“Hard to Kill” isn’t just the name of a Steven Seagal movie, or the title of an upcoming wrestling PPV being produced by the company in this in interview.
No, it is the unspoken mantra of Impact Wrestling. The company, after numerous network moves, contentious regime changes, and re-brandings, has emerged from years of mismanagement and apathy, into one of the most exciting wrestling promotions in North America.
Gone are the #LOLTNA days where fans sats on their hands in half-filled arenas, and the only headlines the company ever made was either talent leaving, or how much money they were losing, or their constant search for a television home.
Now, Impact Wrestling, under the direction of EVP’s Scott D’Amore, and Don Callis, the ownership of Anthem Sports, and partnership with AXS TV — is primed for big things as 2019 closes, and 2020 looms on the horizon. The company has evolved into a destination for hard-hitting, high flying cutting edge wrestling. It’s become a bastion for some of the best female wrestlers in the world today — inspiring many to herald Impact’s Knockouts Division as the best women’s wrestling in the business today. And in 2019, Impact cemented itself as the home for intergender wrestling.
Recently, we were on a media conference call with EVP Scott D’Amore, Heavyweight Champion “The Machine” Brian Cage,” and Knockouts Champion “La Wera Loca” Taya Valkyrie about the future of Impact Wrestling as the company gets set to produce its first original episode on AXS TV tonight.
There’s been a lot of talk this past week about bringing the TNA name back for a “one night only pay-per-view.” Can you clarify what you’re trying do with that in terms of bringing former talent back, and match types? And are you getting any push back about calling it TNA?
Scott D’Amore: We are pretty early in the process. With an energetic crowd out there that certainly was showing that there are in fact long time Impact Wrestling fans going back to our TNA roots … it seemed like the right time this past Saturday at the All Glory fan interaction event to put out a little teaser there about a one night returned to our former branding. I think we’ve always made clear that we don’t run from our history, we embrace it. The history of TNA Impact Wrestling, we’ll call it, is a fantastic part of wrestling’s rich fabric of history.
To go back and be able to honor that for one night in a weekend [Wrestlemania weekend] in which you see all types of stars from all generation of wrestling we thought that it was a good place to do it with everything going on. So we’ll go there and we’ll have fun. We’ll certainly look to mix in some stars of previous eras and of course continue to highlight the amazing roster that Impact Wrestling has currently.
Given that you’ve been there since the early TNA days is there any desire or has there been any requests for you to bring back Team Canada get you back on screen?
Scott D’Amore: (laughs) It’s something that comes up especially from longtime viewers and fans. I certainly am so proud and honored of what I was able to do as part of Team Canada. It was what it was supposed to be — a platform where I was one of the tools to launch the careers of amazing young talent. And if you look at what Bobby Rood and Eric Young and Petey Williams went on to do it certainly achieved that that goal. If the time was right for a reunion or something, absolutely, I would be open to that. But really my focus is working behind the scenes and trying to promote and build Impact Wrestling and continue to feature the greatest talent roster I think out there in the sport right now.
There was a lot of buzz around the fact Kylie Rae appeared at Bound for Glory. Could you give us an update on what Kylie’s status with Impact Wrestling is going forward?
Scott D’Amore: We were happy and honored to have Kylie Rae to be part of our Bound For Glory weekend and to be a surprise entrant in the Call Your Shot Gauntlet. Kylie is an amazing performer. She has a charisma that very few do. The door is certainly open if Kylie chooses that she’s interested in being part of Impact Wrestling. I think she would excel in our amazing Knockouts Division because she’s exactly what we like to feature — talented world-class female athletes that have amazing personas and connect with an audience. I’d honestly like to hear what our Knockouts Champion would think of Kylie Ray joining the Knockouts Division.
Taya Valkryie: I’ve actually had the chance to wrestle her prior at an independent show. I think she’s extremely talented. I think that she would bring something different to our Knockouts Division. I’m more than happy to humiliate her over and over again (laughs) and have her go after me as the Knockouts Title because I know that La Wera Loca ain’t scared of no Smiley Kylie.
There’s been a lot of inner gender wrestling in Impact Wrestling as of late. Do you feel a need to have a men’s and women’s title — or do you think that maybe Impact should explore the idea of unifying those titles?
Taya Valkyrie: It’s such a complicated question because it can go and so many directions. I do feel that like everybody should be able to challenge each others for the title. I feel like that is something different that we could try doing. I mean, Brian, whenever you’re ready, bro.
Brian Cage: I mean you did try it one time in a different promotion and that don’t work out too well for you [Taya and Brian laugh]. I don’t think you need to get rid of any title. There’s different titles — a cruiserweight title, tag team titles, world titles — they all create different things. However, that doesn’t mean a woman can’t challenge for a world title.
As you guys lean more heavily into intergender wrestling, have you received any sort of pushback from sponsors or even from wrestlers in the locker room that aren’t comfortable doing that style?
Scott D’Amore: There’s certainly some people who will openly admit that it’s not their cup of tea. However, we’ve seen no sponsor blow back from any of our partners.
As we sit on the verge of being in 2020, the idea of equally featuring male and female competitors and performers seems almost ludicrous to me that this is still a topic for debate. It should be something that’s automatic. But unfortunately, since it isn’t, we’re very proud to be at the forefront of putting that out with obviously Tessa Blanchard and with all of our amazing Knockouts.
You know Eddie Edwards’ likes to say “Anything is possible whether you’re a male or female.” Now we’re showing you that if you’re a female it doesn’t mean that the Knockouts Championship is the only title you can aspire to. You can aspire to anything you want. There’s certainly always going to be the haters out there that you’ll find on social media. But overall it’s been overwhelmingly positive, both in our locker room, in the industry and certainly from fans.
With moving to AXS TV, they don’t subscribe to Nielsen ratings, but can you give us an idea of what type of viewership increase you guys are expecting with the move from Pursuit and or Twitch over to access?
Scott D’Amore: I think one of the amazing things about moving Impact Wrestling over to AXS TV is that it is a robust platform. I believe it’s in about 55 million homes. It’s a network that wrestling fans, most importantly, are very familiar with. I would think that coming out of the gate we would be very competitive. With the current products that we have on AXS TV with New Japan and, and WOW – Women of Wrestling I think you’re going to see some great growth. I’m certainly not the expert who’s going to sit here and a throw out numbers, but I know that New Japan has been very successful and WOW has been successful. I think that we’re certainly going to bring our own unique brand and our reach that we have from one of the largest digital platforms and international platforms [Twitch]. Now having AXS TV now I’ve said domestic base for that I think certainly sets us up for substantial growth both immediately and over the long haul.
Joey Ryan was in the Call Your Shot Gauntlet Match and was signed with the company. Did you put any restriction on his character fr him to come to Impact?
Scott D’Amore: We signed an amazing performer and professional wrestler who’s been out there for many years, including having a previous run in this company. Joey’s character can be a polarizing one at times, but as you saw Sunday at Bound for Glory he was a beloved character. So our thought is not trying to limit outside performers when they come in. We want to showcase them for who they are. And some people out there are going to love those characters and some are not. We’re going to go out there and let everybody be themselves.
With the AXS TV deal, do you feel that the rebuilding chapter of Impact has come to a close?
Scott D’Amore: I certainly believe that the rebuilding process, to call it, is over, I think [now that] we’re here. We spent two years of putting out an amazing wrestling product. I think with our move to AXS TV we’re in a situation now where our domestic partner is very strong. Our international partners have always been very strong. Our digital department has been as good or better than just about anybody out there in the wrestling industry. The rebuilding process is done. The other process, which will forever be part of our goal, is the constant reinventing and grow that we’d like to see.
So just because we’re stable and we now have an amazing roster that we’re happy with — what makes wrestling great and that’s truly greatest moments in history is when we’re out there and evolving and changing and revolutionizing what we do. Whether it’s going out there and featuring strong female characters at a time when nobody else did. Whether it’s taking the under-sized competitors and the X-Division and showcasing them out out there on a large stage when nobody else would. Or whether it’s out there going into gender wrestling in 2019, we will always look to grow both our company, but we’ll also look to change the industry.
As long as we stay true to ourselves, we put out a strong product that we’re proud of and that is engaging fans. We’ll always look for ways to change and evolve because if you stay stagnant in this industry and you are certainly going to see negative results. You have to go out there. You have to be pushing forward and looking for positive change both within your company and in the industry in general.
Impact’s women’s division is one of the best women’s division, if not the best women’s division. in wrestling Now that you’re moving to AXS, do you have any plans specifically for the women’s division — any new talents, new titles you’re looking at?
Scott D’Amore: We’re always on the lookout for or great talent. We saw some amazing talent, Kylie and otherwise, this past weekend. So you’re certainly going to continue to see new talent emerge both in the Knockouts Division and also, with male competitors. With titles as we’ve tried to build them a pretty robust Knockouts Division at some point in time we’ll continue to examine it. If it’s a situation where we look to add at Knockouts, Tag Team championship as we’ve had in the past or is it simply as we approached 2020 and where we are on equal footing and within intergender wrestling will we see two of our amazing powerful and athletic females team up and chase after the current Impact world tag team championships. Remember they were the impact world tag team championships. They’re not the impact world’s men’s tag championships.
Taya, you’re the longest reigning knockouts champion.You’ve made your way and beaten everybody in the division. What’s next for you? Do you plan on pursuing more intergender matches? Are there other talents that you would like to fight?
Taya Valkyrie: I think the possibility for different women coming into our division into next year is like really looking up. I know that Scott and everybody behind the scenes is going to make sure we have the best women on our roster. As far as who else I would like to challenge? I mean I’ve had many an intergender match before. I’ve proven myself against men, smaller, bigger, and equals to me. So I’m open to any opportunity and just like I mentioned before, title versus title, let’s do this. I have no problem challenging anyone of our champions at this point.
Impact wrestling had gone through so many different incarnations and prior to this regime, the name hasn’t always been so strong. Now that you’re on AXS TV is there an internal timeline/expectation to where the brand name itself is trusted once again for the fans worldwide?
Scott D’Amore: Trust is certainly been something that we’ve spoke about many times over the past, near two years. When myself and Don Callis came in and joined Ed Nordholm, we knew one of the big things we needed to do was to rebuild trust. We know that previous regimes had lost trust both within this industry and with its fan base. So we’ve worked very hard, I think over the last two years to show that when Impact Wrestling says that they’re going to do something that we follow through and deliver.
We come [into AXS] coming out of an amazing Bound for Glory at a sold-out building in Chicago and sitting here and being so close to finally having our premiere on access TV. I think we really are in a position where on a substantive level we have fixed trust with a lot of people and a lot of fans. We know that that’s going to be an ever continuing process and we know that every day that we wake up we need to continue to ensure that we deliver on our promises and we reward fans that invest in Impact Wrestling. Fans invest in many ways. They invest with their money. Certainly when they buy tickets or merchandise or pay-per-views, they also invest with their time. And time is one of the most valuable things in this world because all of us have a limited amount of it.
I think we passed the point where we [have to worry about delivering and showing fans we can deliver] because we’ve delivered consistency for two years. We knew that it was there was change the second that Anthem Sports and Entertainment came in and took over Impact Wrestling. Being Canadian, we know the track record and the morals of Anthem Sports and Entertainment. We then had to spend on this considerable amount of time and effort showing wrestling fans Impact Wrestling fans that, just like Anthem Sports, Impact Wrestling was going to echo those types of morals and that type of consistent performance and dedication.
What are your thoughts on the show airing on Tuesday nights?
Scott D’Amore: I think that Tuesday night is a great night for pro wrestling. I think it’s a fantastic opportunity for us and it puts us in a perfect spot in the schedule. It’s an unbelievable time in professional wrestling where fans have so many choices. We have a situation now on Tuesday where there has been an opening up of the broadcast schedule for wrestling and we’re happy to be in that for turning to prime time was obviously important to us. Getting on a bigger platform was obviously important. Having an engaged partner network that was both large enough in scope and get educated enough in its commitment to really put impact out of the forefront was important to us.
Do you view the rest of the rest of the landscape of wrestling as competition and how does Impact Wrestling stay ahead of the Joneses as it were?
Scott D’Amore: I think that there’s certainly a ton of wrestling content out there, both broadcast wise and through digital delivery methods. There’s a ton of great wrestling out there, which I think is great for wrestling fans. There certainly is a wide array of choices the wrestling fans can make. And while the other companies are competition in many ways, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re the enemy in order for us to succeed.
I grew up in my formative years in the construction industry and other construction companies that competed with D’Amore Construction were our competition but they weren’t our enemy. That’s been my approach in business. Impact Wrestling isn’t going to look at everybody as an enemy. Competition is great. Competition breeds innovation, which is good for everybody. So I think that it’s good that there’s a lot of competition out there. And to answer the second part of your question, I think what we need to do is we need to answer the challenge and continue to go out there.
In order to make sure that we’re still relevant and competitive and successful, we need to continue to do what I think has been one of our strengths, which is to continue to go out there and harvest young unknown talent and bring it along and develop it and to feature compelling, intriguing storylines. And I think if you look at what we’ve tried to do with our storytelling and Impact Wrestling over the past couple of years, we’ve looked to try to tell a variety of different stories and in unique compelling ways.
Brian, how do you feel coming out of your match at Bound for Glory? And do you feel like you’re ready to get on track and then start making up for that lost time?
Brian Cage: Absolutely. That’s about the best I have felt during the match and after match since before Rebellion. I left on a high. I thought the match was great. I obviously came out with the win. I got to celebrate my wife in. So physically I feel great and I’m absolutely ready and willing to get in there with anyone and everyone.
What does it mean to you to look at the history of the knockouts division with champions like Gail Kim and know that your name reigns longer than the rest?
Taya Valkyrie: It’s amazing because I’ve always looked up to all the knockouts who have come before me and there have been some phenomenal women as part of this roster and those are the people that I feel elevated women’s wrestling. You know, when people really didn’t believe that we could have full length matches and have real characters and you know, dimension and everything. So it’s unbelievable to me, but also believable because I’ve worked extremely hard to get to where I am. Nothing has ever been given to me. I took a path that was less traveled for me to get me here. But through all that, obviously my work seat speaks for itself. Now, I’m now the longest running knockout champion of all time in this company and no one can ever take that away from me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwcVavYe-jk
With move to AXS TV, has this opened up plans for expansion in terms of production on the television, producing live television, going to bigger venues, touring more?
Scott D’Amore: I would say that one of the dilemmas that I think faced us in the “Pursuit Era.” We always went back and forth on do we do back off the gas pedal a little bit, kind of coast until we get to where we knew we were going to be. We knew this is where we were going to be when we left Pop TV. But, we knew it was going to be a bit of a process to get there. And one of the decisions we made was, in light of the fact that some of the history of the company and some of the times that his left fans down, we always felt that we needed to go out there and put on the best possible products no matter what.
No matter who our domestic partner was our domestic fans that have stuck with us deserve a great product. Also because we’re not just a domestic product, we are seen around the world and we needed to be fair to our international partners and our fan base all over the world. So we’ve done our darnedest on Pursuit to go out there and put out a great product.
One of the things we have done is tried to choose venues wisely. We’ve seen in the past where you can put a decent amount of people in a building. But if you put them in a building that’s sized accordingly for them, they’re great. You put them in a building where it’s five times as many empty seats as there is fans. Well then it gives you that hollow and un-engaging atmosphere. So I think Bound for Glory this past Sunday was a great example of where we’ll look to calculatedly and with great caution and care moved to larger facilities.
We moved to the, you know, the Odeum [in Villa Park, Illinois] is the largest facility that impact wrestling has ran in many years. To go in there and to sell that out in advance was an amazing accomplishment that we’re all very proud of. We’ll continue to make those types of calculated decisions as far as for venues. We’ll continue to always look for ways to improve both the product and the delivery production wise on the product. You’ll see some extra bells and whistles added to the product on AXS. We’re not going to sit there and go crazy because we don’t think bells and whistles are what’s going to get it done. There’s already one company up there that does bells and whistles better than anybody in the game. Respectfully sometimes what they lack is a consistent vision and product that delivers on its promises and engages fans. And that’s what’s going to drive us to success. So that’s what we’ll continue to focus on.
For Taya and Brian, this is the first time a major national, American company has put a singles title on either of you. How does it feel to know a company is putting the faith and confidence in you to be the face of the women’s and men’s divisions respectively?
Taya Valkyrie: Obviously it feels pretty darn good. (laughs). It’s added pressure, but I’m just very thankful to people behind the scenes like Scott D’Amore and everyone at Impact who believed in me and saw something in me. [They] allowed me to go with my crazy ideas and, and become the Taya that you guys are now seeing, the Taya that is now the longest running Knockout champion of all time. It didn’t come without a lot of hard work and failing and falling down and getting back up. It’s pretty incredible now, especially with us doing this move to AXS TV and to be representing a woman’s roster that for many years has been called the best woman’s roster in professional wrestling. So I am extremely proud of my position and I will continue to represent this company and these women the best.
Brian Cage: They’re the first national company to put a title on me, period. When I won the X-Division Title I made a nice long post about that and how great it was. That’s one most real moments you can have in wrestling. It felt great to have that sense of accomplishment. Also that sense of trust, if you will, from a company to put the title on you. Then they go on and be the world champion when the whole time through the whole program with Taya’s husband John was I said I’d never wanted the big time, I’ve never been the guy. And lot of people has asked me, “You know, why?” I’m like, well, I don’t have that answer.
I didn’t know why because I’ve never got the opportunity to be the guy that, and I feel like it was long overdue. And, you know, just my luck, I got hurt and really haven’t had the reign that I’ve wanted to have. They could’ve had me drop the title. But you know, Scott and Don have been wonderful with that. They could’ve said, “Hey, sorry about your luck.” But, that’s not what happened. So I really appreciate that a lot and it means a lot to me to be able to still represent the company as world champion and uh, you know, get through Bound for Glory and deliver a killer main event and keep on on.
