When Billy Corgan (owner of the amazingly short @billy twitter handle) wasn’t touring as The Smashing Pumpkins despite being the only remaining original member, he was following his other passion: professional wrestling.
No, Corgan hasn’t donned spandex yet (at least in public). Instead, he sees himself as more of a Vince McMahon type, with the hair styling of Stone Cold Steve Austin. Corgan founded a professional wrestling promotion company named Resistance Pro. Aiming to do things differently, Corgan’s group is the first professional wrestling promotion company to follow health guidelines set by the Sports Legacy Institute, whose founder Christopher Nowinski has devoted his life to concussion research.
Wrestling news outlets are reporting that Corgan is considering expanding his spandex empire by buying TNA Wrestling (arguably second banana to McMahon’s WWE, though there is a vast chasm between the two). TNA, which stands for Total Nonstop Action, never gets above a 1.0 in the ratings, and records PPV buy numbers that make boxing look like a thriving sport. So this would be as smart a move as most of his solo efforts.
There must be an allure for Corgan, and it could lie in the fact that TNA airs their Impact show nationally on SpikeTV, which his Resistance Pro cannot boast. Or is it the talent? TNA employs former-WCW stars like Sting, as well as ex-WWE stars like Jeff Hardy and Bully Ray and Olympic gold medalist Kurt Angle. Recently, TNA even employed the feather-boa’d, Wrecking Ball parody artist himself, Hulk Hogan.
The rumors speculate that Corgan isn’t alone in the bidding over TNA, however. His competitors are former pro wrestler (and recent Spring Breakers actor) Jeff Jarrett, and former WCW head honcho Eric Bischoff. A spokesperson for Corgan called these rumors out as… rumors. Quite the non-denial denial if you ask me. In the age of Twitter, Corgan could just go on there and flat-out deny this fact. It’s very possible that any day now, Corgan could go from melancholy and infinite sadness to… well, probably much the same if he buys TNA.
For wrestling of a really freaky nature watch non-stop Lucha Libre league matches on Masked Republic, free via FilmOn:
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