Impact Wrestling executives Ed Nordholm, Don Callis and Scott D’Amore recently spoke with Newsweek to address the recent wave of departures from the company.
Don Callis put a positive spin on the recent shakeup, noting that Impact has recently brought in talented competitors such as Brian Cage, Austin Aries and John Hennigan.
Here are some highlights of what was said about EC3, Bobby Lashley and Jeremy Borash:
EC3
Last weekend, we saw EC3 ringside at NXT Takeover: Philadelphia. He did an interview backstage at the show talking about returning to WWE after 5 long years. Scott D’Amore commented on what led to EC3 leaving Impact.
“His contract was not up,” D’Amore revealed. “He came to us, we had a frank discussion about where he saw himself going. We decided to sit down and work something out that worked for us on how we’d wrap up this portion of his career. I didn’t watch NXT TakeOver but when he showed up on screen and my phone started blowing up, I texted him:
‘Congratulations. All the best to you. You’ve got nothing but love and support from us here. And if you need anything, you know where we are.’
And he wrote back the same thing.”
Bobby Lashley
Ed Nordholm admitted that it’s not a good thing when you lose a talent like Bobby Lashley, but wishes him the best in his next career move, whether it’s pro wrestling or MMA.
“Bobby is free to figure out what he wants to do next, whether it be wrestling or mixed martial arts,” Nordholm said. “We wish him all the best. He’s a great talent, it’s foolish to say, ‘No, we wouldn’t want to retain him,’ but he has his own ambitions about what he thinks is good for him next in his career.”
Jeremy Borash
Perhaps the most surprising departure from Impact in recent months is Jeremy Borash, who had been with the company since its inception in 2002. Ed Nordholm and Scott D’Amore both wished him well, but said they have a lot of other talented people on staff ready to fill his roles behind the scenes.
Nordholm: “He is leaving and joining the WWE. We wish him all the best. He’s a talented guy and has been with the company forever. But we have a lot of talented guys—change is good and it gives other guys a chance to step up.”
D’Amore: “We always wish Jeremy well. I got one of my first breaks [from him]—Jeremy hired me to be a producer at World Wrestling All-Stars. But we have editors on our team who don’t get the notoriety that Jeremy does. We have great players ready to step up.”
Visit Newsweek.com to read the complete article.
