When news broke that former NWA Champion Nick Aldis was working backstage as a producer in WWE, it more or less put his free agency rumors to bed.

Sure, at 36, Aldis isn't exactly of retirement age and could theoretically keep working matches at a high level, as his recent run in Impact Westling alongside wife Mickie James clearly proved, but maybe, after 20 years in the business and almost 800 matches on his resume, the man formerly known as Brutus Manus was ready to settle down and enjoy the paycheck of a wrestler without the in-ring wear and tear on his body.

Well, as it turns out, this wasn't all a part of some master plan by Aldis to get out of the business of dropping men with his signature maneuver, the Tormentum, but when The Fed came calling, the former NWA Champion embraced the opportunity and gave it a go.

“They just invited me to come and see how everything works and shadow as a producer and just sort of be part of the meetings and oversee the whole television operation,. Which is, I mean, I've done a lot, I've worn a lot of hats. I think people who have followed my career, particularly in the last few years know that, in addition to wrestling, I was wearing a lot of hats behind the scenes at my last place,” Nick Aldis told Chris Van Vliet fight WrestleZone.

“So, I certainly don't feel like it's a completely new sort of situation for me. Having said that, there's pro wrestling, and then there's WWE. So you know, just taking in just the sheer sort of volume of the operation, and the number of people involved in that this, the scale of everything is like, just that alone has been the basis of like, my time so far.”

So, with Aldis now working WWE shows like it's his job, as it sort is, that's that, right? Well, not necessarily, as, according to the man himself, he hasn't officially committed to the position just yet, as he's currently only on a handshake agreement.

“But it's all very much a sort of handshake situation at the moment. Very much a, ‘Hey, why don't you come in and see how all this works? See, if you like it.' I will say this. They've been very, very good to me, and very, very accommodating. As far as they've said, ‘Look, this is as much about whether you like it.' Now, where that goes, I don't know, and I'm okay with that,” Nick Aldis revealed.

“Like, it's tough, with the internet and social media, because people want to put this sort of definitiveness on everything. And this finality like, ‘Oh, that's it. He's with WWE. That's it, game over.' And so now, people say are you not wrestling anymore? Have you retired? Are you not wrestling? I mean, even the boys are saying that, ‘Are you done wrestling?' And it's like, slow down.”

Is Aldis bound to follow in the footsteps of Petey Williams, leaving professional wrestling behind to produce sports entertainment matches for WWE? Maybe yes, maybe no, but per the performer himself, the options are very much up in the air.

Nick Aldis is adamantly keeping his options open amid WWE tryout.

Discussing his potential future outside of the ring, Nick Aldis noted that, while his career in the ring isn't over, he would love to work as a producer in the future, leading to a decision that could define his foreseeable career path.

“Yeah, well look, everything could change next week or the week after or anything like that. But I guess to sort of, to put a pin in this because obviously, there's only so much we can discuss. And it's not like I'm trying to be secretive or anything. It's just not that interesting. It's just like, yeah, they called me and said, ‘Hey, how would you feel about coming in and seeing how things operate on the production level and shadowing the producers? And I was like, ‘That would be interesting, that would be fun to see how that works, even if nothing comes of it,'” Aldis noted.

“Or even if, even if I and again, I have to make this point, they also were very open with me about it and said, ‘Look, if you don't want to do it, like if you're not cool with this, like, absolutely no hard feelings, you know, like, if you don't, right now.' The same for me or not, I'm not ready to do this yet. That's totally cool, too. May as well say it, obviously. I would love the other thing. But until that day comes or doesn't, you know, it's I'm gonna explore other opportunities. Because ultimately, that is absolutely something that I would want to do. In the end, the question will be, I guess, whether or not I'm ready to do it now. You know, and we don't know that yet.”

Would it be a shame for Aldis to hang up his boots, at least for now, without ever having a proper go in a big promotion like AEW or WWE, working as a sort of British version of Cody Rhodes minus the unwillingness to work heel? Sure thing, but sometimes you don't choose when the right opportunity presents itself, as Aldis is learning now.