Nick Aldis is set to make his in-ring debut with WWE this weekend. Ahead of the match, he calls the moment the ultimate validation for how hard he’s worked.
Speaking to Malcolm of MuscleManMalcolm in a recent interview, Aldis was asked how he’s feeling ahead of his upcoming match. He’ll take on Gunther in what will be his WWE in-ring debut. Although the pressure is high, Aldis said he’s excited, and feels “validated” by WWE’s decision to give him a chance.
Nick Aldis reflects on joining WWE as an in-ring competitor and making his SummerSlam debut after years as a wrestling veteran
“I’m feeling nervous but excited. I’m feeling good. I’ve been just really immersing myself in crazy conditioning workouts, just to try to get my conditioning where it needs to be, as best you can in a very short amount of time, for what is obviously a very tall order to be in the ring at SummerSlam with one of the real elite-level guys in our industry,” said Aldis. “I feel good, I feel nervous, in a good way. I feel excited, I feel validated. But I also understand that the work for me is to deliver at SummerSlam and that’s pretty much all I’m focused on.”
Aldis wouldn’t answer whether or not he’s going to have more matches in WWE’s ring. For now, he’s fully focused on SummerSlam, even if the opportunity should arise for more.
“I am 100 percent fully focused on SummerSlam. I came into this with no expectations. I come out of it with no expectations. The demands are only on myself. I’m demanding of myself to put on a performance worthy of what I believe to be my pedigree and my level,” Aldis said. “After that, it’s out of my hands, right? It’s in God’s hands and it’s also about any number of different factors. It’s about the audience, it’s about our fans, it’s about the circumstances with what’s available. I didn’t know this was happening. I didn’t expect this to happen.
“So, I’m certainly not going to, then, you know, oh! Now I can do this and this and now it will lead to this… Early on, I had a couple of little freakout moments, where I was a bit sort of like, ‘Why is everyone so calm about this?’ Taking a guy who’s never wrestled here and you put him in a match at SummerSlam with a top guy. No one’s asking me, do you think you can do it?”
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