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Nick Aldis Says Conditioning is His Big Concern Ahead of In-Ring Return

ByRebecca Collier
003 SD 07242026MA 129957

The SmackDown GM is worried about his endurance against GUNTHER

Since signing with WWE in 2023, Aldis has worked as the on-screen general manager of SmackDown, despite his numerous accolades in the ring. However, the Englishman is set to make his in-ring return and WWE debut this Saturday on Summerslam’s opening night against GUNTHER. With the time away from the ring, Aldis has now shared his biggest concern about his upcoming match.

Speaking with Chris Van Vliet, Aldis revealed that conditioning is his biggest fear ahead of SummerSlam.

“In the beginning, when I first sort of realized that this was on the horizon, I think my biggest concern was my physical ability. I don’t mean my ability to execute a bodyslam. I mean my conditioning. I suppose I should take it as a compliment that upper management didn’t seem to have very much concern about that. But I was very concerned, and I remember saying to Ed Koskey, there’s a big difference between physique shape and ring shape, and I only have one of those right now. Honestly, I say this with all sincerity. My focus for the last couple of weeks, or a little more than that, has been entirely on conditioning, performance and conditioning. You’re not going to make a whole lot of difference to your physique in four weeks. Obviously, you can make some significant dent in your body fat and you can tighten up. But I’m not going to add any muscle. I’m not going to make any drastic changes to my proportions or composition or anything, but the focus had to be on being able to go. I basically just decided, okay, whatever happens with the physique, it is what it is. The physique’s somewhat there, so I have to be able to go.”

-Nick Aldis

WWE have good reason to believe in Aldis’ work ethic, with his two reigns as NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion totalling over 1,000 days. Aldis is also a former TNA World Heavyweight Champion and two-time Tag Team Champion. This weekend’s match will mark his first outing since he wrestled for ACW in October 2023.

For more WWE news ahead of SummerSlam, you can click here.

As always, we will keep you updated on the latest news about Nick Aldis and WWE as soon as we hear more.