Billy Corgan Explains What He Meant By His “You’re Not A Wrestling Fan If You Don’t Like Tyrus” Comm

Back in May, NWA President Billy Corgan said in an interview that if people disliked Tyrus as the company’s world champion they “didn’t like professional wrestling,” a quote that trended online and had many questioning Corgan’s viewpoint and future for the NWA.

The Smashing Pumpkins frontman has since spoke to WrestlingNews.Co to discuss many topics, one being his explanation for that previous interview. Billy Corgan begins by clarifying his previous comments, stating that someone having heat in the outside world and being brought into the wrestling world is not necessarily a bad thing.

What I was saying was, if you don’t like Tyrus in a wrestling ring because of his politics and because he brings heat into wrestling, then I don’t understand what wrestling that you’re after. I went on to say and I don’t think it was quoted, ‘Are we only booking friends in a wrestling ring.’ Like is this just like Patty cakes and then everybody pretends these guys hate each other, and then they hug at the after party and everything’s cool?” I believe, like all good promoters, that the heat of the outside world coming into a wrestling ring isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

One example Billy Corgan uses to prove his point is the real-life drama between Matt Hardy, Lita, and Edge back in the mid-2000s. WWE took advantage of the awkward love triangle and put it on television, something that Billy Corgan says made for great television.

Remember when there was all the crazy heat with Edge, Matt Hardy, and Lita? That was a real-life thing that was ultimately taken advantage of in a wrestling ring and obviously, all the parties agreed. Whether that was comfortable or uncomfortable to them, I can’t really say even though I know Matt pretty well and I know Edge pretty well, but I don’t think I’ve ever sat down to really ask them how they felt personally about it. But obviously, that was a moment of real heat and people had opinions about how the whole situation played on a personal level. So if your argument would be, ‘That should not have been a wrestling angle’, well, that’s a viable argument to make. If your thing would have been, ‘I was uncomfortable with them being put in that spot’, well, that’s a viable argument to make. But it did happen and it has happened in wrestling where real heat and real life comes into the wrestling ring.

Billy Corgan ends his rant by saying his original comment got out of hand and was used mainly for clickbait without properly explaining his context.

So that was my point. It wasn’t saying, ‘I’m going to pick this one person in Tyrus and if you don’t like them as a wrestling talent, or you don’t like them as a person, you don’t like wrestling.’ So that’s where it gets bastardized. It made for very good clickbait.