Billy Corgan would like to bring the National Wrestling Alliance to new markets it doesn’t typically perform in front of.
National Wrestling Alliance owner Billy Corgan recently sat down with WrestleZone’s Managing Editor Bill Pritchard. When asked about touring his wrestling company with his band, Smashing Pumpkins, Corgan said he thinks it’s valuable to try and integrate the general audience.
“Well as a marketing exercise. I think its upside is sort of mixed,” Billy Corgan admitted. “It’s expensive, and you could argue you could take that same amount of money that you’re spending and use digital advertising on Instagram and Twitter and kind of achieve the same result. For us, it’s valuable because I think it allows myself and the talent to see how we integrate with the general audience.
“So even if it’s a bit of R&D, it shows me that there is an audience out there that will be interested in the NWA. We just have to figure out how to reach them. It’s a bit of fun, and we’re getting some cool stuff out of it. Even just having the talent out here right now to cut some fresh promos for going into NWA 75. I’ve done a lot of things over the last 5 or 6 years that don’t make financial sense but have been beneficial to the company as far as building culture.
“And it’s a small thing, but when a talent pulls me aside and says, ‘Look, this is the coolest thing I’ve ever done, and I’ve been in wrestling for 15 years, it’s so fun and interesting and different and just to be outside of our normal lane.'”
“So however all that adds up if it’s NWA or it’s Billy’s world somehow now it sort of seems to be working and I hope to do more of it. I’m at a point now where I can even see a scenario where I might be able to pitch Live Nation, who I work with with the band, biggest promoter really in the world. The idea that maybe there’s a way to take wrestling out with other tours.
“Not necessarily my own tours, and have the wrestling be additive as part of the marketing for certain tours. I think we’re kind of in the neighborhood of that. So maybe it might even be turned into its own business because the integration point is a lot better than I think anybody would have imagined.
“And I think we’ve done it now 14 times Mexico, Australia, now America. And the results have always been the same. There hasn’t been one bad show. One bad thing where you thought, ‘Oh, this was a pointless exercise.’ So it really is there.”
NWA In Philadelphia
When asked if he was looking into other markets for the National Wrestling Alliance, Corgan revealed that he’d love to run at the 2300 Arena at some point.
“We have had been in discussions at different times with what is affectionately known as the ECW Arena. I think it was called 2300 now — we would love to run there,” Billy Corgan said. “And we’ve also looked at New York at different times. We were hoping to run Philly this year. It just hasn’t worked out. That building’s booked a lot, unfortunately. And the way we work is we tend to book kind of shorter windows.
“We don’t book things out nine months in advance. honestly, a lot have to do with our TV scheduling. So, when that changes, I wouldn’t mind booking the building out way in advance and knowing we’re coming in. I think Philadelphia would be a market that would really, really enjoy the NWA. I’m not saying we’re ECW.
“I don’t think we’re anything like ECW. But what I do know about Philly fans is they like wrestling with real physicality. And the NWA is at its most physical right now in 2023, probably since it’s been — I guess you could argue since the Crockett Times. So I think the Philly audience in particular would really appreciate the NWA style.”
“Not a lot of frills, but if you like, people going at it. I would point to an NWA 75 match, which is coming up, which is Homicide versus Joe Alonzo. Joe Alonzo is a young NWA superstar. Of course, anybody who’s a wrestling fan knows Homicide. And Joe Alonzo has been cutting some really interesting promos on his social media.
“He did one where he did an imitation of like he was talking very down to Homicide and he does an imitation of Homicide. And I watched it. I was like, ‘Oh my God, Homicide is going to beat the hell out of you.’ And if that ain’t Philly, I don’t know what is. You know what I mean?
“Because Paul [Heyman] was really good at getting that sense of two people in competition over something that isn’t always a championship. It’s not pride, and it’s not a championship. It’s somewhere in between, something personal. I think this feud has that kind of feel to it, and so that feels cool.”
You can also check out our complete interview with Billy Corgan in the embedded video below.
READ MORE: Billy Corgan’s Vision Is Very Clear, Hopes To ‘Catch The Wave’ With The NWA
What do you make of Billy Corgan’s comments? Do you think Philadelphia fans would still enjoy NWA despite it not being an ECW-style product? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
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