Billy Corgan is many things: frontman for The Smashing Pumpkins, a father, a cat enthusiast. He’s also the owner of his own wrestling company, which has given Corgan a brand new title in his life: reality TV star.
Billy Corgan’s Adventures in Carnyland follows the “1979” rocker in his role as the president of the National Wrestling Alliance, or NWA, which he purchased in 2017. In the show, the fighting inside the ring extends behind the scenes as Corgan and NWA’s employees hope to rebuild the historic company back to its former glory.
“We’re fighting not against each other, we’re fighting to try to make the company work again,” Corgan tells ABC Audio. “In wrestling, I’m really reliant on everybody else to run the show with me.”
Among those people is Corgan’s wife, Chloe Mendel, who was a wrestling skeptic before Billy purchased NWA. However, she’s since become a believer thanks to the athleticism and personalities of the wrestlers, which she calls “the most interesting part of the show.”
“It’s like, ‘Why do you do that for a living?'” Mendel says. “Like, ‘Why do you wanna be a superhero?’ That’s really why they’re doing it, they feel like a superhero for those five minutes.”
Adventures in Carnyland also crosses over into the music world. Its theme song is the Pumpkins tune “Beguiled,” which has a connection to Carnyland figures and wrestlers Natalia Markova and Bryan Idol, who appeared in the track’s video.
“When we play the song live, Bryan and Markova will come out onstage and have a mock fight in front of the crowd,” Corgan shares. “It just kinda took on a life of its own in sort of somehow representing something about the NWA, too.”
Adventures in Carnyland premieres Tuesday, May 14, on The CW app and CWTV.com.
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