Interview: NWA VP David Lagana on All In, 70th Anniversary Event, Next NWA Title Match

A recent episode of the X-Pac 12360 podcast show had NWA Vice President David Lagana as the guest discussing the NWA World Heavyweight Championship match at All In, next month’s NWA 70th Anniversary event, plans for Cody’s next NWA title defense, and more.

On the topic of the NWA World Heavyweight Championship match at All In earlier this month, Lagana stated their goal going into the event was to create a big fight feel for the title match and feels they achieved it due to the crowd being very invested throughout the match.

“We all knew what we wanted. And I think that was the goal of this whole project and Nick {Aldis} talks about it, and Cody {Rhodes} talks about it. We wanted to create the big fight feel — the UFC, Boxing event — and every decision we made was to execute that. Even from the walks, and you know the aftermath. Everybody, everybody who was there was a part of this story. You know, from the, all the way down to Cody’s brother-in-law, Kevin, and his father-in-law Otis and, and you know, Tim Storm. And everyone was like, why is Divari there, you know? Daivari’s story was amazing… [XPAC: For those who don’t know, why was he there?] So Daivari was there because of this, if there was no Daivari, there would be no Nick Aldis. Some fans would say, Daivari kept Nick sane for a long time at TNA. And helped sort of guide him and get him there. Everybody that was involved in this project from soup to nuts as far as our inclusion had a part in being there. And, you know, it’s the weird cliche of everybody involved in that match too at one point or another decided to say screw the traditional, we’re gonna bet on ourselves. Everyone! From Billy and I, from leaving TNA, to Nick leaving TNA and basically being out of the business to Cody leaving WWE, they, we all had something to prove. And, you know, everyone’s like, ‘oh, what a moment when Cody won!’ The moment to us I think as a team feels the strongest was when the bell rung. For whatever it was, 45 seconds, the crowd simply honored that moment of here’s this dead brand. Deadspin, ‘Billy Corgan buys oldest and deadest brand in pro wrestling’, you know, like, to have it be literally 11 months in to get that reaction for a title match — it just, it was so overwhelming, that to me was the greatest success point of the match. Cody winning, yes, the crowd was gonna go crazy. But, for them to be that excited for the bell, that was amazing!”

On the topic of next month’s NWA 70th Anniversary event, Lagana stated it will feature the crowning of a new champion for the revived NWA National Heavyweight Championship.

“We’re going to bring back the National Championship… I think Sean {Waltman}you will be one of the few people that will really enjoy what we’re going with, with the belt. The belt will have a nod to the past of the NWA and we are going to reveal it till the week of the show if not that night. Because there’s one thing I’ve learned from wrestling fans, they may or not have a lot of hot takes on things {laughs} so we’re gonna have the new championship that week, I look forward to everyone’s hot takes cause there will be them. The people who do know already have hot takes, everyone’s got an opinion on it which means I know it’s gonna work as far as what people want. I’ll say this, there’s nothing like it right now in Pro Wrestling.”

On the topic of when the next NWA title match will occur, Lagana stated they are currently considering several possible options for Cody’s next NWA title defense.

“We did a 10 Pounds of Gold when Billy sold out the Garden {MSG}, and we would love the NWA’s Worlds Heavyweight Championship to be available and defended on any stage imaginable so if it’s Madison Square Garden , if it’s the Barclays Center , if it’s Wrestlemania , if it’s the Tokyo Dome, we have put zero limits on how and where and I think each time we get an at bat were proving our value to be on that stage. Because I remember when the announcement happened at All In, everyone was like ‘oh, Aldis vs. Cody, I mean I guess the moment when Cody wins will be something’ and we over delivered in that moment and I know we can over deliver on any stage. Because I think our success in what we’ve been able to do has proven that.”

Other topics discussed during the interview included Lagana’s thoughts on type type of wrestling promotion the NWA currently is and his thoughts on the wrestling industry in general.