Nick Aldis Issues Critique of His SummerSlam Match vs Gunther

Nick Aldis made his WWE in-ring debut in a match against Gunther at SummerSlam on Saturday night. Aldis, though happy with his performance, had a unique critique for himself as well.

Aldis and Gunther have been at one another's throats for over a month. Gunther blamed Aldis for his championship misfortunes, and that blame turned to disdain and dislike. Tempers boiled over, and a match between the two was signed for SummerSlam after Aldis resigned from his GM position.

Gunther defeated Aldis by submission in the match, but Aldis then celebrated his return to the ring after three years away. Aldis was joined by his wife, Mickie James, and their son in the ring as the audience cheered for him.

Aldis spoke after the match and confirmed on WWE Now that he was proud of the return. He also had a critique of his performance. Aldis said he needed to get in better shape. Really? In the match, Aldis looked chiseled out of stone, but said he was blown up and gassed out early in the fight.

"I was so blown," Aldis said. "Everyone talks about this, but nothing replicates working in the ring and it really is true. I’ve been doing the most intense, hard conditioning workouts for the last couple weeks. Genuinely never ever trained that hard my whole life and still four minutes in I’m like ‘Oh my god.’"

Nick Aldis had limited time to train for his return to the ring

Aldis said he was informed about his match against Gunther while the company was overseas for Night of Champions in Saudi Arabia. That left him just about a month to get ready for action.

He said he appreciated the company's faith in him to be ready to go, but would have liked to have more time to prep himself and his body.

“But then, when (they) told me this, that was in Saudi Arabia, and I went, ‘When is SummerSlam?’ He said August 1st. Today’s June the 30th or June the 29th, and I was, ‘That’s a month.’ I go, ‘There’s a big difference between physique shape and ring shape.’ And I go, ‘I am not in ring shape. You have an awful lot of faith in me.’

“I had a pretty good idea of what it was gonna be," Aldis said of where his feud with Gunther was going. And I was, ‘Yeah, that’s great and everything.’ ... But I think the most sort of surprising part of all this was how casual Triple H and upper management seemed to be about (it). No one’s kind of gone, ‘Are you ready? Can you do this? Are you good with this?’ They were just kind of, ‘Ah, have a match with Gunther.’

Nick Aldis reinstated as General Manager of SmackDown

After the SummerSlam match, Triple H reinstated Aldis as the SmackDown General Manager. Don't count him out of another match yet, though. Aldis said he could return again if the circumstances called for it.

“I don’t know," Aldis said of another match. "I came in with no expectations and I come out with none. If it’s there, it’s there. Sure, in the right circumstances, yeah.”

SummerSlam in Minneapolis continues inside of US Bank Stadium on Sunday night. On that show, Chad Gable will face Penta for the WWE Men's Intercontinental Championship and the Interim WWE Women's Championship will be on the line in a ladder match.

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