Impact Wrestling executives Ed Nordholm, Scott D’Amore and Don Callis recently spoke with Newsweek; you can read a few excerpts below:
Don Callis on getting Impact Wrestling to have a ‘cool factor’:
“When I was looking into [joining Impact] last summer, to me, there wasn’t a cool factor. There wasn’t a buzz about the product—part of that is on the booking side, doing things that don’t make sense. Why is it that [independent] promotions in the U.K. or Northeast in the U.S. can rent wrestlers, put on a show and get a tremendous buzz on the internet? You have to be different. People try to be WWE-lite…we can’t be that. We have to try to be different, whether that means more athletic, more edgy, whatever it is. We have to be different.”
Impact Wrestling Media Call Highlights & Full Audio feat. Josh Mathews, Sami Callihan & Konnan
Scott D’Amore comments on the recent talent turnover:
“Yes, EC3 left, but Brian Cage came in, Johnny Impact was signed, Austin Aries came in. This company has been a launching pad for people to come in and prove they’re stars and deserve the notoriety. The Brian Cages, the Su Yungs, all these people coming in are going to be the next Bobby Roodes and Angelina Loves of the next generation.”
Backstage News On WWE Possibly Introducing The ‘Broken Universe’ On WWE Programming
Ed Nordholm on the new practice of allowing talents to leave with their brand and ring name:
“The catalyst was finding out our talents were doing other [wrestling] shows under other names. It seemed to me that’s absurd in the world we’re in today. If you look at it, the idea of a wrestling company owning the [intellectual property] wasn’t really to profit from it, but owning the I.P.—if a person leaves they can’t use that name or wear that outfit people recognize,” says D’Amore. “We want a collaborative environment where people can feel like they’re creating something [with us]…and if the time comes where you go separate ways, you both get to walk away knowing you have some ownership of something you created. Mike Hutter gets to go out and play the character he helped create. It’s better for him, better for wrestling, and better for us—we have a library full of amazing EC3 content.”
