Don Callis On Why Fans Should Focus On Impact, Recent Departures, Josh Mathews On Commentary
Don Callis spoke to Metro on recent departures from Impact, why fans should watch Impact Wrestling, and Josh Mathews on commentary. Here are some of the highlights:
With so many options for pro wrestling fans, why fans should focus in on Impact Wrestling:
"If I look at it through the lens of a fan, I think any time there is a regime change in a wrestling company, people are curious. We've been fortunate that Scott [D'Amore] and I have enough equity in the wrestling business based on what we've done as office staff, creative and performers. People also see the business acumen that Ed [Nordholm] and Anthem bring to the table. One of the cool things to get excited about is that you've got a good leadership team which is going to steer the ship. That creates a stable environment where talent can get over.
There has been talent here before, but when there's not a stable environment or creative vision and when the business side and the wrestling side don't mesh, it creates chaos for the talent, and they can't get over in the way that they should. We hope that there will be more surprises coming that people like, and we want to be more interactive with fans. Both fans and wrestlers told us that they didn't like the six-sided ring, so we got rid of it. We're going to continue to scour the globe for the best talent, because our fans deserve it."
The recent departures from Impact Wrestling and if that's a cause for concern:
"Here's the problem with the narrative that goes around with that. I'm not knocking wrestling journalism because it is what it is, but the narrative that's been kicking around is that all these people are leaving. That's fine, and that's true, but the context is not there. Are we okay with them leaving based on the new talent? They talk about who has left, but a lot less about who came. Yes, EC3 is a tremendous performer, he's gone on to NXT and we wish him all the best. But, people just say he's left, they don't say that Brian Cage or Austin Aries debuted.
We use a lot of sports analogies around here. If you have new Head Coach for a team, they're going to change talent and they're going to draft new players that fit their particular system. That's what we're doing. It is a process, there will be more people coming in. And we also have Alberto El Patron, who to me is one of the best pieces of talent I've ever seen in this business since I was seven-years-old."
Josh Mathews on commentary:
"If I've learned anything, it's that not everybody loves chocolate ice cream. Some people like chocolate, some people like vanilla, some people like orange sherbet. There's a lot of people that like what I do in NJPW. Some people prefer Josh Barnett, and he and I are very different. We get compared a lot because we call the same product. There's people that like Josh's style, and there are some that may not. That's the wrestling business. Josh is a talented guy. He's a good talker, in front of the camera, doing an interview, color or play by play, I've seen him do well at both. He's a guy who can deliver the mail so to speak."
Callis also discussed Rey Mysterio and what he hopes to accomplish over the next year. You can check out the full interview by clicking here.