Category: Impact

WWE Reportedly Interested In Trevor Lee Who Just Finished With Impact Wrestling

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Trevor Lee, one of the youngest X Division Champions in Impact Wrestling history, is now a free agent according to PWInsider.

Lee gave Impact Wrestling notice he would be finishing up, although his deal officially expires on December 31. He worked his last few bouts with the company during this week’s Las Vegas TV tapings.

It is being reported WWE will be looking to pick him up for its NXT system, possibly in January when the latest Performance Center class arrives.

Debuting for Impact in 2015, Lee, 25, became a three-time X Division Champion.

He also won the Tag Team Titles with Brian Myers, aka Curt Hawkins. Along with Andrew Everett and Caleb Conley, the Cult of Lee became a premier tag team while at Impact. Outside of the promotion, Lee was a featured member of the Carolina independent scene, the Hardy’s OMEGA organization and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla.

Source: WrestlingINC

Impact Wrestling Preview 11/15/18

* Impact Knockouts Champion Tessa Blanchard in action

* X-Division Championship: (C) Brian Cage vs. Sami Callihan

* Eli Drake would like to speak his mind… As usual

* Impact World Champion Johnny Impact vs. Matt Sydal

* Impact World Tag Team Champions LAX in action

Johnny Impact Eliminated From Survivor

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John Hennigan, aka Impact Wrestling World Champion Johnny Impact, was eliminated from CBS’s Survivor reality competition show on Wednesday’s episode.

This season of Survivor had a “David Vs. Goliath” theme where half the competitors were notorious underdogs and the other half were breakout successes in their occupations. Both sets of competitors were broken into separate “tribes” to start the season and competed against one another. Hennigan was designated a Goliath, but lasted long enough in the season to make it to the merge, where the remaining players became a single tribe. This was the eighth week of the competition with one castaway already voted off following the merge, Elizabeth.

Impact’s elimination from the show was a complete surprise and not without controversy. Heading into tribal council at the end of the show Hennigan seemed to be in a comfortable spot. The odds were in his favor, as he had lasted more than twenty days on the island and the Goliaths outnumbered the Davids.

The plan was for the Goliaths to vote off one of the Davids, Christian. Christian is a robotics scientist and had become a threat in the game with his ability to quickly solve puzzles. He also had become close with some of the Goliaths, including Hennigan, who affectionately referred to each other as “The Brochachos”.

Out of nowhere, one of Christian’s David team mates played an immunity idol that invalidated any votes cast for him. The next in line for elimination would have been Angelina, a Goliath, who also had a immunity idol played on her behalf. When the dust settled, the only other player who had votes cast for them at tribal council was Hennigan, who received three. Hennigan now joins Elizabeth as a member of the Survivor jury and will cast a vote in deciding who will be awarded the one million dollar prize at the end of the season.

Source: WrestlingINC

You can watch John being voted off at the tribal council below:

Impact Officials Reportedly Looking For New TV Home

Impact Wrestling officials are reportedly looking for a new home on cable TV.

Impact’s current deal with Pop TV expires at the end of this year and officials are reportedly searching for a new potential TV partner in the United States, according to PWInsider. The contract runs through December 31st, potentially leaving the company without a TV home to start the new year.

Impact was recently moved to a later timeslot at 10pm and viewership has suffered. The change was seen as a major step backwards in the Impact – Pop relationship as network officials didn’t inform Impact of the change until several days before the first episode aired with a 10pm start time.

The 10 episodes before the time change drew an average of 215,400 viewers. The two episodes since the time change drew 98,000 viewers and 105,000 viewers, the lowest in company history. The first 10 episodes of 2019 drew an average of 306,900 viewers. It’s worth noting that the final three episodes before the time change drew some of the lowest viewership in show history – 190,000, 183,000 and 189,000 the week before the change. The show averaged 311,000 viewers per episode in 2017, 311,000 viewers in 2016 and 327,000 in 2015. The 2014 average was 1.15 million per episode on Spike and the 2013 average, also on Spike, was 1.26 million per episode.

Source: WrestlingINC

Impact Wrestling ‘Final Hour’ Preview 11/8/18

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Tonight Impact Wrestling presents ‘Final Hour’ on Pop TV at 10/9c.

* Impact World Championship: (C) Johnny Impact vs. Killer Kross

* Brian Cage goes to Ohio

* Lucha Bro! vs. OGz

* Jordynne Grace makes her Impact Wrestling debut

* Eddie Edwards vs. Moose

* Eli Drake and Joseph Park address Impact Wrestling

Gail Kim Issues Statement And Clarifies Recent Comments About WWE Being Racist

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Impact Wrestling Hall of Famer Gail Kim took to Twitter today and issued a statement on her recent comments about WWE being racist. The former WWE Women’s Champion often speaks out about WWE and recently knocked them for holding the Crown Jewel event in Saudi Arabia.

As seen below, Kim tweeted about WWE being racist on November 2 when responding to a comment about WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan being brought back at Crown Jewel. Kim made another tweet that day and reiterated her thoughts on the company being racist. You can see those original tweets here:

https://twitter.com/gailkimITSME/status/1058520486039183360

https://twitter.com/gailkimITSME/status/1058522668859904007

Below is Gail’s new statement on the matter along with follow-up tweets that make it clear she was not apologizing. She noted that she decided to issue the clarification on her original comments after a friend in WWE called her.

The statement reads like this: “After speaking with a couple of my friends recently regarding my comments on social media on racism, I had my eyes opened to the fact that my words chosen to deliver my message could have been managed more thoughtfully. The one word of my statement that I regret using is the term “they”. I think due to the fact that sometimes terms like racism are thrown around easily, especially in today’s climate. Racism is a serious thing and I realized that saying “they”, that I was putting a blanket over everyone who works in the company. This is not true. The culture or environment of a company starts from the top. The leadership. The leadership of a company sends a message to its employees of what is tolerated and what is not. I know there are a lot of respectful people in WWE who have a lot of integrity.

“Being Election Day and realizing the climate of hate and negativity, I think it’s important to use my voice. As an ethnic female in wrestling, there will be people reading my words and I want to set an example. I did experience racism. I never even understood the term “gook” until I worked for the company or heard the usage of so many ugly racial slurs. I think it’s important to educate, listen and talk about these issues. I want to be very clear on where I stand. I want racial and gender equality. I hope that we can make strides to talk about and create change for the good of our industry and others.”

https://twitter.com/gailkimITSME/status/1059895169238163456

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https://twitter.com/gailkimITSME/status/1059930939005038593

Source: WrestlingINC

Anthem Responds To Jeff Jarrett’s GFW Lawsuit

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Anthem Wrestling is asking a judge to dismiss Jeff Jarrett‘s copyright infringement lawsuit for several reasons, according to new documents.

As reported by PWInsider, Anthem filed motions last week with the United States District Court of Tennessee attempting to have the recently amended lawsuit dismissed.

While Jarrett alleges copyright infringement in regards to Impact airing GFW content as pay-per-views, the motion states no copyrights had been filed on the content prior to Jeff filing a lawsuit. They also claim to have aired all but one of the specials while he was employed by the company.

The filing goes on to explain the nature of the GFW/Anthem merger, stating that “Jarrett’s company would merge into Anthem Wrestling in exchange for an officer-level position with a large salary, a job for Jarrett’s wife, and an equity interest in Anthem Wrestling.” The filing then claims that, as Chief Creative Officer, it was actually Jarrett himself that would oversee the release of the GFW content.

The document notes, “Remarkably, Mr. Jarrett is suing over the very conduct that he oversaw and conducted as an officer of Anthem Wrestling.”

The company also disputes Jarrett’s claim that Anthem “violated [his] exclusive property rights to his own name, photograph, and other likeness,” arguing that they took over a trademark on the name “Jeff Jarrett” after acquiring Impact Ventures, LLC from Dixie Carter.

In response to Jeff’s claims of state and federal trademark infringements, Anthem argues Global Force Wrestling LLC’s trademark filing for “GFW” actually featured the cover art of Impact’s GFW Amped! DVD release. This would imply that Jarrett himself provided proof of Impact’s existing permission to use the GFW logo and name.

A second motion filed by Anthem explains that Anthem Sports is a holding company based in Canada, and as such would not be subject to the jurisdiction of the District Court of Tennessee.

Anthem additionally alleges that when Jeff Jarrett came in as Chief Creative Officer for Anthem, part of his non-disclosure agreement included a clause stipulating any legal issues that may arise would be subject to New York law. Thus, Anthem could not be sued in Tennessee.

The motions filed by Anthem also make reference to a declaration from Ed Nordholm, Executive VP of Anthem Sports & Entertainment, in which Nordholm explains that “Anthem Wrestling was formed in order to acquire the assets of an entity called TNA Entertainment LLC, when Fight Media foreclosed on certain loans to that entity.”

This basically means Dixie Carter was unable to repay the loan given to Impact after Billy Corgan stopped funding the company in October 2016, allowing Anthem to foreclose and claim ownership.

The ball is now in the court of Jarrett and GWE, who will have to respond to Anthem’s motions before the court issues its rulings on whether or not the case will proceed.

Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet

Impact Wrestling Preview 11/1/18

The following is scheduled for tonight’s IMPACT on Pop TV at 10/9C.

* LAX vs. Matt Sydal & Ethan Page

* Desi Hit Squad in action

* Pentagon Jr. vs. Homicide

* Rich Swann vs. Willie Mack

* Impact Knockouts Championship: (C) Tessa Blanchard vs. Taya Valkyrie

Impact Wrestling Preview 10/25/18

Tonight’s IMPACT on Pop TV is at it’s new time of 10pm ET/ 9pm CT

* Impact World Championship: (C) Johnny Impact vs. Fenix

* Gama Singh vs. Rahit Raju

* Moose & Killer Kross vs. KM & Fallah Bahh

* Tessa Blanchard’s rebuttal to Taya Valkyrie

* Su Yung vs. Kiera Hogan

Impact Wrestling’s Scott D’Amore Discusses Impact’s Recent Meeting With WWE

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In September Impact Wrestling president Ed Nordholm and EVP Scott D’Amore met with WWE officials at their headquarters in Stamford. The meeting was about Impact’s video library and WWE having use to certain footage for the WWE Network.

D’Amore joined the Wrestling Perspective Podcast where he talked about Impact meeting with WWE and how this is a great step forward for the pro wrestling industry as a whole.

“Since the beginning of the year we have done three content deals with WWE. We did the Hardys documentary deal, to supply footage for the documentary about The Hardys. We did a deal to provide footage for AJ Styles and Kurt Angle for Table for 3, and we provided footage for Bruce Prichard on the WWE Network,” said D’Amore. “We have done a few deals together, which I think that WWE is seeing that this is a different day with Impact Wrestling, and I think in the most minor levels maybe they are seeing that it is a different day and age in pro wrestling.”

This type of meeting between competing promotions would never have happened 20 years ago. But times have changed and both sides can see the benefit of working with one another so there’s a good chance they work together again in the future.

“It is one of those things, it’s like: there was a meeting, we got together, we talked and thought, you know it was nice to see each other face-to-face and say hello and just say that it is 2018,” D’Amore stated. “It is a whole different world and there is no reason that we cannot communicate. There really was no agenda to it and you know, we move on, but it is how the business is now, which I think is tremendous where we can do a deal with WWE where it helps them tell a great story on the WWE Network.

“Whether it is one of their shows, or The Hardy Boyz documentary, it is certainly good for us. Not only to make a little scratch off of the footage, but also the promotion they give us for Global Wrestling Network and having it on their platform where they advertise us and say that if you want more of this then download and watch the GWN Network, which is great for us. This wouldn’t have happened a few years ago. Whether it is WWE, whether it is Ring of Honor, no matter who it is, I think it is in this day and age to stop with the ‘old school wrestling BS’ of if you are with him then you can’t do nothing with us, so to get past that I think that is how business works.”

Sources: The Wrestling Perspective Podcast and WrestlingINC