When Brutus Clay was released from WWE in 2014, few expected the path he would take alongside long-time Smashing Pumpkins frontman/future NWA owner Billy Corgan.

From working alongside Corgan in TNA, where Mr. Melon Collie was on the booking committee, to his time as first the NWA Television Champion and then the full-blown NWA World Heavyweight Champion, holding the same Ten Pounds of Gold that once rested around the waists of Ric Flair and Dusty Rhodes, Corgan has consistently put his faith in the Fox News correspondent and no matter how fans felt about his politics, his attitude, or his wrestling ability, that belief was unflappable.

Sitting down for an interview with Rancid guitarist Lars Frederiksen and Dennis Farrell of The Wrestling Perspective Podcast, Corgan reveals how his relationship with Tyrus began and how they stayed in touch for the better part of a decade.

“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,” Billy Corgan told The Wrestling Perspective Podcast via Fightful.

“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.”

While the idea of working with people you know in sports is nothing new, as folks have been doing it for years in every single industry, why specifically did Corgan decide to throw his hat in with a performer who never even held gold in WWE? Well, because of a very specific quote from none other than WCW maestro extraordinaire, Eric Bischoff.

Billy Corgan channeled his inner Eric Bischoff in the booking of Tyrus.

Digging into his relationship with Tyrus further, Billy Corgan explained the origins of their relationship, how they kept in contact after bouncing from company to company, and why he kept booking the super-heavyweight despite his controversy.

“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.”

“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.”

Welp, there you go, folks; while WWE, Impact, AEW, and pretty much every other promotion had no interest in booking Tyrus in any capacity, let alone as a World Heavyweight Champion, Corgan decided to go full-on Eric Bischoff and lean into the controversy, hoping that every fan who didn't watch because of his actions would be replaced by one who embraced it in a sort of anti-cancel culture sort of way. While the whole ordeal is thankfully in the past, as EC3 retired Tyrus earlier this year, in the end, it's hard to say the whole ordeal didn't place NWA in a negative light among some members of the fanbase.