Impact Wrestling will be moving to the Pursuit Channel in 2019. The first episode of Impact Wrestling on their new channel will be on Friday, January 11th, 2019 at 10 PM. Anthem Sports and Entertainment owns a minority stake in the Pursuit channel as well.

Impact co-Vice President, Scott D’Amore, spoke to Nick Hausman of the WINCLY podcast regarding the move:

“First and foremost, I have to say POP TV — despite all the frustrations that are our very passionate fan base has — they have been a very supportive partner over the years that we’ve been there, and they’ve been supportive through this process,” D’Amore said. “We’ve been looking and evaluating things on an ongoing basis, when myself and Don [Callis] came on board at the beginning of the year, we always said it was going to be a slow process. It was going to be a bunch of small victories, a bunch of small maneuvers that would lead us to bigger and better things. We think we had a great 2018 where we made a lot of positive steps, and as we look back to the beginning of the year to where we are now, we’re very hopeful and excited about things.”

Impact Wrestling Moves To The Pursuit Channel

A key part to the deal appears to be the demographics of who watches Pursuit versus who watches POP.

“POP is changing up things on the network and while both sides acknowledged we were never the right fit for a female-dominated network, we enjoyed a few years together,” D’Amore continued. “We’ve been looking at moving on, doing some other things, as we looked at the options it seemed like the best time to make a move to Pursuit, which is a sister company to Impact Wrestling. There’s an ownership stake that [Impact parent company] Anthem Sports & Entertainment has in them and Pursuit is a male-dominated demographic.”

Chris Jericho was in Toronto last night for a Fozzy concert at the Rockpile. While in town he evidently met with the Impact Wrestling management team of Scott D’Amore, Don Callis, and Ed Nordholm.

Jericho posted a photo of the four of them along with Jericho’s father (and former New York Ranger), Ted Irvine.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bq0GnsPlMV7/?utm_source=ig_twitter_share&igshid=1lg9vw9lennnt

Anthem Sports and Entertainment’s head office is located in Toronto.

Chris Jericho and Impact Wrestling

Jericho has been linked to Impact since his friend Don Callis was appointed co-Vice President. Callis takes credit for bringing Jericho into NJPW and setting up the WrestleKingdom match between Kenny Omega and Jericho last January. Jericho, Callis, and Omega are all from Winnipeg, MB, Canada.

Jericho and Impact Wrestling worked together in October as well for the Chris Jericho Rock N Rager at Sea. He had originally booked just Ring of Honor wrestlers to appear on the cruise but Impact’s involvement was confirmed earlier this year as well.

Earlier this month, the Wrestling Observer printed the following regarding a potential Impact and NJPW talent-sharing arrangement.

“(NJPW) didn’t use guys like Brian Cage and John Morrison because they were Impact guys,” Dave Meltzer wrote in the Wrestling Observer. “And stopped some of their own talent from working Impact.”

Many things in wrestling seem destined to change in 2019, however. Jericho, Callis, D’Amore, and Nordholm may have touched upon that subject last night. 

Impact Wrestling will be back in Scott D’Amore’s hometown in March. The promotion recently announced they will be returning to Windsor, ON, Canada for 2 nights of tapings. Impact held 2 nights of tapings in Windsor back in early June as well.

Border City Wrestling and Impact held a joint show just outside of Detroit recently dubbed Motown Showdown. That show is available on the Global Wrestling Network.

Impact Wrestling Tapings

Following the purchase of the company by Anthem Sports and Entertainment last year, the company has become more international. Television deals Anthem has in place in the UK, Mexico, and India have led to stars from those locations playing prominent roles on Impact television. It has also led to the promotion holding tapings and One Night Only PPVs across the globe.

In 2018, Impact Wrestling has traveled to Orlando, Windsor, Toronto, Mexico City, New York, and soon will head to Las Vegas. They’ve also held a Twitch special in the UK.

The next Twitch special the promotion is producing will take place on November 30th. “Gold Rush” will take place from Newark, California and will feature Eddie Edwards, Tessa Blanchard, Moose, and Eli Drake. The event will be held in conjunction with Big Time Wrestling. They will then hit Nashville for the Homecoming PPV in January with nothing else booked until the Windsor tapings in March.

It’s well known that last month WWE and Impact Wrestling officials had a meeting at WWE headquarters in Connecticut. It was reported that the meeting had members of Triple H’s team there as well as Scott D’Amore and Ed Nordholm from Impact where both sides had a general discussion.

Over the last few years, both promotions have been building a relationship. WWE is allowing footage of Impact to be shown on their streaming service. WWE has paid for material from Impact’s video library to use as content on the WWE Network.

Impact Vice President Scott D’Amore recently appeared on Wrestling Perspective podcast with hosts Petey Williams and Dennis Farrell where he talked about a wide range of topics including this meeting. In this podcast, he noted that there was “no agenda” as he made it known that the meeting was just to establish a better relationship between both promotions going forward.

D’Amore stated that since the start of 2018, they’ve done three content deals with WWE and he thinks the WWE is looking at Impact Wrestling in a different way now as it’s a different day and age in wrestling.

He added (transcript courtesy of Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet), “There was a meeting, we got together, we talked. It was kinda like ‘Hey, it’s kinda nice to be face-to-face and say hello. Just say that it’s 2018, it’s a whole different world, and there’s no reason why people shouldn’t communicate.’”

D’Amore made it known that there was no agenda as he thinks that is how the business is now, which he thinks is tremendous. You can hear his comments about this meeting around the 33: 00-minute mark here.

Last week, reports were that WWE officials met with Scott D’Amore and Ed Nordholm from Impact Wrestling. According to a recent report from the Wrestling Observer, it was WWE who reached out to Impact for the meeting and not the other way around. Previous reports had stated it was Impact doing the pitching but that is now being refuted.

“It was WWE that requested the meeting, that Impact pitching as we reported was not correct,” Meltzer wrote. He would continue to say that reports of Impact being up for sale are not true.

Impact Wrestling Financial Situation Moving Forward

“It was said that no deal of any note came out of the meeting and that while Impact has been a huge money loser for most of its existence, the bleeding money of 2017 has also been turned around this year and it’s a much more efficient business.”

While it appears not much of note came out of the meeting, the two sides appear to have a far more agreeable working relationship than ever before.

“As far as the meeting goes, really the only thing being said is that the days when the two sides were enemies are supposed to be over.”

Don Callis was not said to be in attendance during the meetings, however.

Impact Wrestling airs their second show from the Mexico City tapings later tonight.

The fallout from Alberto El Patron’s departure from Impact Wrestling is still a discussion.

El Patron failed to appear at the Impact Wrestling vs. Lucha Underground event at WrestleCon earlier this month during WrestleMania weekend. At the show, he was originally scheduled to team with Penta El 0M against Austin Aries and Rey Fénix.

This led to the promotion releasing El Patron due to him not appearing at the show.

SI.com recently interviewed Impact Wrestling executive Scott D’Amore. During this interview, D’Amore opened up on the release of the former world champion.

“It was obviously an unfortunate situation. When Alberto failed to show up to the event, we made our decision on a new main event for the show. It was important for us to give our fans, in a capacity crowd at the Sugar Mill in New Orleans, a great event, and we did not want them to focus on someone who wasn’t there.

We wanted them to focus on the match we were giving. Those three guys went out, were so professional, and put on an amazing match. Then we sat down and huddled.”

What are your thoughts on Impact Wrestling parting ways with El Patron? Sound off in the comment section below.

In case you weren’t aware, IMPACT recently revealed that Don Callis and Scott D’Amore would set to be positioned as the new Executive Vice Presidents of the company. IMPACT sent out the following press release on the hiring:

“TORONTO – Anthem Wrestling Exhibitions LLC, a subsidiary of Anthem Sports & Entertainment Corp. and parent company of IMPACT Wrestling, announced today that Don Callis and Scott D’Amore have joined the company as Executive Vice Presidents. Reporting to Ed Nordholm, President of the Company, they will form a 3-member Executive Committee with overall responsibility for developing the creative direction for the Company and managing the execution of the Company’s business plan. 

Don Callis has built a critically acclaimed 15-year career in the wrestling business as a performer, color commentator and writer for WWF, ECW and TNA. After retiring from wrestling in 2004, he obtained an MBA and established another successful career in international business. Callis recently returned to the world he loves and is now the color commentator for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (a role that he will retain) and co-hosts the hit podcast “Killing the Town” on The Jericho Network.

Scott D’Amore has held just about every position in the wrestling industry, including performer, trainer, promoter, writer and producer. D’Amore is an IMPACT Wrestling original, having been with the company from its early days in the Asylum until his departure in 2010. In his time away from the organization, D’Amore applied his entrepreneurial spirit to transform The D’Amore Group from a family-run construction company into a multi-faceted real estate development company. He has kept his hand in the industry, running Border City Wrestling in Windsor in collaboration with the Entertainment Technology program at St. Clair College. He also owns and operates Can-Am Wrestling, a successful professional wrestling training facility that has produced numerous top talents in the wrestling industry today.”

As you may of noted, Callis is part of Chris Jericho’s podcast network and good friends with the Winnipeg native. During a recent interview on ‘Talk is Jericho’ Callis revealed that it was in fact Jericho who reached out to Anthem Executive Len Asper and told him to hire Don Callis and Scott D’Amore to run Impact Wrestling. Whether this is an elaborate rib being played by both Callis and Jericho remains to be seen but if this is true then Jericho’s influence across the wrestling landscape seems to be broadening in recent months.

Getting your buddies a job? Jericho invented that.

New Japan Pro Wrestling commentator Don Callis is reportedly bound for Impact Wrestling. Although he has allegedly not yet signed with the company he is expected to be revealed as an on air talent as early as November, January at the latest. Interestingly Callis will not be leaving New Japan, which has ignited rumors of a potential partnership between the two companies.

During a recent visit with current working partners Pro Wrestling NOAH, Impact employee Scott D’Amore announced that he had met with New Japan officials and spoke to the locker room directly, confirming that Callis was heading to Impact.

D’Amore also made a point to apologise to IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada, who had previously been a member of the TNA roster and had been booked in a detrimental way, being made to dress like Kato from the Green Hornet and play Samoa Joe’s lackey being two of the more memorable creative decisions during his time in Florida.

New Japan currently have a close working relationship with Ring of Honor and it is likely that they will not be looking to join forces once again with Impact, however we will keep you up to date as the story develops.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcUH2FDzRSA

Jeff Jarrett has been contacting a number of talents to be part of his upstart Global Force Wrestling promotion in recent weeks.

Jarrett is apparently going after signed talents that have their deals with Ring Of Honor or TNA expiring soon, as well as unsigned talents.

The biggest name that GFW has reportedly reached out to is Roderick Strong, however there are rumors of talks with Team 3D, Chris Masters and Shelton Benjamin as well.

Jarrett has Sonjay Dutt and Scott D’Amore working on the office side of things for the promotion, and Dutt has been the one calling most of the aforementioned talents.

Regarding the offers to talents, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter is reporting that Jarrett has been offering the possibility of working 39 dates with the promotion.

As far as the rumors of Eric Bischoff being part of the promotion, Jarrett is denying these claims. Regarding Bischoff, Jarrett stated, “If GFW and BHE (Bischoff-Hervey Enterprises) are going to work together, we will not announce it at a Q&A in the U.K. They obviously heard what they wanted to hear.”

• CM PUNK’S UFC Debut, Ronda Rousey/WWE Update + HOT Ring Girl Pics!

The following are highlights of a new VOC Nation Radio interview with Scott D’Amore:

On Wrestle Kingdom 9 at the Tokyo Dome: “It was a career goal to be involved in an event at the Tokyo Dome. They’ve been doing it for 23 years now & there have been so many amazing moments that have happened in Tokyo Dome. Over here, WWE has always had Wrestlemania & it’s bounced all over the United States & even in Canada, but when it comes to NJPW wrestling & Japanese wrestling, the biggest events always happen at the Tokyo Dome & they always happen January 4. It’s going to be great to be a part of that. Last year, I went over & I was there doing some R&R & I wanted to see some of my students, Alex Shelley & the Timesplitters so I was able to sit there in the crowd & spend time with friends. Sitting there & watching the event, I looked at it & I was like, ‘This has to has to has to… somehow we have to get this to a North American audience.'”

On what Global Force Wrestling intends to provide that “sports entertainment” is lacking: “There is so much good talent around the world that isn’t getting an opportunity to be seen & GFW is going to go out there That’s why its formed all these partnerships around the world. We’re going to know when people are making waves & when exciting things are happening & we’re going to help bring that to the wrestling audience. I think that the biggest difference is going to happen with GFW is that, for so long in wrestling, if you did something somewhere else, it didn’t exist. If you came to another promotion, it seemed that everything in the past was just swept under the rug. We’re not only going to acknowledge people’s history which is what helps get them where they are but we’re going to acknowledge things throughout wrestling. Just because something is happening in a different place doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. It’s time to treat wrestling with a little more respect & wrestling fans with a little more respect. We’re living in a digital age. Everything is available at their fingertips. We’re going to stop trying to treat people as if they don’t know what’s going on out there in a broader sense. We’re going to be very interactive & very fan-friendly & look to deliver great wrestling action to fans through multiple platforms. There is so much good talent out there in independent wrestling around the world & it’s time to start giving a place where those people can get an opportunity to shine.

I think it’s just a matter of really being more open & honest with the fans that helps build part of the realism of the product. If Sydney Crosby goes & scores the gold medal winning goal for the Olympics, that’s going to be acknowledged on an NHL broadcast. To me, it makes great common sense but sometimes in business, we get away from things that may be what we should be doing. When you get too close to something, sometimes, you just start doing things a certain way & it just stays that way. I think this is going to be a better opportunity to be open with the fans. They’re going to be interactive & feel that they’re a big part of the GFW product. ”

Part of it is, without having a domestic weekly television in place yet, it’s getting it out there & getting people to understand this product. Getting them to know what’s going on, getting them to know the characters. This has been a monumental task of going in & promoting Wrestle Kingdom 9 without having a weekly television platform to do it off of. I think it’s the power of social media, right. No longer are you completely at the mercy of a handful of television executives on what people get to see. People can view & share & retweet the videos & the articles & the traction that we’ve been able to get is amazing. It shows what’s possible in this digital world we now live in. I think GFW is doing a great job of getting content out there. If there’s one thing that can be said, no one can say, ‘Well, man, I haven’t seen anything about this’ or ‘Man, I wish they would put out more information.’ We put out very detailed articles by very good writers, explaining the different factions & characters & some of the history. The video crew has been going around the clock putting out these videos.”

On wrestlers who aren’t involved speaking about Wrestle Kingdom 9: “The people in the industry… Scott Steiner & you mentioned Kevin Nash… these guys aren’t attached to Wrestle Kingdom. These guys aren’t going to be on Wrestle Kingdom but they were still willing to sit down & answer questions, do interviews, & talk about their experiences having been involved. That’s one of the signs that I take that it’s like, ‘Something is going on on the right path’, when people who aren’t making a dime from this deal in the wrestling business. Your & my friend, Scott Hall, likes to say, ‘This is show business, not show friends.’ Despite the fact that Kevin Nash & Scott Steiner & all of these people aren’t part of this event right now & aren’t making any money, they’re still willing to sit down & take the time to record these videos & do these interviews & help get the word out so that fans understand… the fans that haven’t had a chance to experience the New Japan product know what they’re missing & what they could expect if they tune in on January 4.”

On Jeff Jarrett: “That’s a testament to the quality of New Japan & the amount of the stars there that have had positive experiences. It can also be attributed to the respect & good will that Jeff Jarrett has built up in the wrestling industry over his career. He walked away from a company that he had built. It was his baby &, for his reasons, I know you’re going to be chatting with him, I’ll let him explain, that’s a pretty huge decision to make. He walked away from a company he formed & built from day 1 & took from the tiniest little company into a company that was on national TV on 50-something companies around the world & he chose to leave that to focus on forming GFW & forming this new company because he really seems to understand that there is an audience out there that’s not getting a product that what’s what they want & not engaging them & exciting them & he’s looking to put that together. I don’t know if people understand how much it turns over your life to walk away from something you started from scratch. Start with quitting your job & not having a check every week. That’s a pretty big life changer for a guy who has a wife & five kids. The fact is, to start it from scratch all over again… it’s amazing what he’s done. I’ve been out of the wrestling business for years with the exception of a Border City Wrestling show here or there, dipped my toe in the water. It hasn’t been a big part of my life as far as my business life. I’m a wrestling fan. Jim Ross put it best when I first started talking to him about this event, he said, ‘Scott, I’m a wrestling fan. I grew up a wrestling fan. I was lucky to make my living & be successful for many years in the wrestling business. That doesn’t change the fact that I’m a wrestling fan & I’ll die a wrestling fan.’ That’s how I feel. I didn’t see myself getting back into the wrestling industry on a major level but, when this stuff started coming together & when Jeff Jarrett was forming GFW, it was almost perfect timing. He left in late December of 2013 & I was in Tokyo in January of 2014. Being there at Tokyo Dome for Wrestle Kingdom 8 put the fire back in my belly. As Jeff started getting things rolling, we chatted a little bit here & there & Jeff is someone I have a lot of respect for & a lot of good feelings for & I have a lot of faith in, which I think may be the best way to sum it up. Me & Jeff have had a good relationship over many years. Like any relationship, it has its up & downs, but there has never been a time where I didn’t have respect for him & what he does. I didn’t not have faith that he was nose to the grindstone, plugging ahead, trying to make wrestling better. Wrestling has been his whole life, professionally, from the time he was a boy up until now. I just think that he’s got a passion & it’s really honestly the excitement of seeing what he was doing & the message he was sending, & the fact that it’s him, quite honestly, because he’s one of the people that I would run through a brick wall to help him out because he’s always been someone who’s supportive of me & supportive of the wrestling business & try to better it. If that’s going to happen, if there’s a way that I could help then, you know, hey, count me in”

On cross-overs & cross-promotions with other wrestlng companies: “I don’t understand why everything has to be adversarial. In some levels, as business grows, there may be a day where Pro Wrestling Syndicate & House of Hardcore & GFW are on the same level competing for wrestling fans & that’s healthy. But I don’t understand or have ever really understood why that has to be, say, adversarial. I grew up in the construction industry &, every time a job comes out, there could be an upwards of 12 or 15 of us bidding on the same job to get the same work so we were definitely in direct competition but that didn’t mean that we couldn’t have respect or decent relationships with other companies that were in competition with us. To me, if you get people who are focused on getting their own business better & focused on delivering the wrestling fans a quality product that they want to see, well, then there’s not reason why House of Hardcore, Pro Wrestling Syndicate, & GFW can’t be on good terms. There isn’t a reason why there can’t be a day where GFW can help out House of Hardcore & Pro Wrestling Syndicate can help out GFW & House of Hardcore can swoop in & save the day. Say something is going on in GFW & Tommy Dreamer does something or uses one of his many connections or anything to help each other out, & I think that’s one of the things that we’re going to try to do with GFW. In wrestling, we’ve always been very exclusive in the sense like, ‘this is our company… we’re going to do our own thing & that’s how it’s going to be. We don’t work with other people’. I think one of the biggest things about GFW is, it’s not going to be exclusion, it’s going to be inclusion. Why can’t we have a good relation with House of Hardcore? Why can’t there be ways that we can work together. I’m not talking in a sense of having Tommy Dreamer leading an invasion of Hardcore talent on a GFW TV show or vice versa… Jeff Jarrett leading a GFW invasion on House of Hardcore. In order to be able to productively work together, maybe House of Hardcore has a business connection that might be beneficial to GFW &, if it doesn’t harm HOH in order to share that business content, then great.’ Or if we’re in an area, running an event in a venue that HOH has dealt with or had a relationship with, they might be able to assist. Maybe they’ve been somewhere that we’re looking to go & they can say, ‘this is the good & this is the bad.’ That has to be reciprocal, right? HOH coming down to Nashville & Jeff was all like, ‘Here’s my friends. They do the top-rated morning show here on the morning drive. Here’s a TV contact that will do something…’ & that’s part of it. Part of it is talent & exchanging information. The biggest way we can help each other is exchanging information & part of that can be in relation to talent. If HOH has a junior heavyweight event going on & I can pick up the phone, ‘Hey Tommy.” Tommy pretty much knows everything in the wrestling business. He eats, sleeps, & breathes this business. Outside of his family, I don’t think there’s anything that Tommy loves more than this business. If GFW saw this unbelievable cruiser-weight in South Africa & Tommy hasn’t seen or heard of him, we can say, ‘Hey Tommy, you’re running this world junior heavyweight tournament… you have to see this guy.’ Open communication between different groups & promoters to me has to be a positive. It has to be a positive for business & there’s no way it’s not a positive thing as far as delivering a better product to wrestling fans all over the place.”

In his opinion, what will be the “match of the night” for Wrestle Kingdom 9: “There’s going to be so much stuff. You’ve got Suzuki going out there in MMA rules with Sakuraba, which is going to be awesome. You’ve got Okada & Tanahashi in the main event for the championship, which is the biggest prize in New Japan Wrestling & possibly the world right now. They’ve main event-ed shows & the Tokyo Dome & put on unbelievable performances & they have to step it up another level & I’m confident they’re going to do that. Going with the idea that the main event can’t steal the show, which it’s theirs to have, I’ll give 2. I’ll say that… because I have to cheat my way out of this. There’s the IWGP Junior Tag Championship, which has The Timesplitters who obviously, I’m biased for because they both spent considerable time training at the wrestling school here. They’re amazing. Versus the Young Bucks, representing the Bullet Club. If the Young Bucks weren’t already awesome in the last year, plus, they’ve just gone to a whole new level. The stuff that they do is amazing. They’re charismatic & entertaining as Hell. They’ve been there with the champions, The Red Dragons, who are fantastic. Fish & O’Reilly are a fantastic tag team. Then you throw in the Forever Hooligans with Romero & Koslov. Their swagger & their change of pace… I know that that match is going to put on an unbelievable display . I think it’s going to be awesome. The second match I’ll say that, this event is the first major, major, mega event since signing with NJPW for Kenny Omega, another Bullet Club member. Kenny Omega, if you haven’t seen him, this guy does things that the human body just wasn’t meant to do. You’d never imagine that a human body could do it, especially considering, & to say this respectfully & not diss anybody else, because there’s guys that do super athletic & high-flying things. They’re much smaller guys. Kenny is at the very top end of the Junior Heavyweight weight class. He’s a thick muscled, powerful individual &, the things that he can do with his body are amazing. Some of the stuff that he’s going to pull off at the Tokyo Dome in front of 50,000 people is going to be a huge rush. I just think that he’s going to use that grand stage to show why he was one of the best kept secrets in wrestling for so long now.”

On whether we will see him near the ring at Wrestle Kingdom 9: “The major events, I’ve made my way down to ringside. It’s part of the solidarity thing… showing of support with Bullet Club. As Karl Anderson was there the second that it was born, he likes to joke that me & Jeff Jarrett are the Bullet Club Office. Everybody in the Bullet Club has a lot of swagger & unique style. Me & Jeff are a little older. We still have a little business savvy to us. We have a tendency to show up for major events wearing suits. Machine Gun always says we’re the Bullet Club Office. They take care of things in the trenches & we take care of stuff in the Board Room. I like that analogy because a lot of what Jeff & I have done is behind-the-scenes stuff & organizing relationships & dealing with the business end of things. That doesn’t mean we don’t like to roll up our sleeves & get our hands dirty. That’s part of it. From a straight non-storyline sense, it’s a chance for me to walk out there in the Tokyo Dome & be part of an event that I’ve really, really legitimately dreamed about being part of so, going ringside, not going to leave Double J out there by himself, how about that? I’ll be out there, as always, me. I never get involved. I never interfere. I just sit there quietly & support our talent. I’ll just be there acting like a little angel, I’m sure.”

On Bullet Club: “In Bullet Club, there’s just such a cool factor. That’s why you’re seeing the Bullet Club transcend in NJPW. That’s why you see there shirts in crowds at Ring of Honor, TNA, WWE, independent shows, even though it’s got no domestic TV here in the US. I saw sullet Club shirtx walking through a mall in Windsor, Ontario, at Detroit Tiger games, & a Cottonmouth Kings concert. You’re starting to see Bullet Club become so popular. The thing is, ten years ago, it might not have been like this but with the explosion of social media, stuff gets out there & shared & retweeted. It’s almost like this underground swell of support for Bullet Club. It started out very simply… just a few guys who had started together in New Japan dojo, the non-Japanese guy who formed this group & it just kind of grew & took on a life of its own. It’s a huge part of the reason why New Japan’s product continues to soar.It’s got that NWO cool feel. The great thing is you got guys who aren’t trying to recreate the NWO. They’re doing their own thing. I think it’s hilarious with the fingers in the air. Too Sweets & that was done from Day 1 with the Bullet Club, as a way to pay homage to Scott & Kevin & the NWO. They grew up watching them. I saw an exchange on Twitter where somebody said something to Scott, ‘How do you feel about the Bullet Club stealing your sign’ & Scott is real cool & says, ‘I don’t look at it that way. I’m just honored that someone still remembers something we did.’ After that, I see Karl Anderson pop in & say, ‘Hey Scott, no disrespect. We do this because you’re the reason why we’re in the wrestling business. It’s completely done out of admiration.’ To me, it’s a cool faction & continuing to grow & adding Kenny Omega… The talent that’s in the Bullet Club is so unbelievable. It gets to run around & do what it wants, where it wants, when it wants. It gets to shake up NJPW & Japanese wrestling in general is kind of structured. It’s got the pageantry & everything but it doesn’t have the referees getting knocked down or all of the interference. Bullet Club doesn’t always do it but it does it when it needs to be done & that makes it different from the rest of the product & helps make it stand out.”

On Jim Ross: “I think it’s fantastic & super exciting that Jim Ross is returning to call this event. He’s the most legendary announcer in our industry’s history. I think Jim Ross can announce a chess match & draw the audience in. He’s the best storytelling announcer in the business– not just the wrestling business but in the wrestling business. The fact that he didn’t have to come back & call wrestling. I mean, he’s called MMA, boxing, & done little projects but if Jim Ross didn’t come back or call another wrestling show in his life, no one would have said a negative thing about it. The fact that he stepped out of the box & he’s coming back in… there’s going to be people who are going to be excited for this. Jim Ross had to come back & do all this prep work. He’s got to go out there & be the very best that there could be because that’s who he is & what he is. The fact that he would take time out & this event is what he chose to make that return & say, ‘Well, hell yeah, damn it, I want to call wrestling again & this is the show I want to call.’ I can tell you, from my conversations with Jim from the very beginning of this, he loved the product & he respected it. He said it reminded him of the product that he grew up watching & that he was a part of in his early years under Bill Watts. I can see the similarities between the two products but, overall, are quite different. They have the same aspects. They treat wrestling with respect, they’re hard-hitting, they’re great storytelling. They don’t get bogged down in a lot of the BS of the backstage stuff & everything else. They’re storytelling but, for the most part, it starts & ends in the ring. It’s presented in a believable way. It shows a respect for wrestling fans & I think having JR come back to call this event takes it to a whole other level. Now you have that voice that’s attached to so many memories over people’s years of the wrestling business. Everybody can go on & on with soundbytes of Jim Ross, whether it’s the boyhood dream has become a reality & any of the other hundreds of ‘Oh Wow’ moments that he’s gotten to call. He’s going to be there. It’d be easy for him to say, ‘You know what? Set up a studio here ten minutes from my house & we’ll set up a satellite link & I’ll call it here. That would’ve been cool just having him call it. But, I can tell you, from the first second that I talked to Jim Ross, there was no way he was returning to wrestling or calling this show unless he was sitting there ringside at the Tokyo Dome. For Jim Ross, on his birthday weekend, to get on a plane & travel 20 hours instead of being in Las Vega watching UFC. Instead, he’s traveling 20 hours & he’s going to Tokyo to a different culture & he’s going to deal with all the time changes & how that’s going to effect his body. He’s going to land on the ground & he’s going to start making sure everything is right & everything is set. He’s going to go out there & do what he does better than anyone else & that’s call wrestling action to tell the story going on in the ring. I think that’s super exciting.”

Check out the complete interview at VOCNation.com.

Global Force Wrestling has released episode of their “Journey” series. In his installment, Scott D’Amore is profiled as he, Jeff and Karen Jarrett head to Windsor, Ontario, Canada searching for talent.

The following are highlights of a new VOC Nation interview with Scott D’Amore:

On his favorite promotion to work for, WCW, & TNA: “I mean, if you’re talking about as far as for the professional fulfillment, it would have to be TNA. Because, obviously, I was pretty deeply involved there, having headed the creative team & been pretty deeply involved for the better part of wrestling for about 8 years. So certainly professionally & financially, that was by far the best run of my career. Everyone says they want to be a booker. That’s when I learned I really enjoyed the TV aspect of it. I had Jody Hamilton. He kind of the first person to really help teach me something as far as what goes on & into producing a wrestling TV show.”

On the Canadian Destroyer [flip piledriver]’s origin & his student, Petey Williams: “Well, it’s kind of funny in the wrestling business. There’s all this talk about how everybody steals things & everybody takes credit for this or that. It always seems it’s never the guy that gets the credit. Personally, I did not ‘invent’ the Canadian Destroyer. From my understanding of things, it was basically created because Chris Sabin, who’s another one of our graduates, used to take like a Frankenstein-er but backwards. The guy would actually jump off the rope backwards & basically backflip moonsault into taking a hurricanrana. So, then the thought process was, from there, they came up with it on a road trip. It was a move that basically anybody could do to Chris Sabin because he liked taking that backflip bump. When we got Petey Williams to TV, the guys were talking about different things as far as how to get Petey stand out. If i deserve any credit for creating the Canadian Destroyer because I wanted people to look at Petey & have people give a “holy sh*’ reaction, have him do the flip piledriver.”

On trust & today’s wrestlers in wrestling industry: “There’s a lot of things in wrestling that are trust-based. You’re giving your body to your opponent & trusting that he’s not going to knock you out or really hurt you or injure you. Certainly, a move like the Canadian Destroyer, there’s a lot of faith. That’s basically what our business is built on. You give somebody your body & they give you theirs & when you do it right, you put on a fantastic athletic demonstration & entertain the Hell out of people. It’s amazing when you think about the unbelievable athletic feats that wrestlers pull off on a nightly basis. A lot of trust to have to go out there & perform. It’s amazing the wrestlers don’t get hurt. It’s a testament to the business. The guys right now are such phenomenal athletes. I think there are guys out there performing in the top level now are as good as an athlete as there’s ever been in wrestling. Much better than in some years past. I think as good as other athletes in different sports. Great caliber athletes right now.”

On creating TNA’s Knockout Division and working with Dutch Mantell: “We had a terrific group of girls who formed the Knockout Division. I really enjoyed working hand-in-hand with Dutch Mantel [WWE’s Zeb Colter] on the creative & producing side & helping structure & created that division from scratch. That was an amazing experience. I wasn’t in TNA from Day 1 so I didn’t get to experience that. I was there when we launched on Fox. I was the director of Creative when we went on Spike. That was awesome. Creative there to me was me & Dutch taking something that some people laughed at, which was saying we were going to present Women’s Wrestling in a serious tone… & it was going to be well-received. 97% of the credit goes to the girls & then probably 2.8% goes to it Dutch, & I’ll take the other .2%. I had a blast doing it. I enjoyed it. I worked my butt off trying to work for those girls & make sure we presented quality matches because some of them weren’t overly experienced so we really had to work. Learn everyone’s strengths & work really hard to hide their weaknesses. I think that me & Dutch & the whole group there did a fantastic job at doing that there for a couple of years when we first launched. ”

On Edge: “Adam [Edge] was very gracious in his DVD to even think of my name, that’s the kind of guy he is. Edge & Christian. Edge is a TV star now. He’s not going to be in the wrestling school teaching hip tosses but he’s always been supportive. He’s supporting wrestling & the community. I mean I remember Edge when he was at the height of WWE, calling a boy here in Windsor who went through some pretty heinous stuff & Edge couldn’t make it here to see the kid… That would have been fantastic but he couldn’t do it. He sent stuff to the kid & then, more importantly, spent time on the phone & talked to him”

Check out the complete interview at VOCNation.com.

The following are highlights of a Main Event Radio interview with TNA star Bobby Roode:

Looking back at his first world title run: “Things worked out for the best for myself. Becoming World Champion. Obviously the disappointment was there at Bound for Glory. I was the first ever winner of the BFG series. Going through that series and win it the way that I did. Being with Beer Money, winning the tag team titles with James and before that with Eric Young in Team Canada. This was my first real shining moment as a singles competitor. To win the series was a huge deal. And then to walk in to the main event of BFG against a competitor like Kurt Angle. It was a perfect story for me. Walking out without the title that night was very disappointing for me personally. Looking back at it, the way it all went down; I think it actually helped me out.

“It lit a fire under me and made me want the world title even more. In the end, I won the world title; I held it longer than anybody else in the history of the company. Held it longer than anybody else, something that I’m proud of. Those were great matches with Austin [Aries]. We had really good chemistry together, looking back at those series of matches had together make me really proud. Then we had the tag titles together which was awesome. The ultimate goal in this business as wrestler is to be the world champion. From day one, to be the #1 guy, to be the champion has been my number one focus. My sights are set on Eric [Young] or whoever has the World title, maybe Magnus after Sunday. My goal is to once again be a World Heavyweight Champion.”

Thoughts on Eric Young being champion: “I’m happy for Eric. We’re two guys who came up the same way, grew up in Canada, with the dream of being a wrestler and a world champion. He’s a TNA original, we were tag champs together, there’s a lot of history between the two of us. He’s been in the business long enough and he saw the way that I carried the title and he sees there’s a bullseye on his back. When the time comes to doing business, I’m going to do what I have to do. I know what it takes to get it, to win it, to hold it, to keep it. That eagerness to carry the world championship again and to have that responsibility again. That was something I thrived on and something I missed. I will take that opportunity and make the best of it when it comes again.”

Wrestling Kurt Angle: “Kurt is in my personal opinion the best there’s ever been. He can go out there in his entire career and entertain the masses by his professional wrestling, the way he handles himself in the ring, his character. There’s no doubt that he is the best there’s ever been in this business. For me to have been able to go out there with Kurt and to have produced the matches that we did. To have fans talk about our matches as some of the best matches they’ve seen, or as match of the year; it meant a lot to me. Something that I’m proud of. Unfortunately with Kurt’s injury we had to cut the program short. Hopefully down the road we get to meet up again and do something special.”

Beer Money and would they ever reform: “In my personal opinion, Beer Money is probably the most recognizable, most over act that TNA has been able to produce from the ground up. You have two original guys, two guys who went out there as Beer Money. We had the tag team titles longer than anybody else in the history of the company. It’s something special. This week on Impact we came back for one night only. We had a common goal to soften up our opponents before their matches (Bully Ray & Gunner). In the wrestling business, you never say never for down the road. But for right now Bobby Roode’s goal is to put Bully through a table and then go on to become a World Heavyweight Champion again. I’m sure that James Storm feels the same way and has the same goal to become a Heavyweight Champion. Down the road, if the time is right, and we both feel it’s right; maybe Beer Money will come alive again.”

AJ Styles and Sting’s departures: “It’s unfortunate. At the end of the day this is a business Not everybody is going to be happy and people go their separate ways. It’s the wrestling business and we’re seen it happen a million times. Unfortunately, AJ was a TNA original and was the face of our company for a very long time. That departure bothers me the most. I had a great relationship with AJ, we were friends, we were part of Fortune together, and we had some great matches. I understand where AJ’s coming from, it’s all business, and I wish him nothing but the best. Sting was a great guy to have in our locker room. He was a veteran leader. A guy that you can go and talk to, a guy who I had some memorable matches, and a guy who mentored me a lot and taught me a lot in the ring. He’s an icon; his name will live forever in this business. And I wish him nothing but the best of luck. At the end of the day this is a business and you’ve got to do what you can for yourself.”

Future Stars: “Our company is looking really strong for the future. Ethan Carter has a hell of a career in front of him. He’s young; he’s got a lot to learn. His eyes and his ears are always open, always asking for advice. He’s handling himself better each and every week. Down the road he will be a main event guy and possible champion. Gunner’s the same thing. He’s got a look and demeanor about him that is world champion material. The Wolves wrestling ability speaks for themselves. They’re a great tag team and great individual wrestlers as well. The future looks very bright.”

Whatever happened to his classic weapon, the hockey stick: “If it calls for it, I’m not afraid to pull it out. Here’s a funny story: Scott D’Amore, Coach D’Amore introduced the hockey stick every match. I used to wear a hockey pad and we were going to use frozen hockey pucks and put it in my sleeve and hit people in the back of the head with clotheslines. That’s another Canadian cliché, a hockey cliché that we were going to use. Maybe I’ll take out a hockey stick for my match against Bully at Sacrifice. Or maybe they’ll make a table out of hockey sticks and I can put him through that.”

When will TNA return to Canada: “Hopefully we can come back to Canada soon. I would love to get an opportunity to run TV in Montreal, or in Toronto, even in Ottawa. Running 4-5 shows would be great. The guys love coming up to Canada, the Quebec area especially. We didn’t get there last year at all. Hopefully this summer or in the fall we can come up to Canada and have Montreal be one of our stops.”

Check out the complete interview at WebSportsMedia.com.