Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan recently appeared on ‘Insight with Chris Van Vliet’ and discussed the unsettling influence of TV networks on the decisions made within the wrestling industry. At the heart of Corgan’s revelation was the TNA World Championship, which he believes was swayed by Americans’ preference for representation, orchestrated by the hands of powerful TV networks.
The rocker first discussed Kurt Angle’s TNA Championship in 2015 and revealed how he’d witnessed people complaining over the wrestler winning the belt:
“I remember being in a TNA, and there was some grousing about Kurt Angle being the champion, which seems strange to me because Kurt Angle was one of the all-time greats and always a great person to do business with behind the scenes.”
He carried on by explaining what caused the unrest over Angle’s championship:
“[I got] Nothing respect for Kurt. So I was like, why are people complaining? Oh, well, you know, somebody pulls you aside; well, we are on Destination America. Destination America told Dixie Carter, you need someone as a champion who represents America. So, Dixie just switched the belts “
Corgan further discussed how the TV network’s wish for a ‘champion who represented America,’ wasn’t a ‘wrestling-based decision,’ adding:
“But the thing was, it was the grousing in the company was it was because it wasn’t a wrestling decision based on setting up wrestling characters. It was like the network who’s paying us all this money, told us so we’re going to do what the network said.”
Billy’s professional involvement in wrestling started a few years back when the rocker bought National Wrestling Alliance, and you can check out how the singer claimed he was the one who had ‘brought back’ public interest back in the sport.
He’s also on tour with the Smashing Pumpkins as Corgan’s next stop will be North Carolina on August 22 and the shows will be carrying on till early fall.
