The National Wrestling Alliance is gearing up for its 74th Anniversary Show, and as the name suggests, it will be a celebration over seven decades of history. Ahead of the event, Billy Corgan, the president of the promotion took a moment to reflect on the journey it has been on with him at the helm.
Corgan agreed to purchase the NWA in 2017, and in the five years since he took over, the company has changed a lot. The organization has had to endure the COVID-19 pandemic, which flipped the industry on its head, among other challenges.
Speaking with Stephanie Chase of Digital Spy, Corgan was asked to describe how he felt about putting the NWA back on the map. In response, he noted that he grew up watching NWA and other classic promotions who featured a classic style of wrestling, so he’s proud of the way he has helped bring it into the mainstream in 2022. He went on to describe how the promotion’s new era has only just begun, as they have had to dig out of a hole.
“…I would point out to anybody that the NWA is just getting started in its new modern era,” said Corgan. “We’re still rebuilding something which, as Jim Cornette pointed out, was completely broken. So to take something literally off the ground and dust it off and get it back to where it has respectability, it has credibility, we can run pay-per-views that people will discuss and talk about and the results do matter, that is super important in today’s wrestling ecosystem.
“The fact that we’re still here and we’re still fighting and we’re still growing and now we’re about to put on our biggest shows ever, I think that says something about everybody involved, not just myself.”
The NWA president then described how he has built up a team of people who believe in the brand and want to help take it into the future.
“I’ve been able to enlist people who believe in the vision of the NWA and believe the NWA really does have a future and I feel like I’m at a point now where I can start talking about what that future actually looks like. It’s not just about, can we make it to the next year? Certainly the pandemic was very tough to navigate for me but beyond that, I think we’ve done great.”
Acknowledging the obstacles the company has faced, Corgan compared NWA to a babyface who fights from underneath and keeps kicking out, no matter what gets thrown at them.
“We’re still here, we’re still fighting and that’s what you would want from any kind of babyface, right?” said Corgan. “You want them to fight out from underneath. We’re still kicking out, you know.”
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