Joe Alonzo discusses his departure from the National Wrestling Alliance and the circumstances surrounding it.
Former NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champion Joe Alonzo announced that he was leaving the NWA on July 1. He had been with the company since 2022.
Speaking with Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp, Joe Alonzo discussed leaving NWA. He stated that it was the right choice for him. (H/t Fightful for the transcription)
“So, isn’t that kind of funny how once me and Miss Kate make our announcement that we are departing that all of a sudden, NWA is making a lot of posts saying, ‘Oh, this person’s resigned and this person’s resigned,'” Alonzo said. “I think it was like, I don’t want to say damage control, but I thought that was kind of funny how that happened after we made our announcements of us kind of going separate ways. But I’m happy for everyone who signed. It was the right career choice for myself. It was a gamble.”
Alonzo went on to discuss how he was not sure whether the company was going to offer him a contract, and he went some time with no talks of a new deal. He recalled how it felt like the company wanted him to do a worked shoot. Alonzo then detailed how NWA later offered him a new contract, but he was not happy with the financials.
“It was a long process because I wasn’t sure if they were going to offer me anything else. Like I thought so, because like I was doing a lot of stuff with like with Billy himself on screen and we were doing a lot of cool things and they were pushing me. But then no talks of contracts. There was like a couple awkward conversations they would say in public in front of the crowd and I was like, ‘What are we doing here?’ They wanted me to do like a like a work shoot thing with like saying like, ‘I don’t need the NWA. I’ll leave this place.’ I was like, ‘Uh-oh, like what’s going on?’
“Then they offered me a contract and I won’t get into the numbers, but I’ll get into the time length of it. It was it was a year and a half and I was okay with the time frame of it, but the money I wasn’t the happiest with and then I asked to have a conversation personally with Billy. I was like, ‘If Billy’s the man who’s signing my checks, can I speak to him? Just him and I or whoever has to be there, whatever, but I want to speak to Billy.’ I don’t want to say this person’s name, who it was, because I’m trying to learn to grow up and be a little bit more professional. But old me would just go off the walls and say who it was. So it’s a battle within ourselves.”
Joe Alonzo On Negotiating With Billy Corgan
Joe Alonzo continued by detailing how he talked to someone in the NWA and shared his belief that the contract offer did not reflect their belief that he was a valuable asset to the company. He noted that he asked them about what the best they could do was. Alonzo stated that he got another offer that would have been for two and a half years, and he was honest with NWA about how they were not the “end-all, be-all” for his career, as he wanted to do other things.
“That’s just a little too long and I’m going to be approaching 30 by the time that contract would be done and still like it’s not worth my time to commit to a company that long,” Joe Alonzo said. “Like I can my name value can skyrocket from now until six months from now. So I’m not gonna lock under that number. I don’t think that’s fair to do.’
“They’re like, ‘Oh, well, there was like a couple different things they were trying to explain to me like loopholes and you can get a raise and whatever.’ I’m like, ‘Okay, but it doesn’t say that. As far as contract stuff goes, I just don’t think this is fair.’”
Joe Alonzo On His Living Situation
Joe Alonzo stated that he was in conversations with other companies, but they could not talk about much because he was under contract. As a result, he was waiting to hear about that.
Alonzo went on to open up about his living situation and how he told the NWA that he appreciated them, but he could not comfortably afford his own living with what they were offering. He detailed how he opened up about how he was living on someone else’s couch.
“I said, ‘Here’s my current living situation. I really broke it down and I was like, dude, it’s hard, it’s a struggle for what I’m going through,” Joe Alonzo said. “I’ll just say it, man. I’m like, dude, I’m living on somebody else’s couch. That’s kind of hard. For me to take pride into being signed to a company that I don’t even make enough to live off of.
“So like, can you help me out? Like, if I’m really a valuable asset to your company, like help me out.’ The response I got was, and this is where I knew it’s time to walk away from the NWA, was, ‘Well, hey, there’s a lot of other people who don’t even have a couch to sleep on. So some people have it worse.'”
Joe Alonzo On Speaking With NWA Bosses
Joe Alonzo subsequently detailed a talk that he had with one of the bosses. He claimed that they tried to talk to him about his religious beliefs and family views and used that against him by saying, “‘Well I think you know God is like is kind of laying it out there for you.” Alonzo said that he thought that was “sh*tty business”. He clarified that his relationship with Billy Corgan was good, and he wishes he could have handled the contract situation with him. He note
Alonzo reiterated that he had a good talk with Corgan, but things were weird and awkward with him and others that he was close with in the NWA.
“I don’t want to say it got ugly, but it got very awkward and I had a good talk with him,” Joe Alonzo said. “I talked to him about personal things and then it turned into like, now we’re distant and it’s weird and it’s awkward. A lot of the people who I was very close to and I trusted, I’m distant from them. I’ll tell you this, I won’t say the talents of who it was, but this is where they say they care about you, but they don’t. They say they want you to be better, like to do what you can hear and then go other places and then, ‘We wish the best for you to go to the next place.’”
Joe Alonzo On His NWA Exit
Overall, Joe Alonzo reflected on his departure by saying that he knew NWA was a stepping stone for him, and he did not plan on re-signing. He also recalled how two NWA talents got WWE tryouts, and the NWA office told them that they were essentially fired.
“like when I knew early on that I’m not going to stick around with this company or if I always knew it was a stepping stone to get somewhere else, but I knew I wasn’t, I didn’t plan on resigning because months ago, there was two NWA wrestlers who got WWE tryouts.
“You reported that they were at that tryout and while they were at their tryout, the office called them to tell them, ‘Hey, you are no longer needed at the NWA.’ Because they had a tryout non-contracted. Just like stuff like that. They’re going to call them at their tryout to tell them that they’re pretty much fired.”
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