"In 1986, the kingdom of East Anglia saw the birth of their greatest son. An Anglo-Saxon warrior, destined to be a champion for the ages and a national treasure for all time."
Nicholas "Nick" Aldis (born 6 November 1986) is an English professional wrestler. He is best known for working in TNA under the ring name Magnus. He competed there for over eight years since 2008, slowly climbing up the card before becoming TNA's world champion in late 2014.Trivia He departed the company in 2015, but was still featured peripherally thereafter due to competing under his real name in Jeff Jarrett's Global Force Wrestling promotion, eventually winning the GFW world title as well. His association with both ended in late 2017 after Anthem, a Canadian promotional group, made moves to purchase both promotionsTrivia and refused to offer him a long-term contract.
Aldis moved on to the indie scene, competing in House of Hardcore, CZW and other promotions, before being approached by Billy Corgan, who had by now become the owner of the National Wrestling Alliance. Aldis thereafter became the centerpiece of Corgan's new NWA rebranding. He won the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship in early 2018 and would defend it across four continents and multiple promotions, including CZW, New Japan Pro-Wrestling and Ring of Honor before losing the belt to Cody Rhodes at All In in September of that year, albeit he would regain it weeks later.
Aldis is a former one-time TNA World Heavyweight Champion, two-time TNA World Tag Team Champion (once with Doug Williams and once with Samoa Joe), one-time IWGP Tag Team Champion (with Williams) and one-time GHC Tag Team Champion (with Joe). He is also a one-time Ring Ka King World Heavyweight Champion in TNA's Indian sister promotion Ring Ka King, a one-time GFW Global Champion in Jeff Jarrett's Global Force Wrestling promotion, and a two-time NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion.
In 2023, Aldis has signed a contract with WWE, debuting in October as the General Manager of the SmackDown brand.
Aldis also appeared on the United Kingdom revival of Gladiators, where he was known by the name Oblivion.
"Mag Daddy Tropes":
- A God Am I: Said that almost verbatim during an episode of NWA Powerrr when he addressed the crowd.
- Badass Bureaucrat: As SmackDown General Manager, he has stood up to a many a heel and unlike his Raw counterpart Adam Pierce, has taken absolutely no shit from The Bloodline.
- Battle Couple: For fun, he and Mickie James went on an international tour that saw them defeat Crazy Sexy Mike and Blue Nikita in Germany, Ray Lyn and Dylan Bostic in the United States but lose to Ken Anderson and Viper in the UK. It wasn't as fun when it was arranged for Mickie to get a small measure of revenge after she returned from pregnancy, and James Storm's attempted manslaughter on her, and ended up alongside Magnus with Storm having Serena Deeb in his corner.
- Broken Pedestal: Despite his character's revolving door, joining Team Dixie to win the TNA World Heavyweight Championship after spending time with a face New Main Event Mafia in particular practically begged to invoke this trope, which it finally did when ex-Main Event Mafia members started confronting him over the title.
- The Bus Came Back: As part of the two GFW invasion angles, mainly because of him still having a Feast or Fired briefcase and the GFW Global Championship, respectively.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: According to himself and his friend Bram, extreme violence such as could be found in Monster's Ball matches was what they typically called a Friday night before becoming wrestlers.
- Canon Name: Not his Brutus name, which was dropped in 2010, but his real-life first name Nick became this in the latter stint of his TNA run.
- Catchphrase: As TNA World Heavyweight Champion: "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your champion speaking..."
- Continuity Nod: During one of his National Treasure promos where he put over the NWA's return to prominence and highlighted all of the reigning champions on Powerr at the time, one of said champions was NWA National Champion James Storm. Aldis prefaced his praise for Storm as a champion with "Do not have to like him, but..." Yes, Aldis was trying to be a Noble Demon at the time and this could be considered an admonition of Storm's angry renegade free agent antics, but let's not forget Magnus and Storm were nearly always rivals in TNA. Fittingly, not too long afterward Storm would challenge Aldis for the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship.
- Cool Shades: Wore some nifty sunglasses as part of the New Main Event Mafia.
- Deal with the Devil: Joining Team Dixie at Impact Wrestling: Final Resolution 2013 to become World Heavyweight Champion can be seen as this, especially after he spent the entire night alluding to his opponent having done the same thing three years ago with Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff's Immortal.
- Dragon-in-Chief: Gradually became this to Dixie Carter. It finally peaked at Lockdown 2014, when his title reign officially outlasted her control of wrestling operations and he outright said in an interview afterwards that she's outlived her usefulness.
- Expy: Aldis' "National Treasure" gimmick is very much a homage to Ric Flair circa 1985. He also channels a bit of Harley Race and other NWA World Champions before him, as well as shades of former AWA World Heavyweight Champion Nick Bockwinkel. The Flair comparison extends to the late '80s and '90s with the formation of Strictly Business, a stable constructed similarly to The Four Horsemen.
- Face–Heel Revolving Door: Since leaving the British Invasion for good, anyway.
- Foreign Wrestling Heel: As part of both The British Invasion and World Elite, both heel factions centered on its members' nationalities. Largely averted in his World Title "Reign of Magnus" Face–Heel Turn; his nationality had nothing to do with why he was a villain anymore, and in fact he even got heat when returning to the UK as Dixie's champion.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: The Huge Guy to Mickie James's Tiny Girl.
- Last-Name Basis: He was introduced as Brutus Magnus but dropped the name Brutus in 2010, aside from a brief stint in Ring Ka King.
- Leitmotif: "The Gilded Warrior" by Retro Shred
ft Diego Sanjorge, when he first joined the NWA. He later switched to a metal cover of "Promentory" (listed as "The Last of the Mohicans TURNS METAL" by METALHAWK), then later switched again to a Badass Boast rap song, "God Save The King" by Zahid x Swami Baracus. - Level Grinding: His over-five-year road to becoming TNA World Heavyweight Champion has consisted of him gradually getting better year by year, both kayfabe and otherwise. Was derailed for a bit after that until he went to the NWA, then came right back where he left off as one of the top champions in the business.
- Noble Demon:
- Played straight, then gradually subverted. As NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion, while a heel, he showed a healthy degree of respect for former champion Tim Storm. He had Storm accompany him at ringside for his title match at All In, and after defeating Storm in their rematch on the first episode of NWA Powerrr he still complimented him for his efforts and encouraged the audience to applaud him. Later, he's shaken hands with his competitors every time he wins in the ring, and has attempted to keep order and prevent run-ins during matches, though it's implied he might be behind a few run-ins of his own, using his henchwoman Kamille as plausible deniability. Things slowly deteriorated as Nick faced an increasing load of people questioning him, declaring themselves challengers for him, putting others forward as challengers for him, not to mention a series of miscues involving Kamille, all of which would grate on his patience. He even dismissed Kamille as his insurance policy, declaring he needed to form a real team. A few weeks later, when Tim Storm vocally supported Marty Scurll's attempt to insert himself into another NWA Worlds Heavyweight Title match, Aldis finally lost it, confronting Storm and attacking him with the aid of The Wildcards (his old friend Thom Latimer* and Royce Isaacs) as well as Kamille... who it turned out had become Latimer's girlfriend. Their alliance was given the name Strictly Business, playing to the noble heel trope (but obviously not really keeping faithful to it).
- This continued into his role as an on-screen general manager in WWE, where, despite still being a bit of a cold and unsympathetic figure, he has little patience for other heels' Insane Troll Logic and can be reached by reasonable petitions and requests.
- Official Couple: Him and Mickie James as of her 2015 return and acknowledgement of their real-life relationship for the storyline involving his split with Bram and subsequent Heel–Face Turn.
- Power Stable: World Elite, The Main Event Mafia, Team Dixie, Strictly Business.
- Power Trio: The British Invasion with Doug Williams and Rob Terry.
- Put on a Bus: Put himself on the bus in 2015 to head to Global Force Wrestling.
- Red Baron: The Modern Day Gladiator (at first), The Mag Daddy (later on), The National Treasure (currently).
- Sharp-Dressed Man: Between serving the Main Event Mafia, acting as Dixie's corporate champion, and finally becoming the National Treasure of the NWA, Nick has donned dapper suits often since late 2013.
- Small Name, Big Ego: As a heel. Subverted in last heel run in TNA, even moreso in his National Treasure run; his ego is no doubt bigger than ever, but so is his name.
- Tag Team:
- The British Invasion with Doug Williams (Rob Terry was more of an enforcer).
- London Brawling with Desmond Wolfe.
- Also had team-ups with Samoa Joe and Bram.
- Underwear of Power: He wears the standard wrestling trunks, though he has also wrestled in long tights.
- We Used to Be Friends: Established with Marty Scurll, when the two went over their history and teased entering the Crockett Cup tag team tournament in 2019 only for Scurll to instead challenge Aldis for the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship.
