Cup of coffee in the big time: Does the NWA ‘get it more than anybody?’

The NWA World Heavyweight Championship is regularly a part of conversation in professional wrestling circles. In 2018.

That’s wild, and certainly helped by the title’s involvement at ALL IN. But putting all the momentum on the belt’s involvement in the groundbreaking indie show shortchanges Billy Corgan and Dave Lagana.

Corgan and Lagana set their plan into action through the “10 Pounds of Gold” videos when they featured Tim Storm, blending the history of the NWA championship with the story of Storm, a 51-year-old history teacher and the oldest man to ever hold the storied title.

When Nick Aldis won the belt, the storytelling shifted into a new gear. It’s something Cody Rhodes, who takes on Aldis for the belt at ALL IN, seems suitably impressed by.

“That’s why it’s real hard to lay stuff out super in advance as far as your goals and dreams with wrestling -- because it’s always changing so much,” Rhodes told Cageside Seats. “I had no idea Nick Aldis would breathe life into a completely lifeless title. The history of the NWA World Heavyweight Championship is amazing. In recent years, not so much.

“I appreciate how they came at it from a really humble beginning. I mean Billy, Lagana and Nick. How they came at it to start with, we’re going to show people how this is to start. From Championship Wrestling From Hollywood, you’re going to be traveling around the independents like the traveling champion of old. They didn’t come at you with this perception is reality old school wrestling mentality of ‘This is the new company! And this is the new championship!’ No, it was, ‘Here’s the history behind it, it’s very real. Here’s an outstanding athlete in Nick Aldis and let’s take it from there.’ As you saw on the All Incoming video from the NWA, they’re ahead of the game in terms of where wrestling is going. They get it more than anybody.”

What’s next and how important can the NWA Heavyweight Championship become in this era? That’s something we’ll have a much better idea about following ALL IN.

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