"The Pope" compares WWE, TNA, and the NWA.
“The Pope” Elijah Burke is one of the few wrestlers in the industry today that can say he was a part of the boom period of TNA and was part of WWE in a pre-PG era environment. Now working for the NWA, Burke has the unique perspective that allows him to compare and contrast three different work environments with three completely unique bosses.
Speaking on the Slasher Scotty podcast, Burke first compared Dixie Carter to Vince McMahon and described how the locker room environment in WWE and TNA were completely reflective of who was running the show.
“Dixie was different for a lot of reasons. One, because she's Dixie and she wasn't Vince. She was different because she was a woman and Vince is obviously a man. Now, that is not being sexist, but Vince just ruled his promotion and everything that he did with an iron fist.
"Dixie dealt with things more from being a compassionate, personable type dealing with her folk. So while everything ran through Vince from the sound, the music, the lighting, to the pyrotechnics, all that ran through Vince. Whereas with Dixie, that may not and certainly wasn't the case, but the difference and the atmosphere of both companies were reflective of its leaders and so with Vince, you know, there was a lot of walking on eggshells. With Dixie and the environment that she had set up, more of a family atmosphere, it was just laid back [and] it was cool and the camaraderie of the locker room in TNA was one that was just amazing.”
Shifting gears to the National Wrestling Alliance, Burke says today's NWA carries a lot of the positives from his time in TNA as they try to bring back their unique throwback perspective on wrestling in 2021.
“NWA, as I just spoke highly of the camaraderie in the locker room that was in TNA, is very reminiscent of that early TNA that I was a part of because of the camaraderie and The Little Engine That Could mentality we're all of these guys just sort of put together to reinvent and help bring NWA back to a certain prominent of sorts and to put out a product that is so uniquely different from everything that is going on in the world of wrestling. So uniquely different is the NWA product because it is a throwback to what wrestling was, obviously, with the studio format and just going out there and presenting wrestling in its purest form. The guys go out there and cut their promos and there's no script and just all that magic that made the NWA what it was but with the new school feel to it as well. It's just a great thing and again, the locker room, the leadership, Billy Corgan, and everybody is just a machine that's working together. Like I said, ‘The Little Engine That Could,’ we're trying to put out something that's going to stand the test of time.”
Elijah Burke will have the chance to add to his legacy when he defends the NWA television championship for the first time at Back For The Attack on Sunday, March 21. You can check out the full card for the event at this link.
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