Nick Aldis has spent 20 years being told what he was not. On Saturday, he gets to answer it.
Aldis faces Gunther on Night One of SummerSlam in the first match of his WWE career, and his first match anywhere since October 7, 2023. Speaking with Chris Van Vliet on Insight days out from the show, he was asked what the whole thing means to him after a career spent largely outside WWE.
“SummerSlam, of course, it’s validation. That’s all I can do with it, Chris. That’s all I have to look at. That’s all I can do with this, is look at this and go, I f****** told you.”
He framed his whole career the same way.
“It’s been to me, it’s been a series of validations.”
Aldis was insistent that he has attached nothing to what happens next.
“Look, I have to just concentrate on what’s in front of me. I have to deliver at SummerSlam. As far as I’m concerned, I am treating this as one match. I have no expectations. I had none coming in. I have none coming out. I just have to deliver and trust my boss that whatever comes next is the right thing to do.”
Asked directly where it goes from here, he would not speculate.
“Well, that’s not for me to decide.”
He also pushed back on the framing that this is a comeback.
“A lot of that is just in the perception, because it’s never been presented as like I’m coming back. So if that’s something that people are perceiving, I would argue that that’s almost maybe just because that’s how they want to see it.”
The pressure
Van Vliet put two numbers to him, the 1,043 days of his second NWA World Heavyweight Championship reign and the roughly 1,030 days since his last match. Aldis’ response was one word.
“Yikes.”
“That sort of puts it in perspective, doesn’t it? Look, no doubt, it’s a huge challenge. I’m not going to pretend that I’m completely confident I’m going to knock it out of the park. I have every confidence that I’ve done everything I can do to be ready, but it’s a huge challenge.”
Asked whether he feels the pressure, he pointed at the people who booked it.
“Sure, but I take confidence in the fact that they looked at everything, every possibility, and decided this was where the money was.”
By the end of the interview, and after being told the fans are excited to see him wrestle again, Aldis was audibly emotional and had to pause.
“I hope that I don’t let people down.”
“It’s my one shot.”
“I’ve been working very hard. I hope it pays off. I’m sure it will. I just hope that when it’s all said and done, the people appreciate how hard this was, and I gave everything.”
Asked what he is grateful for, he closed on his faith.
“Grateful for my faith in God. It’s in His hands now.”
