Various: Billy Corgan Denies Reports of NWA Planning Cutbacks, Mickie James on Break from Impact, Stephanie Vaquer

Nov 18, 2023

Billy Corgan Denies Reports of NWA Dealing with Financial Issues & Plans for Roster & Staff Cuts

PWInsider held a recent interview with National Wrestling Alliance owner Billy Corgan. One of the topics discussed included Corgan’s thoughts about the current financial health of the NWA following reports of the company dealing with serious financial issues.

“[The] Financial health is fine. I’m 100 percent owner, still. No investors. So I answer to no one on expenditures except myself. For those who have noticed, this has been an incredibly successful period in my musical life; including a massive summer tour in 2023 and two more tours on the books for 2024 with an arena and festival summer run in Europe flowing into stadium tour with Green Day. So if I needed additional funding (I don’t currently) I can get it easily, because I also own all my songs as well as my recorded work (what they call ‘masters’) since 2001; and which one could get loans on against future earnings, etc. if needed.”

Corgan also denied the rumors and reports of the NWA is currently planning to cutback on expenses for shows going forward.

“This is where the stupidity of this kind of ‘reporting’ shows itself. Sarasota, Florida [tomorrow’s NWA event] is a live-to-tape event which will turn into future episodes of Powerrrr. So we try to balance who’s flying in from where, etc. to ensure the quality of the show is very high against the cost of running a live remote. [The live remote] is much more expensive than running, say at Skyway in Nashville in a TV studio. So by definition, this live ‘taping’ is more expensive than Powerrr in the studio. So we are actually spending more money, not less. 2023 has been the most expensive year yet of the Lightning One era and that’s a good thing because the wrestling and quality of our productions has never been higher, which feeds into landing TV deals.”

Corgan also denied the rumors and reports of the NWA planning to do roster cuts within the near future.

“None. The territorial system being reinstated is partly to make sure that if key roster talents are not in a particular tv taping cycle they keep working in our NWA ecosystem. We value everyone that works for us; and some are under contract and some are not, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want everyone working for us all the time. [If I didn’t want them], I would not have invested time (and money by extension) in storylines and promotion of a character they own.”

Mickie James Comments on Her Current Status with Impact Wrestling

As noted before, Mickie James is currently taking a break from Impact Wrestling for an unknown amount of time.

A recent episode of the GAW TV podcast featured James as the guest. One of the topics discussed included James providing an update on her current status with Impact and confirmed that she is not under a contract with the company.

“I will say, I saw also on the Internet that I was taken off of the IMPACT roster page, and I was like, ‘Oh, that’s interesting.’ You know what I was really shocked about, and I appreciate the fans, thank you guys. You all are amazing, to know that you care, and that it moved you to a point to where it kind of rumbled my timeline. I don’t know about who else’s timeline it rumbled, but I certainly saw a bunch of stuff about it. I was like, oh. I’ve had a wonderful working relationship with IMPACT this whole time, and I’ve been able to do some really great stuff. They helped me so much with EmPowerr, but also I was able to, the whole Rumble thing, going back for the Rumble as Knockouts World Champion, but I’ve never been under contract the whole time I’ve been there. I have a great relationship with Scott. I love Scott. They know that I’m always here for them.
Right now, it took me a second to come to this, but I wanted to do great business no matter what. But right now, Nick just got a hell of an opportunity, and an opportunity that he’s waited a very, very long time to get. Between juggling both of our schedules of me being on the road, I just found myself very stressed out. I also think he’s having a really awesome opportunity, and I think that I could just sit back for a little because I don’t really have anything else to prove in this world of wrestling. Are there things that I still want to do, or if it was the right thing or the right moment, or whatever? Sure, I’m down. I’m always down to do good business, wherever that is. But I also wanted to take a space and just kind of be home and let Nick go out and do his thing as the GM of SmackDown right now, without any stress, without any worry, and knowing that I’m mom-ing at home hard. I’ve still got signings, I still have appearances. I could still show up in a wrestling ring tomorrow if I wanted to and kick all the ass because that’s what Hardcore Country does [laughs].
I think because IMPACT is rebranding, they’re changing from IMPACT to TNA, as they’re revamping, I think that they just kind of removed everyone who wasn’t active on the roster, and my last stint was, I told them, I want to come back. I want to face Trinity, I think this will be great, it’ll be monumental. I think that it takes any doubt out of the fans’ minds of who’s the champ, and who’s not the champ. Plus, I just wanted an opportunity to wrestle Trinity in a singles match because I never had a chance to do that, and I love her and I respect her so much. I did that, I thought we had a great match, and cheers. I’m just at home, chilling, waiting on the phone to ring.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

Stephanie Vaquer Comments on Match with Mercedes Mone at NJPW’s Resurgence 2023 Event

Denise Salcedo held a recent interview with Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre talent Stephanie Vaquer. One of the topics discussed included Vaquer’s thoughts about her match against Mercedes Mone at New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Resurgence 2023 event this past May.

“Fighting was a unique experience, eh? I think it was one of the best fights I’ve had in my career, not only because it was with a great, uh, exponent like Mercedes Monet, but also because it was a very special event for me. On that day I became the first Latina to fight in New Japan. So for me it was something very, very important. I had a lot of pressure because it was like opening a door for all the Amazons in CMLL.”

Vaquer also gave her thoughts about the ovation she received from the crowd after the match being a very special moment of her career.

“So many things depended on me. That day was really spectacular and I remember very well when the fight was over. In my head. I was just thinking. I could not win. I could not win. I couldn’t win. But the moment I got up, I was on my way to the locker room. People started clapping. Then they started to stand up and I turned around thinking Mercedes was in the hallway, but I turned around and saw that Mercedes Mone was there and I realized they were applauding me. So for me I really almost cried with emotion because I said wow, it’s an audience that is not, does not know me. It’s a place where it’s not my home, it’s not my arena, that’s what I’m used to, maybe feel it. The arena Mexico that people know me, that in my home, but in the United States they didn’t know me, I was losing the fight. I felt very bad because I had lost that fight and the people still stood up, applauded me and I think that is also something I will never forget in my life.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com