Nick Aldis Discussed NWA Bout With Wade Barrett, Believes LA Knight May’ve Stayed If Money Was Equal

The NWA is set to return to pay-per-view this Sunday with Back for the Attack. 

NWA World’s Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis will be in the main event, defending his title against Aron Stevens. 

The NWA has undergone some big changes since the last time they were on television a year ago. One notable change will be Wade Barrett missing from the commentary desk. With the NWA on hiatus for the better part of 2020, Barrett signed with WWE to do commentary for NXT. 

Speaking to Alistair McGeorge of Metro, Aldis revealed that he talked with Barrett about a potential match between the two in NWA. 

“Yeah, it had been tossed around. It had been one of those things we’d kept in the back pocket as a ‘maybe down the road’, yeah. Stu and I broke in – not broke in together, but we were both at the same wrestling school for a while. Even though he’s a few years older than me – don’t rub it in with him – but there’s always that thing where I was in TNA running hard and he was in WWE, there was always that thing of, ‘What if those two wrestled each other?’ Stu absolutely adored being part of that show. He would reach out to us prior to that and be like, ‘I love the show, this show is so great.’ When he came, he was just so happy to be involved in it,” said Aldis.

Barrett has not wrestled since 2016 and it is unknown if he’ll step back into the ring. 

Another notable absence from the event will be former NWA Tag Team Champion Eli Drake. 

Drake signed with WWE in February and made his in-ring debut on Wednesday’s NXT under the name LA Knight. 

On the subject of the former Eli Drake, Aldis said, “[Eli] did genuinely have a passion for what we were doing, and loved the way that we did our show – because it was a perfect outlet for a guy like him. I don’t wanna speak for Eli, but I dare say had it not been for the fact that obviously you can’t turn down WWE money, I dare say if the NWA and WWE were offering the exact same money, he may have stayed put.”

You can check out the current lineup for NWA Back for the Attack by clicking here. 

Fightful will have coverage of NWA Back for the Attack beginning at 4 p.m. ET on Sunday, March 21.