Billy Corgan Talks Success Of The World Is A Vampire Festival And The Crossover Between Music And Wrestling

Billy Corgan is keen on catapulting the National Wrestling Alliance into mainstream culture, and to achieve this, he's put forth a motion to merge his love of music with professional wrestling. On March 4, Corgan's rock band, The Smashing Pumpkins, added a unique attraction to their ongoing The World is a Vampire tour. 

During their music festival in Mexico City, Mexico, the Pumpkins presented a special, collaborative wrestling event called "NWA vs. AAA," as performers from the NWA went head-to-head with Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide stars.

According to Corgan, who is the owner of NWA, the show was a massive hit. Speaking with the "Under the Ring" podcast, Corgan noted that a wrestling ring had been positioned between two stages for people to gather around after the metal band called Death finished playing. 

"I'm standing there and I'm wondering if those 20,000 people, when that band ends, are they going to turn around and come and watch wrestling or are they going to go off and get a hotdog or whatever? 20,000 people turned around and went to the ring and surrounded the ring. It was unbelievable," Corgan said.

Many of those in attendance were not wrestling fans going in, but Corgan believes the opportunity to expose them to it won them over in the end. He hopes to continue to raise the visibility of professional wrestling, and will take the NWA on tour yet again later this summer, as he expands "The World is a Vampire" tour across North America, featuring even more performances from the promotion's wrestling talent.