Nick Aldis talks turning down AEW, building the NWA brand, and more!

DDT: Do you have a match that stands out as your favorite from your NWA career that some fans may not be aware of?

Aldis: It’s definitely one of the higher profile ones I had, but I think the one I had with PJ Black was important to be because we sold out Center Stage in Atlanta with that match. We were on top and that was the first show Ring of Honor was promoting there since Cody and the Bucks and Hangman [Adam Page] had left. For us to go in there and sell it out, I took some pride in that.

At the very beginning, Bobby Cruise announced, “This is the first time the NWA Championship has been defended at Center Stage since 1993” and we got a huge ovation for that. The audience was very respectful and that’s a good town for me because they appreciate what we’ve been able to do.

I took personal pride in that because I know a lot of people were worried about that show and how it was going to perform without Cody, the Bucks and Hangman, and it was full. That to me was a real matter of personal and professional pride. I had a match for Harley Race recently. It was a good match with Leland, he’s not particularly well known, but I had a real good match and by the end of it, I had the crowd in Missouri really buying that he could win and that’s what I want to do. Just the fact I could deliver a good main event at Harley’s show with Harley in attendance was a big deal to me.