- Joined
- Apr 17, 2019
- Messages
- 81,576
- Reaction score
- 23,367
- Points
- 113
- Location
- The Impact Zone, Scotland
- Favorite Wrestler
TalkSPORT interview
On getting the buzz back around the company:
On what separates IMPACT from the pack:
On "that" Eddie Edwards baseball bat moment:
On feuding with Tessa Blanchard:
On why he left NXT:
On getting the buzz back around the company:
IMPACT Wrestling is good right now. As much haters as we have, it’s one of the best weekly wrestling shows on the planet right now. I think this year has been a big year for IMPACT as far as getting that nasty taste out of the fan’s mouth from the Dixie-era goes. What people don’t realise is, when the new regime of Scott D’Amore, Don Callis etc took over, things don’t happen overnight. It took a while and a lot of hard work to get to where we are now and now over the past two years, we’ve completely changed the face of IMPACT Wrestling.
I was a huge IMPACT fan when I was younger, it was one of the companies I wanted to work for when I got into wrestling. I used to order every Wednesday pay-per-view and I really thought IMPACT Wrestling was going to be that company to go toe-to-toe with WWE. But the management from the Dixie-era and the Hogan/Bischoff-era really hurt that company and a lot of people tuned out at that time.
On what separates IMPACT from the pack:
People were screaming for an Attitude Era-like company to come back and I feel like IMPACT Wrestling is the closest thing to it. We’re the only company right now that isn’t afraid to offend people, to try new things, we’re not afraid to push the envelope and give you an edgy product and we’re not going to apologise for every single thing like a lot of the other companies. The other companies, if they see the internet wrestling community is upset, they just want to apologise about it instead of actually staying the course and giving people an alternative.
On "that" Eddie Edwards baseball bat moment:
Yeah, IMPACT didn’t apologise for it. Accidents happen in pro wrestling and it’s really funny that people like to judge me on that one moment even though I haven’t hurt anyone in my entire wrestling career, but that one moment put IMPACT back in the mainstream and it changed mine and Eddie Edwards’ career for the better. Now, Eddie Edwards doesn’t have to be looked at as a Dean Malenko-style wrestler anymore, he’ll go out of his comfort zone and do something different and I think we’re seeing the best version of Eddie Edwards we’ve ever seen at this point because he gets to be a different Eddie Edwards. He’s not held up to that same ‘oh, Eddie Edwards has to be the best technical wrestler in the world’ so much. Now he can go out and do something different for once and it changed both of us for the better.
[The reaction backstage] That's something that will stay with me forever, but that’s something that will stay between me, Eddie Edwards and IMPACT Wrestling. But, we jumped on it, it got me on TMZ and it made me one of the most controversial wrestlers of the last 10 years.
On feuding with Tessa Blanchard:
Well, I think it could have been done with a lot of different women because right now in 2019, I feel like women wrestlers are better than they’ve ever been. It’s time. People want equality, but then when you give them equality, they bitch and scream about that too. IMPACT is the first company to step up and I’m a big proponent of intergender wrestling not necessarily being deemed intergender wrestling, just professional wrestling. If you look at my company The Wrestling `Revolver, I rarely book woman versus woman matches.
It’s nearly always intergender wrestling because I think in a day and age where people want equality, it needs to happen in wrestling and it’s time for the women to step up and be top draws of professional wrestling. IMPACT is at the forefront of that and I think in the next five or ten years you’ll see the other companies follow suit.
I may not like Tessa Blanchard, but she is a hell of a professional wrestler at the end of the day. The thing that people get wrong is, this angle isn’t built off misogynistic insults. It’s not built on a man and a woman. I truly believe we built this angle on the reason I don’t like Tessa Blanchard is she’s apart of this new generation that just feels entitled to everything. I don’t hate her because she’s a woman. I hate her because she’s a spoilt brat. I have to wrestle her like I have everyone else for the past three years.
On why he left NXT:
I quit NXT because I wasn’t complacent. I wasn’t happy just collecting a paycheck and just being a toy on the shelf. I saw myself as a top guy, I had to go out and prove it and I’ve done just that. As soon as I got there, they wanted to change everything about me and I knew it wouldn’t work. I could have sucked it up probably been on RAW or SmackDown right now, but I’m not complacent to be the third or fourth guy, I want to be the top guy and I’ve been able to do that, I’ve proven that a normal white kid from Ohio can be the face of a company when that’s not the norm, because I connect with people.