Exclusive: Impact Grand Champion Josh Mathews on Backlash from Being Gifted the Title, Being Hated by the IWC, Being a Spirit Guide, More

On what it was like working with Jeremy Borash and if he considers JB a mentor:

JM: A mentor? No. And I don’t mean that in a disrespectful way, I’ve been doing this for almost 20 years. So a mentor? No… no. I’m sorry, that question took me back a bit… I always got along with JB. I wish nothing but luck and success going forward and he has an opportunity to learn new things.

On being gifted the Impact Grand Championship and the all the backlash that followed:

JM: I think that for one, you have to watch something with an open mind and see how it plays out. You can read about it online and we do tape in advance, so people read about it and they were outraged without even having a chance to see it yet. They just automatically assumed that what they had read ya know… once you see it play out on TV you will see it a litter differently. The championship became a gift to me from Matt Sydal. I just think that when you watch something you have to watch it from beginning to end and not automatically assume this is the worst thing ever. I heard it was Arquette-esq ya know? It’s unfortunate that the internet has given everyone a voice and everyone has chosen to use that voice to complain about pro-wrestling.

Thoughts on the Sami Callihan/Eddie Edwards ball bat incident:

JM: I think the situation between Eddie and Sami is great. It’s one of those things where Eddie is going to fully recover. Sami was given an opportunity to back down from what he did, not back down, but apologize for what he did, and Sami said no. Sami doubled down on his efforts. He tripled down. Sami said he bashed that man in the face with a baseball bat. This is a violent sport and if you don’t like what I did sorry about your luck. Eddie is going to get his chance at redemption on April 6^th in New Orleans at WrestleCon. Sami Callihan, excuse me Jerimiah Crane from Lucha Underground, will be representing and facing Eddie Edwards in an “I Quit” match. To me, an “I Quit” match is the most embarrassing and humiliating match there is because you have to verbally say “I Quit”, I can’t take anymore, I’m done.

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