NWA’s Billy Corgan still willing to work with Anthem and Impact
Speaking exclusively to Sports Illustrated, Billy Corgan revealed that he is now officially the man running the NWA and is ready to get back in the wrestling business after a year out since being kicked out of TNA Wrestling.
In a very surprising note, Corgan noted that he talks to Anthem’s Ed Nordholm every week and the two have been floating the idea of working together, again, but so far, nothing has been agreed.
“We’ve made various overtures to Anthem along the way and they’ve made various overtures to me,” said Corgan. “We haven’t found anything that is ideal, and I’m a firm believer that if a deal doesn’t go both ways, then it’s not a good deal to make. If the NWA was going to be involved in some level with Anthem, we’d want it to be a good way all the way around.”
The Smashing Pumpkins frontman said that a plan was presented as recently as last month to help with the Impact reboot. “We’d have helped Impact stay more in the lane of the traditional Impact brand, and then set up the NWA as a natural rival, a la Raw versus SmackDown. Unfortunately, we didn’t get where we wanted with that offer.”
Corgan said that they have a 20-year plan for the NWA and he learned from his mistakes in TNA, meaning that he won’t just splash money around for two years. “We want to be part of a new revolution of how wrestling can be consumed by fans and matches can be presented,” said Corgan. “This NWA brand dates back to 1948. The past few years have not been as kind as we would have liked, but we plan on building this into a powerhouse over time.”
Apart from buying the name and title, Corgan also retained the licensing agreement on the Boesch Family Houston Wrestling video library, which is still owned by the family, featuring nearly every major star from the ‘70s and ‘80s. He has so far deactivated the NWA On-Demand library until they can reboot it.
But Corgan’s plan is to start working with those who he can really trust. “You have to build your own infrastructure from the bottom up and work with people you really trust. The traditional ‘carny’ aspect of the wrestling business that plagues a lot of companies, and has plagued a company like TNA, are problems that hold the business back. You can’t run an effective business if it’s like Game of Thrones every week.”
Read more at http://www.wrestling-online.com/general/nwas-billy-corgan-still-willing-to-work-with-anthem-and-impact/#RlZYgxRBOjTpmTyB.99
