Nick Aldis says part of what makes his SummerSlam match with Gunther personal is that Gunther had people inside WWE speaking up for him and he did not.
Speaking with Chris Van Vliet on Insight, Aldis explained why the angle has real feeling behind it.
“Some of this stuff with Gunther is real because he does represent the opportunities that I didn’t get. He did have people lobbying for him that I didn’t have. He didn’t have the TNA stink or different misconceptions about him that I had based on my relationship with this person or that person.”
He named the person he believes made the difference for Gunther.
“Unlike Walter, I didn’t have guys like Regal pulling for me and saying, oh, this guy is fantastic, you know, you want to give this guy a look. Like I had the opposite, actually.”
Aldis was quick to draw a line under it.
“But that’s not to say, I’m not presenting myself as a victim. I had those things come early, too early. I got signed at TNA, was 21. I was not ready for that spot, and I just have to sort of look back and make peace with the fact that, well, what 21 year old is going to turn it down. No one at that age is going to go, you know, I don’t think I’m ready. No, you just do it.”
He believes the early break cost him later.
“And I probably paid for it down the line, because then when I’m starting to hit my stride and actually really starting to get this, then my TNA career comes to an end, and now I’m in the wilderness. And then this other thing comes along because WWE is not interested.”
That other thing was the NWA, where Aldis held the World Heavyweight Championship for 1,043 days across his second reign and built the Ten Pounds of Gold series.
“I had to make something out of nothing with the NWA and the ten pounds of gold.”
On what he and Gunther have in common
Aldis said the two are not stylistically similar but are aligned on how the business should be presented.
“He’s someone who, like I was, particularly during that ten pounds of gold run, is often described like a throwback, old school. And I think we both find that term a little humorous because we’re just like, I think we both just have high standards. Like we believe in presenting the business in a certain way. We believe in taking it seriously.”
He also said Gunther was a supporter of what he was doing at the NWA.
“Gunther, then Walter, was a name that came up a lot, and he was a fan of what we were doing. I remember him tweeting about what we were doing, and I remember sort of some DMs and stuff, kind of like I really like what you’re doing, it’s really cool.”
Aldis and Gunther meet on Night One of SummerSlam at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.
