Billy Corgan joined the Battleground podcast this week to talk about NWA EmPowerrr and NWA 73, airing live this weekend on FITE TV.
Corgan talked about how the pandemic affected the NWA in 2020, new talent, talent that has left the promotion, Mickie James, and how he got Ric Flair on board for this weekend.
Here are some highlights:
Corgan talking about acquiring Kylie Ray’s contract from Impact:
“Incredibly talented young woman. We were lucky in that we were able to craft a deal with Impact to acquire her contract. She’s what they used to call a ‘blue chipper’. She’s a superstar in the making. She’ll go as far in this business as she wants to go. She has every skill set you can imagine. She has the innate charisma and the in-ring ability of a future legend.
Whether or not she can persevere, you know the business has a lot of challenges, I can speak on both for wrestling and music, so I’m very, very empathetic on how the business can put a person in a particular corner, and they might find it hard to preserve over those things, but I think she has everything that you need. Hopefully, she’s in a positive, happy position, particularly with the NWA where she’ll want to keep making that choice going forward with us. We’re very excited she’s part of our world. She’s a total pleasure to deal with. She’s one of those people when she’s in the ring, I truly pay another degree of attention. She has that extra ability that I can’t quite put my finger on what it was, or is. I saw the same thing with Thunder Rosa, using another recent example. There’s just something about the ‘X’ Factor charisma that they have where you pay that little bit extra attention, and she absolutely has that.”
Corgan talking about how Ric Flair appearing on the upcoming NWA 73th Anniversary show came about:
“I know that NWA World Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis had lunch not too long ago with Conrad Thompson, who of course, everybody knows Conrad’s success from podcasting. Conrad is also a member of the Flair family via marriage. I believe it was right around the time of Mr. Flair had left his relationship with WWE, so I think maybe there was some poking around during that lunch about, ‘Do you think this is something Ric might be interested in?’
I think that opened up the channel to talking behind the scenes about whether or not we could fit together. Obviously, it did happen. I’m very excited. There’s lots of things you do in wrestling where you cross your fingers and you hope for the best. It’s an awesome responsibility to run the NWA with history. It’s no mistake that I care about the history of the business, not just the NWA’s history. There are only certain moments in life where you can put those pieces together where you connect all those dots. Mr. Flair, coming back to the NWA, specifically in The Chase, specifically on the 73rd Anniversary show, I mean that is an awesome thing to be able to sign off on.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Battleground Podcast with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
.@Billy from the @SmashingPumpkin & President of the @nwa was a special guest today on the @battlegroundihr! He talked about #NWA73, #NWAEmpowerrr & more!https://t.co/ebaSTb8ikM
— 1059 The Rock (@1059therock) August 23, 2021