Nick Aldis on the importance of promos and matches "feeling like one long high spot"
NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis has opened up on his philosophy on professional wrestling and what he thinks is missing from the industry today.
Nick Aldis is currently preparing for his upcoming match against Mike Bennett for the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship at UWN's Primetime Live pay-per-view debut on September 15th.
During a recent interview with Wrestling INC, Nick Aldis discussed how the NWA has focused on the importance of promos in professional wrestling as a storytelling tool during their storylines:
"It's hard to make broad statements on the business because obviously, you have one company that has such a large market share, and their product is so vastly different both in terms of their execution and in their philosophy. I hope that it is because I think that to me, I think the business is 50% wrestling and 50% promos. I think that somewhere along the way, in the last sort of 20 years, the business sort of became a little fascinated with critical sort of feedback from a very specific, discerning audience and this narrative emerged that the wrestling was most important, and I absolutely disagree with that."
Nick Aldis on the lack of storytelling in modern professional wrestling matches
Continuing to discuss his philosophy on professional wrestling, Nick Aldis shared his opinions on a lack of storytelling in modern wrestling matches.
Aldis was quick to point out that the modern professional wrestler was a much better physical athlete than those seen in the past. However, Nick Aldis feels that that some matches "feel like one long high spot" which hurts the story being told during the match:
"I think we can all agree that the overall quality from top to bottom, in terms of physical talent has improved, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the overall quality of the stuff in the ring, in my opinion, necessarily [has] because, this is just me talking, a big part of my enjoyment of the industry is in suspension of disbelief. And I find it very hard to suspend my disbelief in a lot of the product that I watch now, and one of the reasons that I decided to really double down on the NWA was because I had spent my career sort of learning and working on a storytelling kind of style. I'm a good athlete. I'm not going to shy away from that, but I'm not a gymnast."
"I see some matches, they feel like one long high spot. It's impressive but just on a very sort of surface level. I don't get a sort of deep emotional connection with what's happening. I don't feel like I'm watching a sport, and again, I'm just speaking for me, I want to feel like I'm watching a sport with the volume turned up. I want to feel like I'm watching a great prize fight."
Nick Aldis will be a part of the NWA's return at UWN's Primetime Live pay-per-view debut on September 15th. Other names set to appear at the event include NWA National Heavyweight Champion Aron Stevens, NWA World Women's Champion Thunder Rosa and Eli Drake amongst others.
What are your thoughts on Nick Aldis' comments? Do you feel that some matches "feel like one long high spot"?