WWE: Mickie James on Nick Aldis Signing with WWE, Natayla on Original Plans for Jim Neidhart WWE HoF Induction, More News

Mickie James Comments on Nick Aldis Signing with WWE & Working as SmackDown General Manager

As noted before, Nick Aldis signed an official contract with WWE this past week and was recently announced to be the new General Manager of WWE’s SmackDown brand.

A recent episode of the Under The Ring podcast featured Aldis’ wife and Impact Wrestling talent Mickie James as the guest. One of the topics discussed included James’ thoughts on Aldis working for WWE and him being recently named as SmackDown’s new General Manager.

“I can’t tell you how excited I am for Nick. He’s worked a really long time and there’s been opportunities that perhaps he thought it may never happen, or we thought it would never happen, just different things along the way and I feel like it’s his time now. I’m so grateful that he’s finally gotten an opportunity, I know he’s going to kill it. He’s so great on the microphone as it is, but I think this GM role is perfect because he can be cocky and people can love him, or they can hate him. I’m so excited for him and he deserves it more than the world. I was crying when I got the news and I had been waiting for the news to come out, and I was trying to keep it as secret as possible so it was a big surprise. It’s amazing to see him living the dream, and living his dream because we’re obviously a couple and a team, but I’ve had so many amazing opportunities in my career and I feel like a lot of people don’t know how good he is, and now they’re going to see.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

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Natayla Comments on WWE Had Plans to Induct Jim Neidhart as Solo Act & Reason for His Induction as Hart Foundation

A recent episode of the Insight with Chris Van Vliet podcast featured Natayla as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Natayla revealing that WWE had plans at one point to induct her late father Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart as a solo act into their Hall of Fame in 2018. Natayla also stated that she pushed for her father to be inducted alongside her uncle Bret Hart as the Hart Foundation instead due to the importance Neidhart and Hart had on each other’s careers.

“He (Bret Hart) made my dad, he helped my dad so much. When I look at it, Bret always says, you know, ‘Jim helped me come out of my shell and Jim helped me find my personality.’ But when my dad and Bret were going into the Hall of Fame, it’s funny because I was very, very, very adamant. At one point it was approached, you know… I was basically presented with the idea of my dad going in by himself. And I said, ‘I want my dad and Bret in there together as the Hart Foundation because that was my dad’s favorite time in his career. That’s when he had the most fun. That’s when he was the most alive. That’s when he just did his best work. And Bret just looked out for him so much. And they were just so close and such a well-oiled machine.’ And so as much as like, in that moment, Vince (McMahon) was like, ‘We can put your dad in by himself.’ I was like, ‘I want my dad and Bret together. I want them together because my dad would have wanted that…’ So that was really cool to be able to do that for my dad… I know he would have been so excited to be part of the Hall of Fame.”

Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com

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WWE News & Notes

Tuesday’s NXT show featured the official announcement that next week’s Halloween Havoc 2023 Night 1 show will feature a live performance by band New Year’s Day. It was announced that New Year’s Day will be performing their song “Vampyre” which is the official theme song for this year’s Halloween Havoc special.

WWE recently released the official poster for next month’s Crown Jewel 2023 event in Saudi Arabia featuring Bianca Belair, John Cena, Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins, Logan Paul, Roman Reigns, and Rhea Ripley.

Jade Carill filed a trademark for “Jade Cargill on October 11th for wrestling and merchandise-related purposes to the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that NXT talents Nathan Frazer and Trick Williams were in attendance backstage at this past Monday’s WWE RAW show in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Johnson reported that the reason for Frazer and Williams visit was for that night’s Main Event tapings held prior to the start of RAW.

The Stamford Advocate reported that a new giant seven foot WWE Championship belt statue is currently nearly completion of it construction in front of WWE’s new headquarters building in Stamford, Connecticut.

As noted before, Nick Aldis signed an official contract with WWE this past week. The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer reported that his sources stated that the current belief is that Aldis will be able to fulfill his remaining commitments on the indies as long as it does not take place on Fridays due to his current work for WWE as SmackDown’s on-screen General Manager. Meltzer reported that this issue was the reason why Aldis had to pull out of a booking for an indie event in Calgary this past Friday since it conflicted with his WWE work. Meltzer also reported that it is currently not known if Aldis will be allowed to take new bookings in the indies following his signing with WWE.

Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that Nick Aldis is currently expected to continue his work as a backstage producer in WWE on top of his current duties as the on-screen General Manager for SmackDown.

As noted before, Logan Paul defeated Dillon Danis in a boxing match this past Saturday in Manchester, England. Following the bout, Paul called out Rey Mysterio for a shot at his WWE United States Championship. Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that Paul calling out Mysterio for a match was something that had always been planned by WWE officials for Paul to do for his post-fight interview. It was reported that WWE already had plans in place prior to the fight for Paul to make an appearance at this Friday’s SmackDown show.

In a recent interview with the MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani show, Rey Mysterio gave his thoughts on his interest in a hair vs. mask match in the future against his son Dominik Mysterio. Mysterio stated “Why not? I would love that. I don’t think we’ve ever seen that here. Imagine him bald. Don’t imagine me without the mask, you already know.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

Dragon Lee recently reflected on Twitter about his recent official call-up to WWE’s SmackDown brand. Lee stated “When I was a child, every Sunday I eagerly bought CDs to watch WWE. I remember how excited I was to see so many super stars characters, i dreamed of being here and today I am fulfilling it… •”Sueña en grande, apunta al infinito aunque falles aterrizarás entre las estrellas”• “