Silas Mason Rips ‘Phony’ Former NWA Champions, Highlights Real Wrestling

Silas Mason aims to show the world that he’s the true standard-bearer of the NWA and show why no one can match him.

WrestleZone’s Bill Pritchard spoke with Silas Mason after he won the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship at NWA 77. The match, which aired on the November 18 episode of NWA Powerrr, saw Mason defeat Thom Latimer. “Thrillbilly” said the good thing about being champion is that he could celebrate it every single day. However, it’s an honor that he’s been told that he was destined for all of his life.

“Literally since the day I was born, people have told me that I was destined to be the world’s heavyweight champion. And now I am. And there’s only one. You can talk about Dusty Rhodes, Terry Funk, Lou Thesz, Ric Flair, Harley Race, all those guys. As far as I’m concerned, none of them exist. I am that I am, the world’s heavyweight champion. I’m self-referential, pal. You don’t have to look any further than this because I am the truth, and I am the World’s Heavyweight Champion.”

When asked which former champion of the past he’d want to test himself against, Mason didn’t hesitate to name Terry Funk, despite pointing out the Texan’s “shortcomings.”

“Honestly, Terry Funk, because he was the craziest out of all of them. And that’s one of the things you can’t plan for. So, he also travelled the world and he invented the worst, most deriative form of trash wrestling, deathmatch wrestling,” Mason pointed out, “but at least him and Mick, Cactus Jack, did it the best. So you take the good with the bad. Terry Funk would be my choice—or one of the Briscoe brothers in their prime, or both of them at the same time. How about that?”

Silas Mason puts spotlight on southern wrasslin’ and criticizes modern promotions

The NWA World Champion was asked about the company’s new exposure on Roku. Mason praised how much the platform has helped, noting that airing for free on Roku is about as cost-effective as a pro wrestling fan could ask for.

The NWA has also put a spotlight back on the southeastern United States by running events in the region regularly. This includes the NWA’s upcoming “Thrill Em All” double taping at WEDU Studios in Tampa on December 13. He says it’s good to see his “southern American heritage” being represented on television, noting that the South is where good wrestling takes place.

“All I’ve seen for so long on these major other promotions, you know the ones I’m talking about, is trash. It’s not wrasslin’. It isn’t, it isn’t professional wrestling. It’s either trampoline cowboys or a bunch of people trying to get a paycheck, so they can be a product, so they can be an action figure and get sold at KMart or some other trash store. That’s not professional wrestling to me,” Silas Mason explained.

“Professional wrestling is traveling around to every single place, every single region, every single territory in this country, meeting the people where they’re at and giving them the absolute best match, the absolute most for their money, and the absolute time of their lives,” Mason added. “That’s the entire point of this thing, man. It ain’t just the cheapest thing that you can slap onto a screen. You know what I’m saying? It’s something you have to be there for, you have to see it and feel it to believe it. You can’t just see it, my friends.”

Silas Mason calls out EC3, Matt Cardona, Nick Aldis & Cody Rhodes and declares himself the “forever champion”

Silas Mason also didn’t hold back when discussing the legacy of past NWA World Heavyweight Champions. When asked about the past two reigns, Mason rattled off some NWA title statistics and called several former titleholders “has-beens” and “false idols,” taking aim at them by dismissing their reigns and noting that he hasn’t lost sight of what being champion means.

“Tom Latimer had 350 days, you have EC3 having a reign of 370 days. Then you had the guy who had the championship before that, weighing 400 pounds. You had the guy who had the championship before him hold it twice. You had the guy who held the championship in between those two runs die on television, slum it with the rest of us for a brief period of time and changed his name, then he [came back] to life as the same character that he swore was dead. So I guess he was just that guy, the fake Zack Ryder dude, he was him the entire time. Matt Cardona’s the fake one, so that phony-ass guy held the belt for a little bit,” Mason continued.

“[Then you have] Nick Aldis, who ain’t never going to be the man his momma was, that badmouthed this entire company on his way out. And then you have Cody Rhodes come down here and he wanted to pretend like he was the rest of us and slum it because he had to have this. He had to have it; he didn’t even want the championship of a phony company some money mark let him start. He had to have this [points to the NWA World Championship] before he went off to some dead fed to win a belt with three letters on it. This is the World’s Heavyweight Championship. This thing will never leave me,” Mason explained, pointing out that Ric Flair lost his title 16 times.

Mason says other champions lost track of what’s important, but not him. Money is a great incentive, although it’s not the only thing that matters as champion.

“It’s not just about the man holding this championship. It’s about everything this championship means and it’s about everyone you can help with it,” Mason explained. “They’re talking over here about ‘leaving the main roster.’ Oh wow, ‘I make a lot more money now that I left the main roster.’ Well, guess what, pal? It’s not that much of a brag as you think, that means you weren’t making that money to begin with. I am.

“Billy Corgan has a quarter billion dollars in his bank account and it’s just rising with interest every single day. I’m getting a cut of that. And as long as I have this [title], that means that cut’s a percentage, and it’s a bigger percentage than you might imagine. So I will always be the world’s champion—forever. You don’t have to put a number on the reign because it will never end.”