“You Can Bring Them To A Knee” – Billy Corgan Believes If Companies Work Together They Can Take On WWE
(Photo by Andrew Toth/FilmMagic)
With the NWA back in full swing, Billy Corgan believes the time is now for all wrestling companies to come together to take on “the giant” that is WWE.
This Sunday, NWA returns to FITE.TV for their latest pay-per-view with ‘When Our Shadows Fall.’ Billy Corgan joined Dave LeGreca and Bully Ray this morning on Busted Open Radio to talk about it. When Bully Ray asked Corgan what he saw in the next year for the NWA, he had a fascinating response.
Corgan suggested that if NWA, AEW, ROH, and New Japan work together, they can “topple the giant”:
“First of all, I feel like the little guy running around ringing the bell,” Corgan said. “I see stuff. I think maybe that not everybody sees. It’s going to be a hot second here but pretty quickly. All the non-WWE forces out there at play are going to figure out if they work together can topple the giant. Now you might not topple them to the ground, but you can bring them to a knee, and that has not been even remotely a possibility for over 20 years. It’s been 20 plus years since the WWE had real competition.
Now, if you want to say AEW versus WWE, I can respect that. But I think WWE would beg to differ on the bottom line part of it all. But if you’re talking about a public perception, where you let this wrestling revolution in the last five years really kick in, and they like talents like yourself, Bully or Mark Henry step up into this new vacuum which Triller is also creating with the kind of the Fight Club model, and suddenly you can offer fans matchups that are complete dream matchups and can rival WrestleMania, on any given night. I think it will blow this industry-wide apart, and in a good way, not in a bad way.
And I think I think Tony Khan is very smart. He’ll figure that out pretty soon. Now he might be in the catbird seat and think he doesn’t need anybody, but I think he’s going to quickly figure out that if you can get everybody under the same tent, and he’s got a lot of people under the same tent already. I’m working with Tony, IMPACT’s working with Tony, New Japan’s working with Tony. I don’t think there’s any hostility there between Tony and Ring of Honor. I mean, you put all the non-WWE players at the table in one night. How does the world not stop and watch for that one night?
I mean, that is a mind-blowing concept that wouldn’t even been close to possible five years ago. So to answer your question, I think the NWA is just kind of playing the wave that’s coming, and as I’ve said to Tony privately. Our product is what it is. We’re going straight up the middle. And I know there are a lot of wrestling fans who like what’s going on—all power to you. I’m gonna ride the bet that the old school is the new school. And when all is said and done, it might be five years, might be seven years there’s going to be another major player at the table. It’s going to be the NWA because a mainstream broadcasting platform is going to look and say if you can deliver this quality with this level of consistency to this wide of an audience. Here’s the seat at the table, because I don’t have to sell them anything. Just look at the history, look at the brand, and look at what you’re presenting, and as long as you can figure it out, behind the scenes. Good to go.”
What do you make of Billy Corgan’s comments? Do you think all of these promotions could work together to take on WWE? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
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