Nick Aldis on Leaving TNA, Global Force Wrestling and The Superstar Body

Fred: Hey, everybody, this is Fred Richani of TSC, presenting a special throwback interview with NWA World Champion and former TNA World Champion Nick “Magnus” Aldis. This was taped in August 2015, right after he left TNA Impact Wrestling. I have right here on the line a wrestler, actor, former world champion and now an author: Nick Aldis, aka Magnus. How’s it going?

Nick Aldis: I’m doing great.

Fred: You just released “The Superstar Body,” which you can get on Amazon, and you’ve been in great shape for as long as I can remember seeing you on TV. Why was this the right time to release a book?

Nick Aldis: The release date depended on when I finished it and when it got edited and rewritten. We actually penciled it in to release a little earlier. I signed the publishing deal maybe a year ago. The whole thing came about because the editor, a freelance journalist in England who had covered me a few times, had written a book about the history of British pro wrestling, going back to the “World of Sport” golden age up to the renaissance the British scene is going through now. She asked me to be on the cover. I looked into the publisher and realized it was a sports-centric, U.K.-based publisher, and we started a dialogue. They asked me about a book, and I said I’m too young and haven’t done enough to have a book about me, but I’ve always wanted to write a fitness book. At meet-and-greets, on Twitter and through my website, the most common thread is people asking for advice on fitness, what to eat and how to improve their physique. I’ve loved health and fitness as long as I’ve loved wrestling, because they go hand in hand. Once I decided as a kid that I wanted to be a wrestler, I immediately started lifting weights. In my mind, that’s what you needed to do.

Fred: Was it hard to find a balance? Bodybuilding workouts aren’t always conducive to moving fluidly in the ring and having the best cardio.

Nick Aldis: I think it’s very dependent on genetics, and there’s a misconception with bodybuilding. I write about this in the book. When I say bodybuilding, I’m literally referring to lifting weights and living a certain way to improve your physical development, whether that’s muscle mass or better proportion and symmetry, not simply size. I can only speak from my own experience. I’m very ectomorphic, which means I’m long and slim. If I had never lifted a weight in my life, I’d probably be 170 pounds at 6-foot-4. I can honestly say my athleticism, flexibility, explosive power and speed all improved as a result of bodybuilding, because I train in a balanced way with dynamic stuff too. As long as you’re wrestling, practicing and staying limber, I don’t think you’ll suffer. You’re very much in control of it. You’re not going to wake up one day too big to do anything.

Fred: A lot of people may not know this, but you’re still under 30, you’re a new father and a former world champion, you’ve written a book and now you’re a free agent. How’s the last couple of months been after being with TNA for so long, and before that doing hosting work and “Gladiators”?

Nick Aldis: I’ve always tried to maintain my hustle. I took a bit of a plunge early in life. I decided there was nothing I wanted out of life that required a college degree, and I’d rather not be in a lot of debt, so I skipped it, even though I’d skipped a grade and was tempted because I’d do very well academically. I got into the business young. I was wrestling full time at 18 and got a break at 21 with “Gladiators,” which opened a lot of doors for me. Because I was such a student of the game, I was already dialed into the business side. I was the youngest guy on that roster and always the one asking the most questions about contracts and appearances, always hustling for more. Other cast members would ask, “Do you have an agent? How do you think about this stuff?” I’d say, “No, I’m just in the entertainment business.” You don’t ask, you don’t get. In the last couple of years of my TNA run, I’d really lost my hustle in a lot of ways and gotten into a comfort zone. That’s one of the reasons I decided a while back that when my contract came up, I wasn’t going to discuss another one. I’d venture into the unknown. It was scary, but it’s so exciting.

Fred: During this free agency, you’ve been doing some work for Global Force Wrestling, which had its TV tapings in Las Vegas. What has it been like?

Nick Aldis: I’ve really enjoyed it. I have a lot of time and a lot of loyalty for Jeff Jarrett. Dixie Carter was the person who discovered me, but it was Jeff who really understood who I was and what I could be. He was the one saying internally, “You’re not taking full advantage of this investment.” He proved it in India, which was almost like a dry run. If you go back and look at Ring Ka King, a lot of things there, including me as champion, were essentially recreated on Impact a couple of years later. Jeff was the architect of that. The great thing about Jeff is that he understands talent and the business. He’s a third-generation guy whose family has been in the business for the better part of a century, and he knows who gets it, with talent and with staff. He surrounds himself with really good people, like Sonjay Dutt, who is a tremendous talent in his own right and very hands-on in a lot of other areas, and Scott D’Amore, who’s a tremendous businessman.

Even though it’s a start-up working with a budget, it’s amazing how smoothly everything runs. It’s very professional. At the Vegas TV tapings we had a great house, somewhere around 4,000 or 5,000 I think, which we considered a great success. I remember thinking, “There are about a third as many people as I’m used to seeing at a TNA taping, and yet it’s running so smoothly.” Everything was on time, nobody was panicking or running around, and all the talent were in the back watching the whole show and complimenting each other. There’s a real feeling that everybody wants this to work and be successful. It’s such a cool energy to be around.

Fred: The elephant in the room is the TV deal, or lack thereof. We’ve heard about TNA’s situation with Destination America, and Ring of Honor just lost its 8 p.m. prime-time slot there as well. Is it in the best interest of TNA, GFW, Ring of Honor or other promotions to form some type of alliance?

Nick Aldis: In theory, yes. It’s very easy to say from the outside looking in, and I can certainly see the benefit for the fans. Something akin to what New Japan does with Wrestle Kingdom at the Tokyo Dome, a showcase of the best of New Japan with guests and interpromotional matches people only get to see once a year, could be a successful concept: the best of Global, the best of Ring of Honor, the best of TNA or Lucha Underground. At the same time, I understand that a company like Ring of Honor wants to maintain its brand integrity, and it has to take that into consideration when working with other brands. One observation I made coming into Global is that there’s value in being our own deal. I don’t want people to think me leaving TNA and joining Jeff at Global is some kind of storyline, because it’s certainly not. That’s why I’m not involved in any of the storyline stuff. I’d had my time at TNA, I was done with it, and I left on as high a note as I could with the match with James Storm. So I see both sides. In limited doses, and with enough communication, which I think is the most important thing, it can be beneficial.

Fred: We have some fan questions. Scott asks: You said on the “Talking Shop” podcast that Kevin Nash has been a big help to your career and is a good friend. What’s the coolest thing you’ve ever seen Kevin Nash do?

Nick Aldis: On “Talking Shop,” I talked about how Kevin is the reason Bud Light Lime became a thing with the boys. A lot of guys used to make fun of us for drinking those fruity beers, and we didn’t care because they’re refreshing. Then Kevin tried one and said, “That’s delicious,” and suddenly everyone wanted a Bud Light Lime. But here’s one. I’ve been fortunate enough to be in Muscle & Fitness two or three times now, and before the first shoot I was so excited. They were giving me something like eight pages. I was 23 and such a mark for Muscle & Fitness. The shoot was the next day at Gold’s Gym in Orlando before the TV tapings, and I made the silly mistake of telling Kevin, who’s a big bodybuilding fan himself. He said, “That’s awesome. Let’s get some more drinks.” He proceeded to make me drink about 25 beers that night. He’s a giant, so every one of his chugs was like five for me, and he was motoring through them. I think he did it on purpose, just to see if I would crack. I still have a bit of that old-school respect-your-elders thing, so I kept drinking until he said it was time to go. He picked up the tab, which was very generous, but I felt like my gut was going to explode, and I had a shoot for Muscle & Fitness the next day. Kevin said, “It’s fine. It’ll all wash out. You’ll look great.”

Fred: You’ve got to hit him up for a cameo in “Magic Mike 3.”

Nick Aldis: We tagged together on a show a couple of weeks ago, and he put more effort into his tan and his workout than I did. He put me to shame. He trained like a Trojan for that movie, with a trainer and dieting like crazy, because it was a big role for him. He’s a very impressive guy. I think Shawn Michaels’ Hall of Fame induction speech for Kevin was about as truthful and honest an assessment of Kevin Nash’s overall value to the business as anyone’s ever given. I wrote a column about it for Fighting Spirit Magazine. I’d seen Kevin the day he went into the Hall of Fame and told him how much he’s done for the boys. He really laid a lot of the groundwork for what wrestlers could get out of the business. I certainly never made anywhere near the kind of coin he was making in WCW, but I did have a pretty solid guaranteed contract, and the foundation for those types of things was set by Kevin back in the ’90s.

Fred: You mentioned your Fighting Spirit Magazine column, which you’ve been doing for a while. Should more wrestlers put themselves out there with columns and podcasts so fans get to know them?

Nick Aldis: That’s definitely happening. I think I’m the only person without a podcast now. The column came about by chance, and I really owe a lot to FSM. The editor at the time reached out and asked to interview me about indie wrestling in England, and I was so busy with “Gladiators” commitments that I asked if he could just email me the questions so I could write the answers. I think he sensed that I wanted to show I could write, because he came back and asked if I’d ever thought about having a column. I never looked back. It’s rewarding. It’s not like I make a lot of money from it, but it’s nice when someone at a Comic Con comes up and says they enjoy my column. Jeff and I did Chris Jericho’s podcast a couple of weeks ago, and Chris blew me away by saying he reads my column every month and really enjoys it. That’s not lost on me. That’s a very rewarding feeling.

Fred: Speaking of underrated legends, JGeorge asks: Does Doug Williams have the best handshake in all of pro wrestling?

Nick Aldis: Not to tread on the toes of another great Brit, but Doug’s handshake is very regal. My favorite thing when Doug and I were a team was our double-team move, where we’d snatch someone into a double hangman-type thing, fall back, extend up and do the handshake. I went out of my way to glide into it in the most ridiculous way possible every time. But yes, he may have the best handshake.

Fred: Last one, from Nick: You have the look and ring skills that New Japan and WWE would really like. Could we see you in one of those rings within a year?

Nick Aldis: That’s not a question I can answer, because it’s more up to them than it is to me. I’ve never been in contact with New Japan. I hope they maintain their relationship with Global Force, because I would love to get a shot like that. They might be the best company in the world right now in a lot of ways. It’s funny to me to see Okada become one of their absolute standout performers. We’re about the same age, and he was in TNA a while back when I was there. We were essentially in the same position, guys tipped to be champion one day, and I see a lot of parallels in his struggles. He’s got big shoes to fill and puts a lot of pressure on himself, and I completely relate to that, but he’s handling it tremendously. I’d love to wrestle him, and Ishii, and Nakamura might be my favorite to watch in the whole business. AJ Styles is absolutely killing it. What a rebirth he’s had. I’d love to wrestle AJ again under better circumstances, so we can finally put to bed all that business from when he left. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. To me, AJ is the best in the business, and that’s who you want to work with if you’re trying to hang in there.

Fred: AJ’s last match in TNA was bizarre to watch. Most people knew it would be his last match for a while, and you’d think they’d book the guy who’s staying, the world champion, a lot stronger. He was almost booked like he was going to return. Was there ever a plan for him to come back for a one-on-one match with you?

Nick Aldis: This is completely speculative, but my hunch is that they thought he just needed to get it out of his system and he’d come back soon. A lot of the boys echoed similar sentiments. In fairness, we were in a tough spot because I’d suffered a concussion, but I made the point: If you’re going to have AJ look unbelievable on the way out, why not just forget the whole thing and say he was the champion and he vacated the belt? But I try not to live in the past. Regal once said, “If you live in the past, you die every day,” and I completely agree with that.