Nick Aldis recently appeared as a guest on The Universal Wrestling podcast for an in-depth interview covering all things pro wrestling.
During the discussion, the wrestling veteran spoke at length about Dixie Carter’s run as President of TNA Wrestling.
Featured below are some of the highlights from the interview where he touches on this topic with his thoughts.
On how he and Dixie Carter are still friends to this day: “I will say that she remains a friend to this day. She sent us a Christmas card this year. We occasionally get together with her and Serge [her husband] and the kids. I owe Dixie a lot, and I always will. I’ve always been grateful to Dixie for sort of sticking a neck out for me. She’s certainly not innocent as far as like, she was ruthless. She made judgment calls. She did what she thought she had to do. But again, how is that any different to any other top executive in professional wrestling?”
On how Carter was under more scrutiny due to being a woman: “I think, sadly, a lot of the reason that her stuff comes under more scrutiny is the fact that she was a woman. The fact that she is perceived to be — her family are extraordinarily wealthy. And I think that maybe, because she was portrayed for so long as this sort of clueless, ditzy, kind of easily manipulated person — she was aware of all that. She wasn’t naive to the fact that this narrative was out there about her. And I think that maybe, unfortunately, she tried to overcompensate then.”
On how the wrestling industry is all about manipulation: “She then tried to ‘I’m going to be ruthless and I’ll show these wrestlers who’s boss,’ which, of course, then, makes you a heel in a totally different way. It’s just difficult because it’s difficult to navigate these waters. There are people who have been in the business for years and still find the whole, navigating the political landscape of professional wrestling, impossible to do. It is, without question the worst part of the profession you’re dealing with, because we’re in the business of manipulation. Our jobs are to manipulate the audience into emotionally investing in what we’re doing so that they buy a pay-per-view or buy a ticket to see us wrestle or whatever. So, of course, those skills transfer into how we conduct ourselves business-wise. The sad thing about it is that business flourishes when everybody backstage is honest. Right? If we’re all on the same page, ‘hey, we’re trying to work them. We’re not trying to work ourselves’. So many of the problems that happen in wrestling are because guys work themselves into a shoot. I’ve seen it and I’ve been involved and I’ve been part of it.”
Check out the complete Nick Aldis interview via the YouTube player embedded below. H/T to WrestleZone.com for transcribing the above quotes.
