On February 24th, 2021, the wrestling world was devastated by the sudden passing of Joseph Hudson, known to wrestling fans as Josephus and The Question Mark.
Not only was The Question Mark beloved by fans, of the National Wrestling Alliance, but an integral part of pretty well every aspect of the organization.
World’s Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis was kind enough to give me his thoughts on Mr. Hudson and his meaning to the National Wrestling Alliance when we recently spoke for Love Wrestling.
“Joseph Hudson, as a human being was a really, you know, he was a special guy,” Aldis began. “Very unique, very eccentric, lovably odd guy. He lived very close to me. We’re both in the Nashville area. He’s been to the house. The last time I saw him before he passed away, we were hanging out in my kitchen, just sort of chatting it up about whatever.”
“He wore a lot of hats here,” continued the Real World’s Champion. “[Joseph] played a big part in getting us where we were, and he was one of those guys that – he would have always had a place here. He would have been – with Billy and their relationship, they had a long-established relationship long before I was in the picture. He’s one of those guys like I said, that would have had a job for life with the NWA. He would have been – because he did so many different things. He produced, he edited, he helped with logistics, merchandise, all sorts of stuff. [He’s missed] not just on a personal level, obviously, because he was just a really great human being and a very dedicated father, which to me, was obviously admirable and something I can relate to. He’s also missed greatly on a professional level.”
A Continued Influence
There’s no denying that professional wrestling can be a rather ruthless business. In an industry in which many are looking to push their way to the top, sometimes, friendships can fall by the wayside in an individual’s own self-interests.
That simply wasn’t the case when it came to The Question Mark, Aldis commented to me, and that unselfish mentality has been passed down through the entirety of the NWA locker room.
“There were a lot of us who have had opportunities to be involved in some special stuff, right? Like, for me, obviously [there’s] All In, and then my big marquee matches with guys like Sting, or AJ Styles, or my moments at Wembley Arena or places like that for TNA. And obviously, guys who have been in WWE have been able to wrestle Madison Square Garden, or hold a championship, or be in the ring with Shawn Michaels or, you know, something like that. Joseph, he loved the business, he was a student of the business, but he’d never had any moment where he really felt like ‘I’m special in this.’ The Question Mark was that thing! It was just a kind of ‘hey, what about this,’ sort of situation, and he just grabbed it and ran with it.”
“I remember once he walked out – I think they might have shared this clip on social media,” reminisced Aldis. “He came out for a match with Ricky Starks, and this place just exploded. This was like, I don’t know, four or five shows in and we start going. I remember standing there with Billy, and we looked at each other, and Billy just kind of – you could feel it meant a lot to Billy because it was like, he didn’t want to feel like it was nepotism.
He didn’t want to feel like ‘oh, I’m putting my guy [there] because he’s a good friend. I’m sure he was conscious of that.”
“But then, it was so rewarding for him also to see him get this massive reaction,” Aldis smiled. “We’re sort of look at each other going ‘what’s happening? I just said ‘this is unbelievable. This is so great.’ When something like that happens organically – and he was a big part of the culture that’s established in the NWA dressing room backstage. He plays a major part in that because there was no resentment or animosity or jealousy for any of the guys when that happened. We’re all going like ‘this guy is the most over guy on the show!
‘ We were all going ‘this is crazy, but it’s so great. We love it,’ because it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.”
Please credit Spencer Love/Love Wrestling with any of the above quotes and transcriptions.
