Indie Wrestling News: Magnus on how UFC-style promotion could help today's pro-wrestling

What’s the story?

In an interview with the Arm Drag Takedown podcast, Magnus asserted that today’s pro-wrestling could benefit from an old-school promotional style.

Additionally, Magnus also opined that the in-ring aspect of modern-day pro-wrestling is being accorded excessive priority rather than the entertainment aspect. Besides, Magnus also had words of high praise for the NWA management.

In case you didn’t know…

Magnus aka Nick Aldis won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in December of 2017 and is currently working extensively for the promotion.

The 31-year-old has often been lauded for his focus on the presentation and look of his on-screen characters in the past as well as for his mat skills.

The heart of the matter

Magnus explained that today’s pro-wrestling scene has got hoodwinked into thinking that the in-ring performance or the ‘match’ is the most important aspect of professional wrestling, whereas the truth is that he got into this business in order to tell stories and get people invested in the characters and emotions. He added that he wants to be an entertainer, and indulge in all things pro-wrestling can but other sports cannot. Magnus added how the current pro-wrestling scene can benefit from a UFC-style promotion—

“Essentially, if you changed the final outcome of the UFC builds with an NWA World Championship match from the 1980s, the whole lot of it leading up to that is very much the same. The reality was, if you wanted to see these two guys go at it, without interference or in the full match, you either had to buy a ticket or you had to tune into this pay-per-view or this special.”

“That’s essentially what UFC’s model is. They put out (UFC Embedded), they put out smaller cards on free TV, but everything else they put out is press conferences, interviews, profile pieces, all of which is leading to the fight. The fight is the attraction.”

Magnus also lauded how the Dave Lagana and Billy Corgan—the Managing Editor and Executive Producer of the NWA—have promoted unknown champions such as Tim Storm. Magnus added that the NWA does a great job of taking elements which are perceived by negative by most promotions, and utilize several real-life happenings—seamlessly interweaving them into their storylines.

What’s next?

Magnus presently performs as Nick Aldis in the NWA and is considered to be the organization’s top star today.

Author’s take

Magnus is an incredible athlete and truly possesses a great understanding of in-ring psychology.

He’s spot-on here as regards character development and story-telling being paramount to the art of professional wrestling. Besides, given the UFC’s successful promotional tactics, perhaps pro-wrestling could borrow a trick or two from the MMA promotion.