Chris Van Vliet’s latest interview is with former NWA World Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis, who has been reportedly working backstage at WWE as of late.
Nick Aldis on his status with WWE:
“They just invited me to come and, you know, see how everything works and, you know, shadow as a producer and see and just sort of be part of the meetings and oversee the whole television operation. I’ve done a lot. I’ve worn a lot of hats. I think people who have followed my career, particularly in the last few years know that, in addition to wrestling, I was wearing a lot of hats behind the scenes, you know, at my last place. So, I certainly don’t feel like it’s a completely new sort of situation for me.”
“Having said that, there’s pro wrestling and then there’s WWE. So you know, just taking in just the sheer sort of volume of the operation, and just, you know, the number of people involved in the scale of everything is like, just that alone it has been the basis of my time so far. But it’s like, it’s all very much a sort of handshake situation at the moment, very much a, ‘Hey, why don’t you come in and see how all this works? See, if you like it.’ I will say this. They’ve been very, very good to me, and very, very accommodating as far as they’ve said, ‘Look, this is as much about whether you like it.’ Now, where that goes, I don’t know, and I’m okay with that.”
“It’s tough with the internet and social media because people want to put this sort of definitiveness on everything and this finality like, ‘Oh, that’s it. He’s with WWE. That’s it. Game over.’ People say, ‘Are you not wrestling anymore? Have you retired? Are you not wrestling?’ I mean, even the boys are saying that, like, ‘Are you done wrestling?’ You know, and it’s like, slow down.”
On keeping his options open:
“Everything could change next week or the week after or anything like that. But I guess to sort of, to put a pin in this because obviously there’s only so much we can discuss and it’s not like I’m trying to be secretive or anything. It’s just not that interesting. It’s just like, yeah, they called me and said, ‘Hey, how would you feel about coming in seeing how things operate on the production level and shadowing the producers.’ I was like, ‘That would be interesting. That would be fun to see how that works even if nothing comes of it.’”
“I have to make this point. They also were very open with me about it and said, ‘Look, if you don’t want to do it, like if you’re not cool with this, like, absolutely no hard feelings.’ Like if you feel this ain’t right for me or I’m not ready to do this yet, that’s totally cool, too. I may as well say it. Obviously, I would love the other thing, but until that day comes or doesn’t, you know, I’m gonna explore other opportunities because ultimately, that is absolutely something that I would want to do in the end. The question will be, I guess, whether or not I’m ready to do it now and we don’t know that yet.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Chris Van Vliet with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription. Also, be sure to subscribe to “Insight with Chris Van Vliet” on your mobile device by clicking here if you have an iOS device or here on your Android device.
