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Billy Corgan On Booking Tyrus: I Cashed A Lot Of Checks With His Mouth

Wrestling
Rob Wilkins Oct 17, 2023 9:00AM

Controversy creates cash, and Billy Corgan knows Tyrus costs him some cash.

The owner and promoter of the NWA was a guest on Fightful's Wrestling Perspective Podcast with Dennis Farrell and Lars Frederiksen. Corgan would discuss many topics, but one topic that came up was his former NWA Champion Tyrus.

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The Wrestling Perspective Podcast's Lars Frederiksen asked Corgan about all the negative reactions that the NWA received with the booking of Tyrus if they accomplished what they wanted to out of it.

Billy responded, “Yes. The roots of that journey goes back to what I like about the gig. When I worked in the office and on the booking committee at TNA, they would give me the personalities they didn't want to deal with. So, I was in charge of the difficult part.”

“I'm not even joking. Tyrus was on that list, and so was Nick Aldis. My relationships with both future NWA World Heavyweight Champions was born of working with them in TNA because they were on the difficult talent list. I formed some relationships to try to understand what was it about these personalities that were rubbing the office the wrong way. Why do they feel underutilized? Can I be a translator for them in the office? But to varying degrees of success, I was able to accomplish that at TNA.“ Said Billy Corgan.

The NWA received a negative response from many. Tyrus was sued but settled out of court after being accused of sexual harassment by former Fox News contributor and ESPN correspondent, Britt McHenry, in 2021.

"So, my relationship with George Murdoch [Tyrus] did not end the minute he started working for a major media outlet, and I was out of TNA; we stayed in contact. He had dropped completely out of professional wrestling. When he wanted to come back to professional wrestling, he reached out to me. He asked me what I thought about it, so it was something that we had discussed." Corgan said.

"I'll be quick about it because every time I open my mouth about Tyrus, somebody gets mad. I told George Murdoch, the human being eight years ago, sitting backstage at Universal Studios where TNA shot. I said they're not using you, right? George said, okay, you tell me how you would use me as a talent. What Tyrus ended up doing in the NWA was what we talked about eight years ago. So when I'm in a position of power, which I’m in. I'm going to put my money where my mouth is, and if people think I'm the type of person that's going to shy away from the other arguments against Tyrus as a talent or as a human being, they don't know me." Corgan said.

Tyrus was the NWA Heavyweight Champion for 288 days. He would lose the title to EC3 at NWA 75 in August. Tyrus announced his retirement that same evening. The controversy surrounding Tyrus was worth it based on the checks that were cashed.

"I cashed a lot of checks with his mouth, including stuff that cost me a lot of money. So I'm not shy about that type of thing. So, did we accomplish together what we set out to do for Tyrus? The character and George Murdoch, the human being? Absolutely. The fact that it was controversial, okay! What did Eric Bischoff say? Controversy creates cash? If you're going to let that mob book your promotion, you shouldn't run a wrestling promotion." Corgan said


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