately the company doesn’t seem to share the same values,” a follow-up post reads. 

During an appearance on Busted Open Radio in January, Aldis revealed that he signed a contract extension with the NWA. He was also scheduled to challenge Trevor Murdoch for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at NWA 74 but was later replaced in the match by Tyrus. 

Corgan appeared on Busted Open Radio in July and explained the change to the NWA 74 main event and also expressed his frustration with Aldis.  

“In the case of Nick Aldis, yes, your #1 contender for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship against Trevor Murdoch in St. Louis. I’ve dealt with this man for over four years, and for every ounce of politicking you see publicly there’s about ten times worse behind the scenes,” Corgan said.

“No one stresses me out more in the NWA than Nick Aldis, no one is more highly paid than Nick Aldis and no one is more unhappy than Nick Aldis.”

Billy Corgan: Empower will return when NWA can provide ‘world-class event’

Posted on by Joseph Currier

While speaking with the Ten Count, NWA president Billy Corgan gave an update on when the promotion’s all-women’s Empower event may be returning.

Corgan told the Ten Count that the NWA continues to want to do another Empower pay-per-view and is continuing to have discussions with other companies about working together for the event. Corgan said the NWA won’t hold the Empower PPV until it can provide “a world-class event with some of the best professional wrestlers in the world.”

I’m really intrigued by the interest in Empower. We continue to want to do it. We continue to have discussions with other companies about working together to create a fresh Empower event. Last time I talked about it, I created some headlines because people took umbrage with the fact — in fact, I had Maria Kanellis, of course I’ve known Maria for many years, and I love Maria, but even Maria Kanellis is calling me out saying something about, ‘We have women…’

I think every company has the right to decide their level of standard. And when you create a world-class event like Empower, and it was a world-class event, we’ve set a very, very high standard of what you should expect. Of course, there are plenty of great professional women wrestlers in the world. Can they wrestle the NWA style? Can they carry a three-hour pay-per-view? Can they move the case of women’s wrestling, not just in wrestling, but in terms of international media forward? These are my concerns. So everybody has their own version of it. That’s my version of it, and that’s why I’m still on that. Until we can provide a world-class event with some of the best professional wrestlers in the world, of course, in this case, female on the card, then we won’t do it. All this weird howling that goes on around it seems very strange to me because you’re taking a positive, and you’re making a negative out of a positive. That’s just so weird to me.

By the way, we put Empower as the first night of a two-night pay-per-view on an anniversary show and it drew. People cared. What if people didn’t care? What if it did horrible numbers? What if the matches were bad? You create a high watermark. You do something beautiful. You make a big, big statement. And then somehow it turns into some weird negative where somehow now I’m running from it. I’m not running from anything. I’m talking about my reasons for why we haven’t done it again. And I continue to explore those opportunities. That’s it. It’s not more complicated than that.

The first NWA Empower PPV was held in August 2021 as part of the NWA’s 73rd anniversary weekend. But the all-women’s event didn’t take place this year, with Corgan saying there weren’t enough female wrestlers available who could work at the television level.

Corgan received backlash for those comments when he made them back in August. In his new interview with the Ten Count, Corgan addressed potentially creating more controversy with these answers about Empower.

We live in a culture now where we talk about a lot of things that are super important. Diversity, empowerment, equality. It is the most disrespectful thing in the world to treat any class of people, no matter how you want to separate people, and I don’t like to separate people, treat as if they need a leg up or they need like a helping hand. It’s the opposite. The whole concept of empowerment is to create opportunity. Like look, ‘I’m going to give you this opportunity and then you’re going to kill it.’ We’re not here to cheat code anybody forward. Women, I’ve been saying it for 10 years, I said it in Forbes over 10 years ago. I said in Forbes, ‘The future of professional wrestling is women.’ Because the business has too long sort of overlooked one of the biggest marketing aspects of what makes professional wrestling great. So I was Nostradamus over here about that. I called it early. Now you’re bringing a lot of people to the table that traditionally have not been watching professional wrestling for the last 30 or so years. This is all great stuff. So if people want to make controversy out of it, [big] f*cking deal. Because at the end of the day, we’re arguing about something that’s great, not bad. It’s not like we’re over here burying. It’s like no, this is awesome, it has to be awesome to keep making the case. Don’t forget, If you’re a fan — let’s say you’re a very casual fan — and you wander into an event like Empower, if you don’t walk out of there feeling inspired, well then you haven’t done your job to that fan. To make them want to come back. To want them to go out and buy that person’s T-shirt. That’s the responsibility of the business. This is not the 1950s where we could just throw anybody out there to make a spectacle. The women, traditionally, back in the day were treated like spectacles. It wasn’t taken seriously.

Why do you think I bought the Mildred Burke belt? Because I own this talisman of what started as a movement. What Mildred Burke went through — mocked, humiliated, objectified, treated not like a serious professional athlete. And she went on to draw more than most of the men in the business and then they were grumpy about it. I’m a convert. I’m there. I’ve been there. I put my money where my mouth is. So anybody that wants to make hay out of that, that’s fine. They can do that all day. You try to run a world-class event, again and again and again, that’s what we’re here to do. That’s it. It’s not anymore complicated. You want to make it more complicated, have at it.

Corgan’s full interview on the Ten Count is available to watch below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xdzk66Tbe04

Billy Corgan open to NWA being developmental brand for WWE or AEW

Posted on by Ian Carey

Billy Corgan is open to his NWA being used as a developmental program for WWE or AEW. 

Corgan spoke to Metro UK recently and noted that he previously had discussions with Paul Levesque regarding the NWA airing on the WWE Network. 

“It didn’t go anywhere and that was fine – very, very good discussions, very open and cool. They certainly liked what I was trying to do, and they’ve always been cool about what I was doing in the NWA, so I remain optimistic going into the future that there might be some business there to do,” Corgan said. 

“There might be economic models where they say, ‘Take these 10 talent, let us have an oversight position, you help develop these talents.’ It’d be good for the NWA, it’d be good for the WWE.”

“There are lots of opportunities there! I would say the same thing even as it pertains to AEW – AEW has a tremendous amount of talent under contract, not everybody is able to be on their main shows, there might be opportunities where they wanna send those people on a developmental level.”

Corgan would continue to say that he would work with a company even if his vision of wrestling doesn’t align with theirs. 

“I don’t need somebody’s wrestling vision to align with mine if we can do good business together, and at the same time I don’t need them to agree with everything I’m doing.”

“And I’m lucky in that, when you look at the main event roster in WWE, I count some of those people among my friends, and some of those people are people I’ve worked with,” he continued.

Corgan would also say that he believes WWE might be more open to the idea of working with the NWA now that Levesque has been promoted to chief content officer. 

 “You might see a different flexibility with WWE as far as other companies go, moving into the future. Certainly, my conversations in the past with Triple H would indicate there’s a different degree of openness than maybe there would have been in the regime that was running things before.”

Billy Corgan says NWA Empower will return, not enough talent for this year

Posted on by Ian Carey

Billy Corgan says there was not enough available female talent to bring back NWA Empower this year but the event will return in the future. 

Corgan spoke with NBC Sports Boston and explained why the all-female pay-per-view is not taking place in 2022. 

“I saw a headline recently that said I don’t plan on bringing Empower back and that’s totally false,” Corgan said. “What it was is we looked at Empowerrr for this NWA 74 pay-per-view and unfortunately, there’s a paucity of female talent available on the open market because there’s such a demand now for female talent both with WWE and AEW that there just isn’t a ton of free agent talent available that can work at the television level. Is there enough talent? Absolutely, but you’re talking about putting people on an international pay-per-view where you’re asking fans to pay money.”

“Let’s all remember if that pay-per-view doesn’t go well, you put people in positions they are not ready for, it’s going to blow back not only on those talents but on the company.”

“We will definitely run another Empower pay-per-view, absolutely, and hopefully next year. It’s just one of those things where it has to be the right time and look at all the people under contract with AEW and look at all the people under contract with WWE and you recognize probably 80% to 90% of the top talent on the female side is already under contract with those companies.” 

NWA Empower took place on August 28, 2021, in St. Louis. It was headlined by Chelsea Green winning an invitational gauntlet match and Kamille defeating Leyla Hirsch to retain the NWA World Women’s Championship. 

Daily Update: UFC, Bobby Fulton, Billy Corgan

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Daily Update

Latest News:

Latest Audio:

Latest Free YouTube Video:

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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter:

July 18, 2022 Observer Newsletter: More details on Vince McMahon hush money payments, WrestleMania 38 business

  • Among the highlights:
  • Match and performer of the week
  • Vince McMahon, the non-disclosures, the economic effect, reaction from talent, the investigation, keys as to whether he stays or goes, keys to the current investigation, the settlements, details of the most recent settlement story and key points in it, comments from women over the years, the 2006 tanning bed story, Rita Chatterton talks, and follow-ups of other investigations.
  • WrestleMania, SummerSlam and ROH Death Before Dishonor
  • Stardom Midsummer Champions and the next major Stardom events
  • UFC notes from this past week
  • Ratings from all wrestling shows
  • 2022 World Grand Prix tournament
  • AAA major summer show
  • What will be Triplemania’s major title match
  • Dragon Gate’s biggest show of the year
  • Triple Crown title change
  • Pro Wrestling NOAH co-promoting this year’s tournament that led to the formation of ROH in 2001
  • Keiji Muto has one of his final matches this week
  • Update on Kota Ibushi
  • First week of G1
  • Two legendary tag teams have singles matches against each other
  • Three AEW stars on Japanese women’s show
  • Bill Goldberg talks Bret Hart
  • Ric Flair documentary series
  • Japanese stars coming to base in North America
  • Legendary promoter cutting back after 52 years
  • Full breakdown on ticket sales to All Out
  • Lots of injury updates involving the biggest stars
  • Goal of the three-way tag title match on Dynamite and original plans
  • Upcoming ticket sales for WWE and AEW
  • Chris Jericho talks his illness from last year
  • AEW star in Bare Knuckle fight in England
  • Streaming numbers for WWE & AEW
  • UFC lobbying for a bill that could have great effect on pro wrestlers
  • US group opening regular promotion in Europe
  • Next MSG show from WWE
  • International TV numbers

This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter:

June 6, 2005 Observer Newsletter: The future of ECW, Simon Inoki named NJPW president

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Sunday News Update

  • Bryan and I will be back tonight talking the latest pro wrestling news including Raw tomorrow, Smackdown, AEW tapings and take your questions to [email protected]
  • Bryan I will be doing a Q&A in Chicago on 9/3, the morning before All Out. We also have a bus to and from the NOW Arena for readers to avoid people being stranded there waiting for Uber. There are also meet & greet tickets for our show and you can also sit with other readers in a special section at the show. Details are here.
  • We’re looking for your thoughts on the first two nights of the G1 Climax tournament so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match for each show to [email protected] We’re also looking for your thoughts on the NOAH Budokan Hall show.
  • We’re also looking for reports on tonight’s WWE house shows in Daytona Beach and Fort Lauderdale, FL to [email protected]
  • Yesterday’s UFC show on ABC got 200,000 Google searches, putting it at No. 3 for the day. That’s the best non-PPV number in a while, but this was a better than usual Fight Night given it was in New York and on ABC. Nothing related to boxing or pro wrestling cracked the top 20 all week.
  • During the main event with Brian Ortega vs. Yair Rodriguez, Ortega’s shoulder popped out of its socket in the first round so the bout had to be stopped.
  • Bobby Fulton noted that he’s battling shingles that has spread to his eyes. That is very painful. He told everyone to make sure and get your shingles shot if you are older.
  • NWA President Billy Corgan will be doing a benefit concert on 7/27 for the surviving victims of the Highland Park, IL parade shooting. Corgan lived in Highland Park for 20 years. the show will be at Madame Zuzu’s a tea house that Corgan co-owns, on the same strip where the shooting took place.
  • AEW debuted a new heel group called the Trust Fund. Ariya Daivari is now Ari Daivari with the idea his trust fund kicked in and he’s got access to money, and he purchased the contract of Slim J and Parker Boudreaux (Harland in WWE) and they are the Trustbusters. Right now no decision has been made regarding if this will be primarily for AEW or ROH, but Tony Khan was high on the idea.
  • Ric Flair’s last match opponent (s) are to be announced at 6:05 p.m. Eastern time tomorrow night.
  • PWInsider has reported Bayley will be in Nashville for SummerSlam weekend. We’ve heard she is expected to return soon.
  • Logan Paul will be on Miz TV tomorrow night. Raw will be in Tampa and goes head-to-head with Home Run Derby. That usually huts the rating a little and Raw will be behind baseball tomorrow which may be the last time until football season that Raw doesn’t win the night.
  • Tony Khan noted that Andrade has not been wrestling due to an injury. We’ve noted that the idea is Rush & Andrade vs. Penta & Fenix for weeks but it’s been delayed due to the injury. Andrade said it was not serious, saying he has inflammation in his ankle.
  • WWE from last night in Tallahassee, FL
  • Ezekiel & Street Profits b Chad Gable & Otis & Theory – Ford pinned Gable after a frog splash
  • Dana Brooke won three-way over Tamina and Nikki ASH to keep the 24/7 title. Reggie tried to pin Brooke after but she escaped
  • Veer Mahaan b Cedric Alexander
  • A.J. Styles b Ciampa – Very good match
  • Bianca Belair b Carmella to keep the women’s title
  • Omos b R-Truth in a squash
  • Alexa Bliss b Doudrop
  • Rey & Dominik Mysterio b Finn Balor & Damian Priest-DQ when Dominik fakes being hit with a chair and the ref DQ’d Judgment Day
  • Riddle b Seth Rollins
  • Missy Hyatt was at ringside. Correspondent Jared Marlowe said he was sitting behind her and noted how nice she was to everyone.
  • WWE did a surprise finish at last night’s show in Estero, FL, as Drew Gulak pinned Happy Corbin. Usos over New Day was the main event.
  • Today is the 34th anniversary of the stabbing death of Bruiser Brody inside the dressing room bathroom at Juan Loubriel Stadium at the hands of Jose Gonzalez.
  • This weekend was also listed as the 80th birthday of Mil Mascaras, although many believe he’s a few years older than that. He wrestled until just a few years ago.
  • Unless they have signed a new deal in the past few days, Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows’ contracts with Impact ended yesterday.

Other Notes

  • AAW from Friday night in Merrionette Park, IL before 455 fans: Davey Vega b Shane Hollister, Manders NC Fred Yehi, Russ Jones b AJ Alexander, Brayden Lee & Gnaris Garvin b Silas Young & Karam, Billie Starkz won four-way over Lady Frost, Sierra and Vert Vixen to become top contender for the women’s title, ACH & Jah-C b Ace Perry & Hammerstone to win the tag titles, Christi Jaynes b Heather Reckless to keep the women’s title,Ren Jones b Spyder Nate Webb, Jake Something won over Calvin Tankman, Levi Everett (Tucker of Otis & Tucker fame),Hartenbower, Connan Lycan and Schaff, Mat Fitchett won three-way over Manders and Fred Yehi to keep the AAW title. Said to be a great main event.
  • A story on the documentary on the life of former wrestler Mike Pappas, a 70s star who became a jeweler that came out recently.
  • Thema Klarides, a former WWE ring card girl (yes they had one in the early days of Raw) is looking at battling Richard Blumenthal in a race for the U.S. senate in Connecticut. Blumenthal a few terms back beat Linda McMahon in an election where McMahon spent record amounts of money. (thanks to Mike Kuzmuk)
  • Former WWE writer Phil Blechman is putting together a musical called “The Last Match: A Pro Wrestling Rock Musical.” He said that Tito Santana,Tommy Fiero, Brutus Beefcake and Demolition are part of the production team. PW Mania had a story on this. (thanks to Phil Johnson)
  • EPW from Saturday night in Western Australia: Cannon Connors b Tyler Jacobs, Jordan Bishop & Ryan Allen b Zenith & Del Cano, Marcius Pitt & Damian Slater b Faizai Keris & CJ Langkay, Bruno Nitro b Taylor King, Jarrad Slate & Felix Young & Chris Target NC David Storm & Edith Night & Tyler Jacobs, Julian Ward b Adam Brooks to keep the EPW title. Told the main event was excellent. This was Storm’s 300th match in EPW, the most in the history of the company. Ward vs. Brooks vs. Caveman Ugg wrestle for the Southern territory title on 7/23 in Perth. 
  • The first-ever match with Robbie Eagles vs. KrackerJak headlines a 7/30 show in Melbourne Australia (thanks to Kevin Chiat)
  • Ch. 62 in Los Angeles aired three hours from the most recent Triplemania. AAA has made a television deal with a Spanish syndicated network.
  • The MCW Shane Shamrock Cup is 7/23 at the RJ Meyer Arena in Joppa, MD with Ken Dixon vs. Kekoa for the MCW title on top. Samuel Shaw, Moses, Mandy Leon, Vita VonStarr, Rich Swann, Blake Christian and Jack Evans are on the show.
  • Pro Wrestling Revolver on 8/21 in Dayton, OH at the Calumet Center with Trey Miguel & Zachary Wentz vs. Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin, Joe Doering vs. Manders plus Jon Moxley, Chris Bey, JT Dunn, Rich Swann, Ace Austin, Alisha Edwards and Allie Katch on the show.

NWA to reintroduce Women’s Tag Team titles at EmPower

Posted on by Bryan Rose

The NWA Women’s Tag Team titles are set to make a return soon.

Mickie James, NWA owner Billy Corgan, and Nick Aldis took part in an Instagram post today to announce the return of the titles. The new champions will be crowned at EmPower, the all-women NWA card which will take place on August 28 at the Chase Park Plaza Hotel in St. Louis. Corgan confirmed during the video that new championship belts were being made. 

“Also HUGE decision and Announcement from Billy & myself,” James wrote on Instagram. We are bringing back the NWA Women’s Tag Team Championships. The winner will be Crowned at EmPowerrr. I’m scouring for the top teams and I know we ALL can’t wait to see the championships brought back to their former glory.”

There have not been NWA Women’s Tag Team champions since 1983, when the titles were deactivated after the WWE purchased the titles from The Fabulous Moolah to establish their own tag team champions. Velvet McIntyre and Princess Victoria were the final champions, and later became the inaugural WWF Women’s Tag Team Champions.

The NWA’s 73rd Anniversary show will take place the day after the EmPower event, August 29.

NWA Power Surge results: Tim Storm & Sal Rinauro vs. Hawx Aerie

Posted on by Josiah MacDonald

May Valentine interviewed Kamille to start off the show and she listed off some of the greats that were women’s champions in the past, but that it was time for a greater champion to take the NWA’s legacy to a new level.

Kamille talked about how she was sitting next to May at the last show, and was upset that May Valentine talked about Thunder Rosa when Kamille was there to be interviewed. Kamille addressed Rosa’s comments that she was a coward, and talked about how she was going to defeat Serena Deeb.

–May Valentine was with Billy Corgan, and Corgan talked about how Trevor Murdoch was the kind of man that when you mess with him, he will never let it go. Corgan talked about how everyone has a chance in the NWA, and it doesn’t matter their background, he is going to give everyone a chance.

Corgan compared Trevor Murdoch to Jerry Blackwell, given that he is not a traditional looking wrestler, but that he can go. Corgan made the point that the NWA was the land of opportunity and Murdoch is championship material. He was trained by Harley Race, and Aldis was too. Corgan said that Harley was right about both of them, and the main event of When Our Shadows Fall is going to be a great match. Good interview with Corgan here in a rare physical appearance on NWA television.

–Latimer and Kamille talked about being a successful couple in pro wrestling. Latimer touched on his friendship with Aldis and how he wasn’t offended that Aldis said that as long as everyone performs, they’re safe with Strictly Business.

Latimer said Nick Aldis was talking about everyone else, and not him, even though he specifically named Latimer, which is interesting. They also touched on Latimer wanting the tag titles back.

Tim Storm & Sal Rinauro defeated Hawx Aerie (Luke and PJ Hawx)

This was a really great tag match to highlight Hawx Aerie, and Tim Storm and Sal Rinauro worked like the veterans they are. Excellent match.

PJ Hawx and Sal Rinauro started the match with some technical wrestling, and PJ Hawx used his experience as an amateur wrestler to stay on top of Rinauro. Luke Hawx and Tim Storm got in there, and it’s hard to believe he’s PJ Hawx’ father. He’s only 39, but this father and son tag team is a nice hidden gem on the indies based on what I’ve seen in this match.

Storm tagged Rinauro in, hitting a handspring stunner sending Luke Hawx backwards to his son, who tagged in and gained the advantage back against Rinauro. Luke Hawx worked over the back of Rinauro for a bit, and PJ Hawx worked over the arm with some arm bars.

Rinauro made the hot tag to Storm, who ran wild on both men, but PJ Hawx was able to break up a pinfall attempt and he suplexed Rinauro. Storm responded by hitting PJ Hawx with a Cross Rhodes, and then Storm hit his Bossman Slam on Luke Hawx, and Rinauro made the pin for the victory.

–They recapped the botched finish of the War Kings becoming #1 contender, and the masked man interfering and attacking Crimson last week, and the rest of the events leading into Where Our Shadows Fall, where champions Aron Stevens and JR Kratos will face Jax Dane & Crimson and Chris Adonis & Thom Latimer.

–Nick Aldis talked about what it meant to be the NWA World’s Heavyweight Champion, and how he had to do some terrible things to Tim Storm to make it happen. He didn’t want to do those things. It was just what had to be done.

He also talked about Trevor Murdoch, saying he wasn’t afraid of him, but that he believed that Murdoch was not the right kind of person to lead the NWA. He didn’t believe that Murdoch was championship material.

Aldis also talked about Kamille facing Serena Deeb, and Adonis & Latimer being in the triple threat for the tag titles. One thing that sticks out to me here that doesn’t make sense is that Latimer and Adonis were stripped of their #1 contender position by Corgan a few weeks ago. They haven’t earned the shot on TV, so this seems a bit odd to me, unless one of them were the ones to attack Crimson, giving them a reason for being in the match.

Aldis put over Kamille, saying she has flourished under his learning tree, and also talked about the tag title match. This was really good stuff here. He put over the psychology of tag team wrestling and analyzed all 3 teams and their strengths and weaknesses, while insisting that Strictly Business was going to win.

–Billy Corgan was then interviewed. He put over Kamille and how she worked hard to get where she is today, and while Thunder Rosa might say she was handed opportunities, Corgan felt like she earned her position and worked very hard for it. Corgan also talked about Stevens & Kratos, War Kings, and Latimer & Adonis match as a whole.

He explained why the War Kings were in the match, as they had their match stolen from them, and that Latimer & Adonis were added because of Latimer’s background as tag team champion. He didn’t want to be about taking away opportunities, but wanted to let Stevens and Kratos take the opportunity from them. At least they tried to explain it. It isn’t good, but at least they tried to explain it.

Corgan talked about the main event as well, putting over Murdoch and Aldis.

Final Thoughts:

This wasn’t a bad show. Billy Corgan really tried to tie all the stories he was telling together throughout the show, and Nick Aldis was a highlight in the storytelling. Corgan was actually excellent here. It might be good to have him on commentary every week telling these stories, as it will drive it all home a bit better. I understand why he doesn’t want to be on TV all the time, but doing commentary might work well for him.

This was a pretty good show to build the PPV. It also had a good tag match, so I would say between the promos and Corgan explaining things deeply, it was about as good as it could get. One notable missing part was Trevor Murdoch, and it would have helped to have him do a promo or two.

NWA returning with Back for the Attack PPV, new Power episodes

Posted on by Bryan Rose

The National Wrestling Alliance is set to return later this month on FITE TV with new episodes of NWA Power and a new pay-per-view event, Back for the Attack.

In an interview with the Associated Press, NWA owner Billy Corgan announced that Back for the Attack will air on FITE on March 21, with new episodes of NWA Power starting on March 23. FITE will also offer Back for the Attack to cable and satellite providers. Power will be on FITE via a low-cost subscription bundle. All events for the NWA going forward will be without fans, and without artificial crowd noise.

The article noted that the videos removed from the NWA’s YouTube account over the weekend was a part of the move to FITE.

“We were never in any financial peril,” Corgan said. “We were totally on a growth pattern. The plan for last year before things kind of hit the skids was to start pivoting. We were in discussions with Live Nation about running live events to help bring in revenue and expand who was watching the product. It was more about growing pains stuff, but we didn’t have any problems internally with the product.”

The NWA spent most of 2020 shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the last new episode of Power airing on January 26. In the fall, some of the NWA talent appeared on UWN Primetime Live. However, those shows were put on hold back in December due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Billy Corgan gives update on return of NWA Power

Posted on by Joseph Currier

The NWA could soon be returning with weekly content.

In an Instagram post on Wednesday, the NWA’s Billy Corgan marked the one-year anniversary of the company’s first NWA Power tapings. Corgan wrote that they’re currently talking about bringing NWA Power back very soon, even if fans can’t be in attendance yet:

One year ago, we shot our first episode of NWA POWERRR; suffice to say it’s been a crazy ride ever since. From trending #1 world wide on our debut to successful PPV’s to having to stop many plans (including the Crockett Cup) due to the plague, to Rosa appearing with the NWA Women’s Championship on @allelitewrestling to now adding our voice to the collective that is Prime Time Live on the @unitedwrestlingnetwork, I can only say to our great fans ‘hang in there’. We are currently talking about bringing back POWERRR very soon, even if it means we can’t have fans in the stands because we just want to get back to work. But it’s nice to see our friend and former champion Tim Storm here. If anyone can lead us out of this, it’s a man or woman like him: who gives it all he or she’s got even when the chips are done. That sounds more grim than I mean it, ’cause yeah: still here, still kicking, and ready to get ready to rock…

NWA Power made its debut in October 2019, with the weekly series premiering on YouTube and Facebook at 6:05 p.m. Eastern time on Tuesdays.

The NWA announced this March that they were temporarily suspending events due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They’ve partnered with the United Wrestling Network for Primetime Live, with the weekly pay-per-view series kicking off last month. This week’s Prime Time Live saw Trevor Murdoch defeat Aron Stevens to become the new NWA National Champion.