Scott D'Amore talks Friday PPVs, AXS TV, more

[Chris]

Scott D'Amore spoke with our own Josh Nason regarding Impact's live event schedule, the promotion's future on AXS TV, and the upcoming Bound For Glory pay-per-view.

During an episode of JNPO released on Tuesday, The Impact VP was asked about the company's recent switch to presenting pay-per-views on Friday nights.

"It is a busy night but one of the things is the way people consume content differently in this day and age. You see sometimes what we think is competition isn't as much competition as we really think because there are people that are going to watch it. This isn't as much of a live content-consuming world as it used to be," D'Amore said.

"There is great stuff out there on Friday nights,' he continued. "I'll be totally honest with you, Josh, we might turn around and look at this in a handful of months and go 'you know what? Fridays isn't the day to do.'"

"There is so much competition on every night of the week out there these days that we went and looked at it and said, 'You know what? Friday and Saturday are great nights to block for live events, let's take a look, and let's see how the Friday night pay-per-views do.'"

"Friday night is a night that we might look at it and we might find that Friday night people are already in the wrestling groove. They might decide they want to DVR SmackDown and Rampage and watch our show or they might want to watch SmackDown and Rampage and DVR our pay-per-view."

"One thing we've always been, Josh, is open to trying different things. Sometimes you invent Ultimate-X and sometimes you come up with the Reverse Battle Royal."

D'Amore was also asked if he is happy with how things turned out regarding Impact's collaboration with AEW last year.

"We had our ups and downs and we felt our way through a lot of things, and that always happens. I know some of our fanbase was frustrated at times as we got to it, but to me, to culminate in a guy like Christian Cage, who is as Impact Wrestling as Impact can be, a guy who has always said coming to Impact Wrestling is where he was allowed to make his bones and become a world champion and prove that he could be the guy, to have his return here to basically be the passing of the torch to Josh Alexander, to me, was a great culmination."

D'Amore would continue to praise Impact's relationship with AAA.

"I don't know if I've ever seen a better partner than what we've had in AAA from Mexico. They have been fantastically supportive of us, we've done our darndest to always be supportive of them."

Nason asked D'Amore if he feels Impact will remain on AXS TV or move to another network.

"We're open to exploring anything. I can tell you this, I sit here, I wear a couple of hats, I'm the EVP of Impact Wrestling and I'm also the EVP of Anthem Sports and Entertainment Sports Media Group and Impact is such a juggernaut on AXS TV for us. I know it's, at times, frustrating for fans. It's one of the reasons why we added the show weekly on the YouTube subscription for 99 cents," D'Amore said.

"We will always look to keep Impact Wrestling as one of the staples of AXS TV and frankly, our other broadcast networks both domestically and in Canada and such but we will also look for other growth opportunities. To me, it's a great opportunity to serve two masters. We've got Impact Wrestling, which is so great on AXS TV, especially paired with New Japan, but if we're out there and the right deal pops forward, we would be more than happy to sit in a room and look at a deal with a different network. The other thing is we'll continue to work at other streaming platforms and opportunities."

Regarding a rumor that he met with then-free agent Braun Strowman earlier this year in Detroit, D'Amore said, "I spend a lot of time on the Detroit side of the border and yeah, got together, sat with Braun, had a nice bite to eat, had a drink. We weren't hiding, we we're doing nothing."

He continued to say that they made plans to meet up as Strowman was in the area for a comic con.

"We got together, we chatted, was a great talk, wish him all the best," D'Amore continued.

D'Amore and Nason would also discuss where Impact fits into the current wrestling ecosystem, the build to Friday's Bound For Glory, and more. The show is available here.

Impact’s Scott D’Amore explains moving PPVs to Fridays, future on AXS TV

D'Amore spoke to Josh Nason on JNPO.

www.f4wonline.com

 

[Leon TrotSky]

Basically admitting that Braun wanted stupid money to be on Impact, a fact we all knew