Former NWA World Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis recently spoke with Kurt Angle on the Kurt Angle show podcast for an in-depth interview covering all things pro wrestling.
During the discussion, Aldis explained why he didn’t want to tag team matches with his wife, Mickie James, early in his career.
Aldis said:
“We’ve done a couple of mix tags here and there, but it’s something that we’ve tried to stay away from it earlier on in my career because obviously, she was so much more established than I was earlier in my career, and I really wanted to make sure that I established myself firmly as my own person before just lumping in with her at any given moment.”
“Obviously in TNA, there were times where guys like Vince Russo, and Bruce (Prichard), and different people over the years would say, ‘Hey, what about doing something with y’all?’ and I would always be the one sort of a little bit resistant to it, because in my mind, I didn’t want to be saddled as sort of ‘Mickie’s guy’, as opposed to establishing myself on my own merits.”
“But now, obviously, I feel like I’ve done enough and carved out enough of a career for myself and enough of a legacy of my own where now it’s fun. Now we relish the idea of doing more stuff together and we’re really excited about the prospect of doing more stuff as a duo maybe down the road.”
“Mixed tags are fun but not the easiest thing in the world to work because you have to kind of tread the line. I have a certain sort of opinion about what’s cool and what isn’t in terms of physicality with men and women and things of that nature. Obviously, I realized that the business evolves and people have different opinions about it. But for me, I’m somewhat of a traditionalist. So I like to do it, but do it in a way that’s tasteful and fun and entertaining for everybody because ultimately, we’re trying to take the audience on a ride, but I always want wrestling to be presented as a serious sport. I always wanted the in ring action to be credible. I wanted it to be believable and taken seriously so that people could suspend their disbelief.”
At Bound for Glory 2013, Aldis claimed that it was Sting’s idea for Aldis to defeat him through submission:
“I remember we got to the pay-per-view. Certainly at this point, I had learned enough to know, okay, I can’t go in with any expectations, but it felt like the right thing to do would be for me to get my hand raised. But obviously, it’s Sting, and I’m not going to come in assuming that. I remember I got there that day. Our agent, I forget who it was, said, ‘X amount of minutes, Sting up.’ I said, ‘Okay’, and just sat down at catering. Sting comes over and sits down and Steve goes ‘Hey, did they tell you the finish?’ I go, ‘Yeah, yeah’, and he said, ‘We’re not doing that. The whole reason we set all this up is for you to get your hand raised.” I remember just being like, ‘Well, I don’t know what to say’, like, this is Sting. Sting said, ‘Not only are we not doing that, you’re beating me with your finish in the middle.’ I was like, ‘Okay.’ He got up and said, ‘I’ll go take care of this’, and he walked off and I’m almost in tears because that’s such an overwhelming thing.”
You can listen to the complete podcast below:
(h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)
