Scott D’Amore took part in a media interview at IMPACT Wrestling‘s United We Stand event in Rahway, New Jersey. D’Amore spoke about IMPACT’s progress since taking over, saying there have been some highs and lows so far, but he’s overall proud of the company’s progress.
“Well, I guess it’s been a little over fifteen months and I think it’s been a pretty good fifteen months. We’ve had a lot of ups and a lot of downs, and I can honestly say in the beginning of 2018 there were some moments coming in where me and Don [Callis] looked at each other like ‘what the hell where we thinking?’ I think slowly but surely, incrementally small steps will be making things better—we took it out of the studio and got IMPACT Wrestling back out where it belongs in front of wrestling fans, paying wrestling fans that are invested or support the product, and we’re grateful for the people that have come along on the ride so far.
We’re hopeful and excited that more people will continue to give us a chance. I’ve said it one hundred plus times and I’ll continue saying it—if you’re supporting us, thank you, we appreciate it. If you’re somebody who had been turned off and hasn’t been following IMPACT Wrestling in awhile, please when you are ready, come with us with open eyes and give us a chance. Dammit, we’ve got a locker room full of great people, men and women, that go out there night after night and leave it all on the line, and they are very deserving of your support.”
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D’Amore was asked about the general morale of the locker room, and while he said he can’t speak and make a comparison with that personally, he does understand what talent had to go through in recent years. D’Amore said people might have been more worried over the potential of losing their jobs, but IMPACT is now in a position to give talent some stability that they might not have had the last few years:
“It’s hard for me to say, right? I really left here in ’08, and then I came back here for a short period of time as a late favor, I think in the last part of ’09. I filled in for a few months, but really when I came here, it had been ten years since I was here. I had heard a lot of stuff, I didn’t hear it first hand. I know that when we walked in here last year there was a lot of sulking faces, and more than anything, I don’t know if morale was down, I think spirits were down. It’s maybe the same thing, but I’ve seen disgruntled locker rooms before where people are pissed off and angry, but I think here there was a lot of people that were scared. They were scared because they didn’t know what the future held for them, because if IMPACT Wrestling went away I think it was going to negatively affect a lot of people in the wrestling industry, and obviously a lot of people in this company and our locker room.
If there’s one thing that I’m proud of—and Don and Ed [Nordholm] and proud of everybody at Anthem—is now there’s no more talk about going away. We’ve established the first part of our plan—stability. We’re coming out week after week, we’re out there and doing our television tapings, on the road in front of wrestling fans, we’re getting out there and doing live events on Twitch, we’re doing events for the [Global Wrestling Network app] and we’re getting to do great events like this. Here we are tonight at 11 p.m. in Rahway, New Jersey, and we’re going to put a thousand people in this building and have an amazing show on FITE.tv. It’s one of the amazing things about professional wrestling in 2019.”
D’Amore added, saying this is a good time for the wrestling business, because now wrestling promotions around the globe can work together and benefit from each other instead of working in isolation:
“I’m excited overall because there are so many different wrestling companies represented here tonight. The wrestling business that I joined, if I worked for one company and David Penzer [standing to Scott’s left] worked for another, then we weren’t allowed to be on the same show, we couldn’t interact. Now, in 2019 in this industry, people are starting to understand like so many other industries and so many other things in life—people in wrestling are starting to realize that instead of fighting with each other, we can work together and we can be stronger together.”
