Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Nick Aldis: SmackDown GM, One More Match, Adam Pearce, Randy Orton RKO, Mickie James

Episode Date: November 19, 2024

Nick Aldis (@RealNickAldis) is a professional wrestler and the General Manager of WWE SmackDown. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Brooklyn, NY to discuss becoming the SmackDown GM and his no-nonsense management style, his in-ring debut segment with Triple H and Dominik Mysterio, being on the receiving end of a Randy Orton RKO, if he is done being an in-ring competitor, a possible match against Raw General Manager Adam Pearce, being married to Mickie James and more! Quote I'm thinking about: "Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." - Howard Thurman Sponsors: VUORI: Get 20% off your first purchase! Get yourself some of the most comfortable and versatile clothing on the planet at https://vuori.com/cvv ROCKET MONEY: Join Rocket Money today and experience financial freedom: https://rocketmoney.com/cvv ZOCDOC: Instantly book a top-rated doctor today at https://zocdoc.com/insight BONCHARGE: Use the code CVV to save 15% off your infrared sauna blanket at https://boncharge.com/cvv BLUECHEW: Use the code CVV to get your first month of BlueChew for FREE at https://bluechew.com RHONE: Rhone’s premium performance clothing is made to move you. Use code CVV to save 20% at https://www.rhone.com/CVV MANSCAPED: Get 20% off plus free shipping when you use the code CHRISVAN at https://manscaped.com PURE PLANK: The future of core fitness! Use the code CVV to save 10% on Pure Plank which was designed by Adam Copeland & Christian: https://gopureplank.com/ PLUNGE: Get $150 off your Plunge with the coupon code CVV150 at https://plunge.com For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you have ever enjoyed any of these episodes, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast or Spotify? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests.  Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Chris. Are you, my friends? Welcome back to another one here on Insight. I'm CVV. Chris Van Fleet, thank you for being with us on this one, wherever you are in the world, whatever you're doing right now.

And thank you for making Insight the number one wrestling podcast on the planet. Slap a single-leg Boston Crab on that follow button on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. So you don't miss out on any episodes that we have. have coming up.

It was very specific, right? A single leg Boston crowd. That's how you have to hit the follow button. Nick Aldous is back on the show for the third time. And a lot has changed since those other interviews. The first one was in 2020 when he was in the middle of that historic run as the NWA World's Heavyweight Champion. He held that title, by the way, for 1,043 days.

Then he was back on the show last summer when he was kind of auditioning to be a WWE backstage producer. Then, out of nowhere, a few months later, October of 2023, he debuted as the general manager of Smackdown and has been crushing it ever since. And it's just so funny because just like Adam Pierce, who was a very accomplished wrestler inside the ring, there's a lot of fans who don't know about Nick Aldous and everything he did as a wrestler. They just know him as the suit-wearing GM.

But from the sounds of this interview, Nick says he still has a lot more wrestling. wrestling left in him. So, you know, perhaps it's just a matter of time before we see him in a match again. But I loved being able to catch up with Nick. And I hope that you enjoy this as much as I did. Snap a screenshot. Tag us so we can share it out online. He's at real Nick Aldus on Twitter. He's at Nick Aldus on Instagram. I'm at Chris Van Fleet. And let's do it. Please welcome back to the show, Nick Aldus. It's very intense. It's almost like we're in an interrogation. Yes, it is. It is a very interrogation. I'm going to shine a light down. It's like a stop. We need like a stopwatch. Give me all the answers. That's what this feels like. Big ashtray full of old cigarettes.

Well, this is way better than the usual setup I have, which is just two chairs in a hotel room. Yeah. I have to say, I do like the non-handheld mics thing. Like I'm, the handheld mics. It's, you know, it's just, I don't, what I do in my hand? I whatever. But come on. You've held a handheld mic your entire career. There's a big difference between speaking extemporaneously in a conversation whilst holding a mic as opposed to. What a word that was. Oh, yeah. You're like that? That was really good.

A lot of your promos recently, you've been using a lot of like corporate speak. Yeah. Well, I mean, it needs to be on brand. It makes a lot of sense. My thought on it is, depending on the situation, I do deliberately sometimes try to sort of put in that annoying, you know, execu speak. Because I sort of think, okay, you know, because it's a fun character because I don't really, I don't really pick a lane. Yeah. You know, I'm not a bad guy or a good guy necessarily.

I'm strictly business. Yeah, and you just kind of lay down the law. So naturally, sometimes, you know, I have to tell guys stuff they don't want to hear. Yeah. And that's when the executive speak comes out because it's like that's because in my mind, I think if I would. in that situation, right, if I was the wrestler in the equation, like, hearing that, you know, annoying, like, you know, corporate babble would make me, you know, infuriated. So I think, okay, this is a good time to slip that in, you know.

See, if I'm dealing with guys like Randy or Cody, you know, it's like, or like with Roman, you know, the, you know, very key sort of early interaction for my character was the thing with Roman, right? And it was like, I thought, you know, I do. Like, I'm going to, I'm going to walk the line here of sort of have some physical presence, but I'm going to also lay on a bit of the corporate, you know, stuff to, you know, just to sort of establish the dynamic, you know, and I thought it worked. It's interesting because if you're delivering news that the person likes, you're great. Yeah.

If you're delivering news that the person doesn't like, you're awful. I don't like you anymore. Yeah, it's fun. It's, I mean, it's a, it's a fun place to be. And I think that fans can relate to like a boss in that way, too, right? I would hope so. And that's kind of who you are. Yeah.

I mean, look, my whole thing on this was, I had to make it my own. And I had to create, to me, in my mind anyway. You know, and this was also based on some early conversations with Hunter about it, where I was like, I want to, he said, like, I want your, I want your, I want, this to be different. I want your, you know, your, your, your, your general manager, uh, stick is going to be, it's not going to be the typical, you know, authority figure we've seen necessarily in the past, right? It's, you're not necessarily going to be this, you know, and obviously there's been some, you know, major differences between some of the characters we've seen in those roles, but it wasn't going to

necessarily be this sort of insecure, you know, power hungry, uh, sort of guy right off the bat. It was he said, I want you to be more you, like more kind of calm and collected and, you know, all business. And I went, I think I know, I think I know what you want. I think, you know, obviously there's a lot of coaching involved and stuff like that. But, you know, in the beginning, I was like, I think I've, I think, I think I've got, we have in mind, you know, and we sort of went that way and it seemed to work. How did this come together? Because when I saw you last summer, you were kind of auditioning in a producer role? Yeah, I didn't have any job then.

Now I have two. Yeah. Okay, so what are the two jobs? We see the one on TV. The producer and a talent. So I have two contracts, an employee contract as a producer and a talent contract for the general manager.

So I assume you're getting double the pay. Well, it was something like that. So you were auditioning as a producer, kind of testing things out. How did that then go to, we have an on-screen role for you? It was pretty short and sweet like that, actually. We were in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

And when would this be? This would have been, I guess, maybe around early autumn last year, like September-ish, maybe late August, early September. I remember it because it was the first day that Sina came back for his run. Like he had that run on SmackDown, right? Yeah. And it was because it was in Hershey. And so we were, and because I had just, I think maybe I just bumped into him or any, and so I, I, I remember that. And then I was in the meeting and Bruce Pritchard came and grabbed me and was like, hey, you know, let's have a quick conversation.

I was okay. And he just, he was like, first of all, how are you doing physically? I know, great. Like, no problem's all good. He's like, we've got a role for you. You know, when I was, he's like, yeah. just wanted to double check that you're okay, you know, with the possibility of that. I was like, yeah, of course.

And it's, you know, a couple weeks went by, carried on, you know, doing the thing. And then I was at home. And I was walking out the door. I can't remember where I was going, maybe probably to the gym or somebody would pick up, Donovan to school or something. And the phone rang. It was Bruce again. And he was just like, general manager, respect down.

And I was like, works for me. That sounds pretty good. And then he says all laid out the whole. laid out the, you know, the, uh, the terms as far as like the, you know, the back ends as far as like what it would look like in terms of my, you know, agreements and all that kind of thing. And I was just like, sounds like, whatever, you know, whatever works, just get going. Let's just get the work. Are you surprised that there's WWE fans now learning that you were a wrestler at one point in

time? It's just sort of humbling, yeah, a little bit of a humbling experience. It is funny because, uh, something, oh, the, the, you know, the, the, the anniversary just passed a few days ago of me and Cody doing two out of three falls in Nashville, right? And, and, you know, so usually those like all in and that match are the ones that tend to get sort of annualized. And it came up again. And, you know, all these comments are just like, what the way? You know, and it's just funny because it's going to be that, it's always going to be that way, right? Because that's just, that's the difference between WWE and, you know,

the rest of the wrestling world. And it's clear that there are WWE fans and there are wrestling fans as a whole. Yes. Oh, you're a two-time NWA champion. And TNA champion, too. And that's right. Yeah. And when you think about IWGP tech champion, GHC tag champion, keep going, TNA tag champion. No, no, no. Ringka King champion. Was that Magnus that did a lot of that stuff though? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But it's amazing that you've had, you had this amazing career. And now you're carving out this entirely new lane. Yeah. It's fun. I mean, like I said, when I've mentioned this before another interview, so I don't want to, you know, half on too long, but when the

general manager thing was presented to me, I talked to Mickey about it, and I said, they're offered me the general manager at Smackdown, and she was just like, 100% take it. She's like, you'll kill that. And I just, you know, I said, well, good, I did. And then I just, I already said yes. And I just was like,

I'm going to be the best fucking general manager you've ever seen. You know, and we'll go from there. Was there a part of you that in accepting that role, you're kind of saying goodbye to your in-ring career? I guess. But I also don't, I don't necessarily see it like that 100%. I see it more as a sort of, you know, maybe not a full-time wrestler, you know. Okay. But I don't know.

Look, it gets asked all the time, of course. by everyone except me, right? I have never once said, hey, you know, what about me? Could I wrestle? You know, like I, because I, I don't need to, right? If, if, you know, if and when the time comes, it, you know, it'll be what they want and it'll be the, and it will hopefully be the right time. I just told them that if you want to do that, I'm, I'm ready. So. But you've got an amazing amount of longevity in doing what you're doing now. Yes.

You can do this until you're 100. Yeah, I heard like Bischoff said, and it was, you know, and he was very, he was very kind to me. I heard him, you know, talk about me getting the role and everything. And, you know, he made a great point where he was like, you could do this for, you know, as long as you want. Yeah. Right. and I do understand that. I'm also 37.

You know, so I'm not like, it's not like I'm sitting here going, oh, oh, thank God, you know, like, you know,

I'm, I just, to me, I just saw it as like, this is a great opportunity to, for, as a character. And,

you know, not to mention the fact that the other, the other job is also, you know, provides a great opportunity for longevity also, you know, because it's like, I'm getting to contribute behind the scenes.

And I've worked with, you know, a who's who. I mean, you know, to be in the room, you know, in the lead up to Russellmania, you know, I was in the room sometimes with like rock, Hunter, Heyman, Michael Hayes, you know, and it's just like, I'm getting paid to take a PhD. So I'm very grateful. Are you producing matches? Is that what you're doing as a producer? Yeah, matches segments.

So could, you know, give us a little bit, like if we've watched over the last six months or so, what's a match you're really proud over a segment you're really proud that you produced? The one that stands out, early on I worked with Dom and Dragon Lee on. And they just, they would just, they did a fit. A match in Ontario, California, I think. They had an awesome finish. Like, the finish just came off so perfect. Like, it was just, like, when, you know, and we'd worked it and worked it and, you know, played around with it a lot.

And I'd love working with Dom. And, you know, also, shout out to Dom because he was so instrumental in my introduction as a character. Like, I always make this point. I was introduced, you know, on WWV television in a Triple H in ring segment. If you'd have told the 13-year-old Nick Aldous that he would have fallen out of his chair, right? Like, Hunter was my guy. Like, I loved Brett when I was a kid, but I saw Brett like a superhero. When I first started sort of formulating this idea of like, I think I want to get into this business, I actually get into it.

It was because of Rock and Hunter. It was their feud in 2000, right? And, but as much as the rock was, you know, the man who captivated my imagination, like so many of us who were in the business, probably half the roster, you know, if they were honest with themselves, it was rock, right? But it was for me, I was watching Hunter and I realized without articulating it at the time, I was studying him. You know what I mean? Because I was sort of going, well, I, self-awareness, I don't think I can be that guy, right, talking about the rock, right? because you just, you know, I'm not American, number one. You know, and I was like, I'm more cerebral, more, you know, I had a bit more of that.

I could relate more to that approach. Yeah. And I think, you know, people who are familiar with my in ring work, they see a lot of Nick Bockwinkle, who I studied a lot, Harley Race, you know, a little bit of flair. And I think if you look at Hunter, it's quite a similar combination. Anyway, so I'm in the, you know, my introduction to the character is by Triple H in a Triple H in ring segment. Fantastic, right? Sign me up. Yeah. But if Dirty Don Mysterio hadn't been in that segment would have been a much more difficult position for me to get that one thing, which was the big fan of your dad line.

because when I was going, when I was looking over it in the day, obviously I'm, you know, I'm brand new. So it's not like I'm going to sit. But, you know, I'm also here as a producer. So I have a bit of freedom, a bit of leeway to make some suggestions and, hey, what if we did like this? And I remember looking at the, you know, the way it was laid out. And I saw this sort of suggestion of like saying something about, you know, big fan.

And I was like, what if I put a pause in there? Like in my mind, I was like, that's kind of my sense of humor. That's my sort of, you know, shit talker type of style, right? We're a big fan of your dad, you know, and it was, and I said it and Hunter and whoever was, you know, around at the time, all sort of laugh at all sort of, okay. So I went, okay, that's, that might work, you know, and in my mind, because when I was looking at it, I knew that this segment isn't necessarily about me. it's I'm here to facilitate you know and that's sort of what that character is a lot of the time but at the same time like I'm getting I've got 10 seconds here to fucking smash something right yeah and I was like that's that's that's it that's my bit that's my moment there you know

because you know then it's like then here comes KO and it's da da da da da and you know and that's kind of the business of the segment but I looked at that look and I went and I just kind of went that could be my, that's my, that's my, that's my kick the door down moment. Because I knew I had to do that. Like, I did, I, I, I, I knew that the majority of people watching would probably not know who I was. I mean, I would have loved to have debuted in like Chicago or New York or Philly or something, where there would have been maybe a higher concentration of fans who were from, you know, Tulsa, Oklahoma, not, you know, not what I've necessarily have described as like my strongest market brother, but, you know, I was like, hey, I'll take it. Uh, But I thought, that's my, that's my moment. And because Dom has so much heat and because that Dom character is, he's the guy you love to hate. Yeah. Which is, to me, that is the, that is the sweet spot of a, especially in the modern era. That's the sweet spot you want as a heel character.

He can't even talk. Have to be a guy you love to hate. Yeah. Because they don't, it's, you know, sometimes, like, it's hard now to have, like, because it's hard to have heat. I mean, truly, like real heat, because real heat then becomes like, oh, well, is it real? You know, people have, it's, you know, and obviously you presented them with this conundrum of like, well, we don't want to have to sort of disclaim to people, well, it's not real, you know, because what's the point?

That's ruining the whole thing. Yeah. So you have to be a guy they love to hate. And that's dirty dom. Yeah. And now with Liv, I mean, she's the, to me, Liv Morgan's the, I don't know what want to quote breakout. She didn't really have breakout. She's been around a long time. But like, she's the, she's the MVP of, of 2024. She leveled up in a huge way.

Immensely. Yeah. That character and that, that's, you know, I've told her a couple of times, like, you are crushing it. Like, you have found exactly like what your perfect heel. because a good heel has to, you have to have some self-awareness. Like you have to know what impression you give off to people when you walk in the room. Liv Morgan is a stunningly

good-looking girl, right? That can work against you. And she finally, I think, realized like, I can use that. And I remember, I gave her a piece of advice and I, you know, and look, she doesn't need it, but I offer it anyway.

where I was like, your, your heat right now reminds me of Sean in 97. Wow. This like, I know that, like, Sean had that swagger. Yeah. You know? Because Sean was so good that, like, you couldn't, you couldn't be like, you suck. Like, no, he did not suck. He was, it was, he was so demonstrably the best performer, you know, by such a long way, even in 97.

Like, you know, Hogan was a huge. huge star over at WCW. Sting was cooking with Crow Sting. NWO was hot. Austin was coming up. Brett was Brett was Brett. But like, Sean at that time was so on his game. You know, he was so, like, on it. And you couldn't take it away. He was so good in the ring. But when he actually, and then he started using that and being like, what are you going to do about it? And he was good looking. And he's got a good, you know, and he, and so then he's, and, you know, he's calling out like, yeah, like, you know, your girl would leave you for me. That's heat.

Yeah. And Liv has that same thing where it's like, we've got a lot more women in the audience these days. So now they're like, she is really good looking, you know? Like she did, you know, it's totally believable that she would steal someone's boyfriend. Yeah. Where were you in that debut segment? Because Triple H says your name and then you just kind of appear.

I was in the timekeepers. Just sitting there the whole segment? Loaded, yeah. What were the fans saying? Because I'm sure you're getting recognized. Yeah, it was pretty hard to shut. It was, I had to sort of shut that out,

you know, because obviously I'm, you know, there's, and typically, obviously the ones who are closer to the front row are, you know,

usually the ones who are much more sort of diehard fans too. So, so yeah, of course they're going like, oh, I'm to call this. What are you doing here? Like, yeah.

How could you didn't get the big entrance? Was there talk about this? Like, it could have been like, I think I think here he is and your name comes up in the screen. I think Hunter, I look, I think that he, I think that they were unsure about how many people would be familiar with me and that's fine. Again, that's why to me, I was like, I don't really care about whether I have music and entrance or whether I, you know, however, it's like, I, I had that moment. Yeah. I was, that's,

in my mind, I looked at the whole thing and went, cool, I have that. That's fine. That's the, that's the part that's going to live forever. And it does. Yeah. Right? Like, that's the part that's going to go viral or, you know, whatever. No, I think I say go viral. But you know what I'm saying?

Like, that's the part that's going to get clipped and, you know, that's the part that's going to be remembered. We've got an interesting situation here where the general manager of Raw is a former NWA World's Heavyweight Champion. Yeah. I feel like I've said this before in another interview. I can't remember who that was with. And then the general manager of Smackdown is a former NWA World's Heavyweight champion.

Yeah. I was like over a thousand days, though. Look, nobody's counting here. I'm not trying to keep scoring. He might have more than you. I don't know. Who's counting? Yeah.

But it feels like there's something there. There is something there. It's mutual respect. That sounds familiar as well. Mutual respect. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

I love the dynamic between Adam and I. It's a lot of fun. And it's something that you can go to, then get away from for a bit and go back to. look, I think that, I think Hunter's approach, and look, I don't like to speak on his behalf, obviously, but I think that a lot of the time he does like to have a sort of combination of long-term planning and some improvisation, where it's sort of like, yeah, and to me, I've always felt like that's the, that's the key, is like, you need to have an eye, you need to know where you're going, you need to have a destination in mind, and you need to have, and I think you sort of have, you sort of have,

have to have pitch stops along the way that are sort of maybes. Maybe we'll go there. Like, you know, maybe this will lead to this. You know, maybe we'll get to that. You know, Randy Orton RKO'd me out of the blue last time, SmackDown was in Brooklyn. Yeah. Was it the last time or maybe the time before? Anyway, you sold that so well. Hit it and bounced over. It's an RKO, I mean, come on. Brilliant. It's a funny story with that. But the, you know, and then a week later, it's like he cuts me check, because, oh, that's for next time.

You know, but we haven't gone back to it, you know, thankfully. But it's like, I think that, you know, I think, I think, I think Hunter likes having fun with little things like that, you know, laying some breadcrumbs here and there and, you know, planting a seed, whatever. And it's, that's how I look at me and Adam. It's like, there's a, there's always, there's always potential there. There'll be a moment at some point in time where you guys will stand face to face and the crowd's going to go, is, is this it?

jackets come off. Yeah. And maybe you guys don't touch at that moment. He doesn't want that. Wow. He said that about me. I'm just returning the favor. He's giving him a receipt.

What's the story behind the RKO? It was, you know, I still feel funny. I know, like, I know we're in 2024, but I still feel funny about, like, you know, giving away, but it's like, whatever. I've done it now. I can't, I can't not give it to you. It was call on the fly. Wow.

Yeah. Certainly audible. Wow. How was the segment supposed to add? It's Roman, right? Randy's, who's he going to sign with? Yeah. And then he was going to sign the Smackdown contract and, you know, stare down

Roman, I think. And I think that was it. Wow. And then it was like. somebody told somebody told somebody. Yeah. While you're in the ring? Yeah.

Wow. Well, while I was ring side. Wow. So I had to then go in and call it. Oh, that's amazing. Incidentally. It was, well, anyway, I don't, I've never gotten to the bottom of who, who was behind it.

I can tell your struggle with this. No, no, it's not because of anything like that. It's just, I just, you know, I still feel. weird like, you know, giving away the magic, right? But it was just, but again, it seems to have been one of these moments that connects, right? So it's like, there seems to be a heightened level of interest on that particular moment. Because it was quite out of the blue. Yeah.

But I just like to. I was really out of the blue, even for me. You haven't really gotten physical. No. Yeah. No. You've certainly been authoritative. Yeah.

But not like that. Yeah, yeah. And again, I think that that's by design. I think that, you know, like we've had little moments here and they're like, I remember one with Therian Waller where they sort of disrespected Hunter. Yeah, they didn't shake his hand. Yes. And that was, you know, and Hunter sort of instead of Hunter being the one to put them in their place, it's like, you do it. And then from a character standpoint, now that makes you. you look good for your boss. Yeah, yeah. And it was a way to, it was, I think it was, you know, a little way to, there's little things like that that just sort of allow me to use my physical presence

without getting physical. Yeah. You know, because there's a difference. Well, and anybody who has seen you in the ring, I mean, there's a lot of man underneath this suit, right? Like, you're jacked. What is a choice of words you use there, Chris? But, you know, you're going to have to live with it now.

that's going to replay everywhere, isn't it? I don't call you Magnus for nothing, right? They don't call me that anymore, thankfully. Yeah. But, like, you know, you can still go. Yeah. And you're obviously a big man, 6-4, right? Yeah.

240? Yeah, 245. 245 of underselling here. I don't know. 250. No. All right. So you're the size of Triple H, essentially, right?

And I think that it's obvious that you have a real presence there. Your character almost reminds you. me of the teacher who's fun, but when they get serious, you're like, oh, we need to shut up. Yeah. And that's sort of what I go for a lot of the time. It's that's, you know, it's like, yeah, dad can be fun, but when, you know, when you step over the line, dad takes off his belt. Is this what happens at home? I'm sure you have lots of fun with Donovan. Yeah. But he knows when you put on your dad. That's enough. You have your dad voice, right? Yeah, that's, yeah, absolutely. starting to work on that myself.

You know, she's not quite old enough yet. Yeah. But you'll, you'll start, you'll start developing a little, uh, bank of phrases, hey,

that's enough. That's enough. I said no. It keeps building and escalating. What's like the final like, oh gosh, uh, I won't tell you again.

That's my, that, that's when I, when I'm, if, you know, once it's, yeah,

once it's, once it's serious, they'll be like, hey, I won't tell you again. I'm making mental, know to. Those are some like great dad phrases. They have to make eye contact. Like, significant eye contact. Okay. Like, hey, look at me. Hey, put that down. Yeah, right. I won't

tell you again. Like there's a real period at the end of these sentences. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I appreciate it. And a long pause. Okay. I want to tell you again. Now, do you play, three, four. Do you play good cop, bad cop with Mickey? We, well, not intentional. I mean, it's not like you know, it's not that we approach, let me say this, you know, we're blessed with a, you know, for the most part, a very well-behaved kid. So it's not like we, we don't have, you know, it's not like we're sitting here, you know, strategizing our disciplinary action, right? But, I mean, it really depends on who, usually whatever that, you know, it's like, if, if you're, and you'll probably find this too, like, if your kid's misbehaving, is whoever's sort of

in close proximity is bad cop at that moment. So then it's sort of like, then it's the other one has to come and sort of, because, you know, the conflict has arisen over whatever. Yeah, yeah. So it's like, now it's, because look, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a boy. So he's, you know, he's sort of discovering his, you know, his place and everything. And his boundaries. He's becoming a young man. So it's like, he's, exactly.

So a lot of the time, it's more of a case of like not backing down. So then the other parent has to come in. And so I go, okay, what's going on? Yeah. You know, tell me, like, right, tell me, right, tell me the situation. Yeah. Okay, now listen, you know. So it really depends on who's the plaintiff.

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Yeah. So she was in the crowd for bad blood. Yeah. Was that the first time you guys had been together at a wrestling show in years, right? Um, she came to the Hall of Fame. Okay.

Yeah. Like I said, I mean, technically a wrestling show. Yeah. Right? I'd say so. Yeah. I mean, she's been, you know, president. at WWE. Is she involved with WWE?

At this particular moment, no comment. No, no, no, no. I mean, look, I can't, I can't say too much, but she showed up for bad blood. Yes, exactly. And there were a lot of legends in the car. Yeah, and, you know, there's, it was, it was very much a sort of like, hey, we'd love to, you know, see you again. We'd love to, you know, do my. I'll ask you as her husband, how long until she's in the WWE Hall of Fame? I think that she is, I don't, I don't think that there's any question that she's going in. So, you know, as far as when, that's, you know, I don't think, I don't think there needs to be any rush, but at the same time, any time that it would happen would be the right time at this point.

And it's a matter of, like you said, it's not if. Yeah. This is when she's the first ballot. Of course. So it could be a year or two or whatever, but it's happening. Yeah. And you'll be right there when it does happen. I would hope so.

Although there might be some, there might be something more for her to do in the ring. They could be. Could be. With the relationship. Never say never. It's much like my situation, right? There's, there are endless possibilities. And I think that with your circumstances,

situation, you've got this relationship with TNA. W.W.E and TNA have been working together. When you think about the lineage of TNA and that World Heavyweight Championship, I mean, your name is in there. There could be a situation where you show up in TNA. I guess. I hadn't really thought about that, but it might be fun as the GM, you know, yeah, depending on the context. Yeah.

We just did the thing, you know, obviously the machine guns just debuted. That was cool. It was cool for me to be involved in that, you know, because of our history and everything. But again, I think one of the really exciting things about the Polovec era, for lack of a better. I tried to coin the Renaissance era, but that doesn't seem to have taken. I like it. Yeah.

Because if Triple H is at the helm for the next 30 years, do we call this entire era? Right, right. The Triple H era? I just felt like wrestling and WWW in particular was experiencing a Renaissance. It still is, yeah. And part of that, to that point, is there is this freedom of like, like last week in the meeting it was brought up. Like, well, we have a relationship with T&A. Maybe we can get some footage and work some, you know, work some bit into the show, you know.

And, I mean, think about how unheard of that would have been, right, like just a few years ago. Yeah. And I think it's, and again, look, I try, I have to be careful about, I've been. at WWB for one year, which in the grand scheme of things is like nothing. And I'm also aware that I came in in the AAA era. So a lot of my observations and stuff are more sort of just that. There are observations that I don't know. It's more just sort of, okay, it seems to me that this is the way that it is. But I get the feeling that a lot of the guys at the company are still, that fog is still lifting.

They're still realizing like, oh, wait, I can make that suggestion. We could do that. We could do it like that. You know, like, Lee Fitting, I mean, he's just done such an incredible job, right? Like, and it's just these, for a guy, his caliber, in his mind,

he's probably, he's in such small, you know, simple kind of changes that he's made. But to us, we're like, whoa, you know, like some of the shots that he's been come out. coming up with and, you know, developing. I mean, just, I mean, absolutely incredible. Those continuous one shots that start in the back. Yeah, and like the stuff with Sammy or Jay and up in the, up in the, up in the, up in the, up in the, up in the, up in the, up in the, up in the con courses of the arena and coming down with them and all that sort of stuff.

Yeah. It's like when you, and you go, how did, how did we not do this before, right? Like, it's one of those, it's sometimes you can't see the forest for the trees, right? And it's like that. And it takes someone from fresh eyes. Right. I love the arrival shots. Yes.

Because it makes it feel like it's NFL or NBA. Right. Major leagues. We are the major leagues. This is it. Absolutely. So the show starts and it's like, well, this person's arriving. Oh, and there's the person they're feuding with also arriving.

It just sets the table for what you can expect later on. There is no ceiling for the WWE. That's it right there. Literally none. Yeah. And these are conversations that have happened internally. like we we don't have to we don't have to be like almost as big as the NFL you know yeah why not yeah right like we're about to be on Netflix that's going to change everything yeah right

yeah i don't you know about to go global more global right like i think it's i think when if you think about where where the company was you know where it started and all the way through it's almost like he's like, I couldn't possibly get any bigger. Not according to Nick Kahn. With it continuing to get bigger and bigger and more global, do you think we'll ever see a WrestleMania in the UK? Yeah, absolutely. I don't think that you have the mayor of London

campaigning, Chris, using it, like he pledged to try to get wrestlers. at Wembley in his campaign for mayor of London. I mean, what else is there that solidifies the status of deputy? And he got reelected, right? Or elected, so like. As far as I'm aware. So that's, I mean, when did you ever think, good on this?

I mean, when did you ever think that, I mean, and mayor of London is not a small political position. Yeah. You know, in the UK, it's sort of like, really, in a lot of ways, it's kind of the second, you know, most sought after position after PM in a lot of ways. Because a lot of times it's the precursor to being PM. It's like, when did you ever think that, you know, someone running from Mayor of London would say, I'm going to bring, I'm, real like me, I'm going to, I'm going to do everything I can to bring WrestleMania to Wembley Stadium. Yeah. You know, like, I mean, and think about the Hoy-Polloy, you know, types who would have been like, He's talking about rustling, ghastly.

And now, and like, he's campaigning with it. Yeah. That's where we're at. And John Cena came in, the whole thing at Money Bank. Yes. Right. He doesn't, he doesn't say something like that without having some pretty serious intention and belief behind it and probably some intel, you know, that I'm not privy to. This feels, again, like this is a, when this happens, not if they're,

this happens, WrestleMania in London. I'm not the right person to ask. I'm only asking you because you're a countryman. I've given, I've said as much as I can say, you know, as like without just making shit up.

So, let's just speculate wildly. To me, it feels like it has to happen. Did you think that with everything you were doing in your career, TNA, NWA, and the career you would build and the resume you would build,

that WWE had kind of passed you by, that that wasn't going to happen. You weren't going to work in WWA? Yeah, maybe a little bit. But not fully. I had sort of, I had made peace with it. I'd made peace with the idea that maybe it wouldn't happen. Because I felt like I felt like I met all the criteria. You know, I still do.

I felt like I had sort of, I was, you know, and I'd knocked on the door quite a few times. And just, and I just never seemed to get much further than that. And honestly, this last time, I contacted Paul directly. Because I was just like, what's the worst that can happen? he says no directly. At least I'll hear it from the horse's mouth. And obviously that didn't happen. So what do I have to lose?

Yeah. I had a conversation with someone because, you know, in the business, it was without question the most frequently asked question, you know, from my peers like, how the hell are you not there? How are you, you know? The old time would be like, why aren't you in New York, you know? And I would always just go, and it,

and it was some, I won't say who, because I don't want to throw him under the bus, but they were just like, do you want his number? Just, he's just cool,

just contact him directly. There's a lot of gatekeepers, you know? So, sometimes you can't necessarily be sure that, you know, your message is getting all the way,

right? Yeah. So, you've got his number. They just went, just contact him directly. And just tell, you know,

tell, you know, you're available and see if you, you know, see if you wants to have a conversation. So how much did you think through that text and rewrite it? Not too much. Not too much. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not that kind of, I'm fairly confident in my communication skills. I'd say. And, you know, and it was very, I said this and I've said this in interview, so I don't

feel weird disclosing it. But I said, I'm, I'd just love to talk about contributing in any way that you think I can. Right. And that's, I think that's how we ended up here because it was this sort of, okay, he wants to contribute. Okay, let's see if he's, let's see if he's full of shit. You know, how would you like to contribute here? Great. Okay. How about this? Great. That's the way I look at it. This episode is brought to you by Manscaped. The holidays are right around the corner. And if you want to look sharp for all those festive gatherings, check out the latest masterpiece from Manscape, the chairman pro electric foil shaver. Trust me, this is like Rood all for your face, guiding you to a smooth, irritation-free shave. Head over to manscape.com and join the over 11 million men worldwide who trust Manscaped by using the code Chris Van for 20% off plus free shipping.

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Get 20% off plus free shipping when you use the code Chris Van at Manscape.com. That's 20% off plus free shipping with the code Chris Van, C-H-R-I-S-V-A-N at Manscaped.com. The United States Soccer Federation present the U.S. Soccer Podcast. My name is David Goss, and I'm joined by my co-host, Megan Klinemberg. And now we're giving people an inside look at the World Cup. Time's ticking. I think you can feel the intensity. All the guys are wanting to really take their claim,

and they want to be on that World Cup roster. There's no doubt about it. Hosting the World Cup on the home soil comes with its pressures, but we're just really excited just as the people are. The U.S. Soccer Podcast, presented by Henco. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. I feel like you are paid the best compliment when people say he is the best Smackdown General Manager since Teddy Long. Yeah.

Because Teddy Long is synonymous with that role, right? Yes. And he's been so, you know, can I just say it's so cool to me that I ended up sort of in that spot because even before I was ever involved with WWE, I would bump into Teddy, you know, all over the place at conventions and different events and stuff like that. and he was always so complimentary to me. And he was one of those guys that was like, you need to be up there. Like, you need to be in New York, you know. So it's cool for me to sort of get that spot and to be talked about with him

because I love Teddy so much. They're big shoes to fill, right? Yeah. When people think of Smackdown, General Manager. And I got to do the thing with him, you know, on that. Because I think, again, that's the beauty of social media, is that you become aware of all these conversations that are happening in real time. And so then it presents this idea of like, what's what's stopping us? Let's just do that.

Yeah. I think that's, that, that might be the, that might be to me is that the, the, the phrase that exemplifies where, where we're at, you know, with WWE in the, in the current era, what's stopping us? Mm. Nothing. Yeah. Right. Yeah. If you don't have another match, are you at peace with the career that you've had? Oh, honestly, no. I would, you know, it's, I would like to, I would like to lace them up, you know, I don't, not, you know, I don't, I don't, I don't care if it's on a regular basis, but I've earned it. And it sounds like it's not just one more time. I don't know. If it was one more time, so be it. But like I said, I've, I felt like I meet the criteria to, you know, be on that, be on that, be on that canvas at least once. How's your bicep doing, right?

Right. 100%. How did that happen? Oh no. Oh, no. So I tore my left one in AAA in Mexico, you know, catching a dive. That's how most people tear a bicep catching a dive. You know, I've been relatively injury, you know, but obviously like all wrestlers. You know, you've had a few gnarly, you know, things. All the rest of them have to think, this one, I was doing Ninja Warrior.

My kid goes to Ninja Warrior every week. Yeah. And then we went to, we went to. we went to like a trampoline park place. I was coming off the road, not a lot of sleep, probably dehydrated. And there's a ninja warrior course. So he's going through it. And they had the rings.

And, you know, I was on gladiators back in the day. That was sort of my big break on television. I was good at Hang Tough. That was like one of, that was probably my best, one of my best events. Yeah. So I'm looking at it. And I'm like, oh, I used to love this. You know, I wonder if I can still do it.

it not like not even thinking like you're 36 you know i'm not old but like you still have to like but you are at a point we have to warm up and you do have to you know you can't just dive in you know and yeah you're 240 pounds like and you dehydrated 245 245 yeah and i just swing the next one transition pop bang and i just drop down on a looked and I went, son of a bitch. You knew? Oh, yeah. I mean, audible pop. It's like, oh. And I just, I looked up, I'm standing in a bull pit.

Yeah. My son's like, come on, dad. Like, let's go. You know, and I just, and I look at Mickey and she's just like, what's the matter? And I was like, she's like, you what? I'm just picturing all the other dads, like, bicep injury aside. I'm just picturing all the other dads seeing this monster of a man. I'm sure, yeah. Going through the Ninja Warrior going, I had to go to the gym.

I don't know about that, but they probably, yeah, they probably got a good, then they saw me go, you know, they went, ha,

ha, look at all those mirror muscles, yeah, yeah, probably. And I just, yeah,

so I just, I was like, well, that's me done. Went and sat down and, you know, I mean, I still let him finish,

you know, carry on playing. I was like, and then to the hospital? Yeah, like, a day or two. I knew what I had done.

I text Hunter and said, I just told my bicep and he's like, oh shit, really. But you're good to go now. Yeah. Ring ready. We've got great treatment at Vanderbilt in,

you know, in Nashville, obviously, you know, obviously very, very good surgeons there and stuff. And yeah, they took very good care of me.

The same guy that fixes up all the preds and a lot of the, um, those guys. So yeah, he took very good care of me. When was the last time you took a bump? I guess that RKO from Randy. Okay. Yeah.

I mean, it was a good one. It was a great one. It's telling you. Especially with a little fat. In a three-piece suit, too. Again, no warm-up. Worried about ripping the suit? No.

Because custom-made, Nicola's collection, Zia suits, brother. Is there a monogram on the inside? On this one? Let's see. Yeah, of course there is. Especially tailored. for Mr. Oldish.

Incredible. What's your closet look like? Well, you know, the suits are in their own place, but it's not, you know, it's not, I don't think it's excessive. It's not lavish. Over under on suits? 30? Yeah, probably like 40?

No, no, no. No, under 30. Who has more suits? You or Cody? Oh, probably Cody. At this point, I mean, he's, you know, but he's he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, I tend to try to get the most out of mine, you know. I don't think he repeats suits.

Yeah, maybe not. He probably doesn't. That's kind of the great thing about suits, right? Different color shirt, different tie. I did teach Cody how to tie a double Windsor not, though. Really? What was he tying before? I guess a single Windsor.

I don't know. That's the only one. It was when we were getting ready for all in, and I forget, you know, we were doing something, right? And obviously, we're both wearing suits or whatever. And now when I'm doing the tie and he's going like, Cody is hyper competitive, right, in the good way. He's crazy competitive.

So he's like, I see him in the mirror. Like, you're doing a double wins or not? Yeah. Now I've got to learn I do it double wins or not. I was like, oh, it's easy. I feel like you're going to have to teach me that. I got a terrible. It's funny.

You know, it's weird. like I actually find that easier now than than a regular. Well, it's probably just like it's routine for it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I did it in the car yesterday on the way to that wedding because we, because we, our flights got messed up and we had to host it from D.C. and we went to drive. So Mickey,

I'm driving. Mickey's in the back putting on like, it was like a 1920s style thing. So she's got like the, uh, the dress with the, you know, the hair deal and the,

she did the whole, just the whole thing in the car. then I switched and put on the three piece pinstripe and the double wins are not in the back of the car. One of the true testaments to can you tie a grid tie is can you do it without a mirror? Yeah. I cannot. Yeah, you'll get there. Well, I've been wearing suits for, yeah, I mean.

I've been wearing suits for 20 years, you know, when I was on TV, I was wearing them every day. Yes. If you have to do it, here's the thing, like, if you have to do it under pressure, even when, even when we were doing NBA power, like, there would be, because we would tape six or seven episodes, in one day sometimes. You came to those early tapings, right? At GPB, I would have all the different outfits, like, lined up. Right. So that I could just come in, like, try to sort of, you know, try to sort of cool down.

So I wasn't sweating profusely into my next one, because then I'd have to, because then, you know, 10 minutes later, I'm going out with this next week show. But I would just have the whole thing laid out. So that was when I, I think, started to develop that skill of being able to do. do it quickly. I think one of the best things about being a general manager is the amount of screen time that you get. Yeah. Like think about this. If you were a wrestler, you might get one segment in a match. Here, how many segments do you get on a any given scale? Well, I don't, I don't, well, I don't ever get a full segment. That's the thing. I mean, so I guess sometimes I do if I'm in, if I'm in a

segment with Roman or, you know, Cody or something, I guess I'm something like, but, but as far as like, yeah, as far as, yeah, as far as like, yeah, how many times do we see you on camera? It sometimes, it depends. sometimes several, sometimes once, sometimes none. But it's almost every show. Yeah, yeah. And that's a, it is valuable. And that's the thing. There's a lot of FaceTime there.

My approach, like I said, you know, like I said, when I, when I, very, very grateful for every opportunity that I've gotten with the company. My thought on, on it was, if you want me to be the general manager, I'll be the best general manager you've ever seen. And I'll maximize my minutes, you know, that's an old phrase and it's true. You got to maximize your minutes. I heard Cody saying that was the best advice he ever got from his dad. 100%.

Maximize your minutes, even if it's just on camera for 10 seconds. What's the stuff that resonates with most, you know, if you went out on the street in Brooklyn now when you surveyed, you know, 20 billion. And then you said, hey, give me a catchphrase from wrestling, right? Most of they're going to go, suck it. Yeah, that's the bottom line. Do you smell what the rock is? Yeah, right. Yeah, exactly.

What are you going to do, brother? Right. these are all things that were five seconds at one point. These were all things that were mentioned once. Austin 316 says, I'm going to whip your ass. It was a throwaway,

you know, he threw it out there. Yeah. Right? Yeah, that, can you tell me anything about the match he had before that promo? I think there's a lot of people,

casual fans, they won't even know who the match was with. Right. They won't even know it was King of the Ring. Right. They won't know who's Jake the Snake. Right, right. They don't even know why.

he was saying 316 because it's tied into everything with Jake. Yeah, it was a receipt for Jake's promo. Right. Yeah. Have you thought about a catchphrase for what you're doing? No, I don't. No, I mean, first of all, it's not something that I think that you want to force ever. Because.

But I also think, I think once you get into sort of catchphrase, I'm still, I still feel like I'm establishing the character. Yeah. It takes a long time. But if you think about the people who've come before you, we've got, you are going one-on-one. Everybody knows the end of that one. Excuse me. Yeah, yeah.

There's definitely, I mean, I think it's going to happen organically if there is something there. Yeah. So that's my thought on it is I don't try to force it. But I think just the overall feel of your character is not backing down. Yeah. I see comments all the time of like, Smackdown finally has a general manager just like doesn't take it crap. You know, I mean, Michael Cole might be the biggest proponent. I mean, you know, Michael Coles that had some.

very strong words, you know, as far as the comparison to me and my raw counterpart. I'm grateful that I'm on the right side of that. Yeah. Michael Cole, man, he could be biting. When he doesn't like you. Boy. Like the things he said about Dom? Yes. Like, geez. Yeah. You don't want to be on the wrong side of Michael Cole. He's got three hours to bury you. How do you feel about working with Chelsea Green? It's, I mean, it's a night off. It's great. You don't have You don't have to think very hard because she's just going to give you endless material. She's hilarious. What a great example of maximizing your minutes.

What a great example of taking something that a lot of people would have seen that particular opportunity. And I think Chelsea, we've had conversations that, you know, that kind of tipped her around this actually with each other. Chelsea and I've known each other a long time. We're around the same age. Like we've been, we've sort of been in a lot of the same places, right? Like, we've had quite a similar career paths in some respects. And I think for her, you know, there was this thing of like, will I ever, will I ever get the shot on the main show?

Yeah. You know? And then it comes. And I'm sure that this probably isn't what she first had in mind. I don't want to speak for her, but I would venture to say that what she's doing, it probably isn't like what she envisioned a long time ago. but man, is she taking this and run with it? Yeah.

You know? It's every time she's on camera, it's so memorable. Yeah. Even when she got eliminated from the Royal Rumble in how many seconds. She's one of the producers' favorite talents to work with. I'll say that. Because it's just easy? She's business.

That's amazing. She is business. It's so good to be able to catch up with you here. What a different, like when we talked, I think it was last July. Yeah. What a different phase of your life you're in right now. Yeah. Yeah, I think when you came to the house, you know, I was definitely in a good place.

I definitely was, I was excited about, I had no doubt that I was going to, you know, get the producer gig. But you didn't know what that was going to turn into. No. And look what it's turned into. I think, if I remember this rightly, I think at the end of our conversation at my house, I said, open mind and open heart. Right? Yeah. Here we are. And is that still what you have moving forward?

Yeah. Gratitude, faith. Come what may. And you've led right into my gratitude question. There we go. This is so good. Well, congrats on everything. Thank you. And you've been absolutely crushing it.

And you're only a year into this job right now on camera. What are three things, Nick? Maybe they're the same as last time, but what are three things you're grateful for? the opportunity from Paul Vec, the support of my wife and faith, that's probably the main difference is that I've got much more in touch of my faith this year. Like since we last spoke, that's probably the biggest change is I don't talk about it very much because it feel like it's quite a private thing, but I have definitely embraced my faith more.

Was there something in your life that happened that made you? No. No, not really. We found a great church near us, and it just, it's something that I noticed that my son had a more significant interest. And it sort of got me thinking like, yeah, well, you know, I went to Sunday school as a kid. I'll say, you know, churches in England are, while I certainly appreciate that I got, you know, there are some immaculate, beautiful, old medieval churches like the one I went to in Docking,

where I grew up. But as far as the actual service, a bit dry, you know, a little bit on the dry side. Sure. So as a kid, you're sort of like, this is boring, you know. And then for me, like football, you played football on the Sunday. So Sunday league football was the sort of thing that got, you know, I didn't do it to get out of church, but it was the sort of thing that, you know, that separated me from that. And then, you know, it just, like I said, because my son, you know, started to sort of express, you know,

some curiosity to it. He goes to a Christian school and Mickey has always had, you know, pretty strong faith. And we just said, well, maybe there's a, maybe there's something, maybe there's something there. Maybe we're, you know, maybe that's, maybe that's the thing that's missing. You know, maybe we're sort of, maybe we want to, because there is a, look, I don't want to, I don't push it on anyone and I don't, and I, you know, everyone's, to me, everyone's faith is different. And it's totally private. And I couldn't care less where you are on the spectrum.

Yeah. But I will say that the community. that we've been able to, you know, develop, you know, and meet. You know, it's just, it's no matter where, like I said, no matter where you are, it's like to be able to go into a place and, you know, everybody there is shaking your hand and say, welcome, you know, like, I'm so-and-so, oh, this is my wife, so is that, you know, and it's, my, my, my kids made a bunch of new friends and, you know, it's like, there's just, there's a lot of community there.

and it's that's something that has, you know, move me forward. Well, those are three great things to be grateful for. Absolutely. Good to see you, my friend. Thank you. All right, my friends. I just, I love chatting with Nick. So good to be able to catch up with him.

And a huge congrats on all of the success that he's having. Like when you think of a Smackdown General Manager, yeah, of course you think about Teddy Long, who was a great guest on the show. Go back and listen to that from a few months ago if you haven't already. to it. But man, Nick Aldous is really carving out his own thing here. And I love to see it. I also appreciate his honesty about his in-ring career saying that he's not done there. You know, he still wants to lay some up again, not just for one more match from the sounds of it. He wants to lay some up again and feels like he still has a lot more to give.

Snap a screenshot and tag us online to let us know you were listening to this episode and so that we can share it out as well. He's that real Nick Aldus on Twitter. He's that real Nick Aldus on Twitter. He's at Nick Aldous on Instagram. I'm at Chris Van Fleet. And I will wrap this up with a quote from Howard Thurman. Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

I love that. Be great. Be grateful. We will see you on the next one for some more insight. Ricardo Rodriguez joins us on Thursday. That was a fun one. We will see you on Thursday for that. The Hammer Alley podcast, an 80s flashback mockumentary.

Back in the 80s, there were a thousand bands trying to make it in the world of rock, but there was one band that had it all. Hammer Alley. Whatever happened to Hammer Alley? How did they go from top of the rock? I'm looking for a music video. They're a band from 1987. Hammer Alley.

Ever heard of them? To Rock Bottom. Dude, I was born in 1987. I can't believe he's doing. Hammer Alley. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.