Impact recently taped months worth of content in Tennessee including the 2-part Rebellion event. Former Impact World Champion Sami Callihan took part in the tapings and his match against Ken Shamrock from Rebellion aired on last night’s show. When the global pandemic first began to impact live events, Callihan stated he would not be wrestling during this time. He spoke to SI.com recently about what made him feel safe taking part in the recent tapings for Impact.
“The reason that I was 100% OK with doing that was because Impact took amazing care of us,” Callihan said during the interview. “From the time we got there to the time we left, I knew no one from our crew was going to be in any danger. Impact took every precaution to make sure our television taping was the safest television taping going on right now.”
Sami Callihan on Recent Impact Tapings
Unfortunately, several members of the roster were unable to attend the tapings. Neither Tessa Blanchard nor Eddie Edwards attended. Tag champions the North were unable to travel to the state due to the US-Canada border being shut down. A Knockouts title match between Taya Valkyrie and Jordynne Grace has been scrapped from Rebellion as well.
“I put my entire trust in Impact management to make sure we all get taken care of,” Callihan continued. “I’ve wrestled for every major wrestling company on the planet, and Impact Wrestling truly is a family. I know it’s crazy to think how many ‘families’ there are in this crazy world, but our entire locker room and our entire staff took care of each other so we could all be safe.”
Callihan took on a new gimmick in Impact Wrestling shortly after losing the world title to Tessa Blanchard. He has been revealed as the hacker behind the “ICU” videos on the show. He spoke with Chris Van Vliet recently about the character.
Callihan also spoke about the freedom he has in Impact Wrestling. He noted that Impact is the first promotion to really take the shackles off of him.
“Impact Wrestling has been the first company to pull the shackles off me and say, ‘We want to give you the freedom to actually do you.’”
