Impact VP Don Callis Teases ROH Vs. Impact Wrestling On Chris Jericho’s Cruise

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On the latest episode of the Killing The Town podcast, hosts Paul Lazenby and Impact Wrestling Vice President discussed IMPACT Wrestling accepting Chris Jericho’s invitation on his cruise in October and possibly challenging ROH. You can listen to the podcast here, below are some highlights courtesy of Wrestling Inc. reader Himanshu D:

“So we’re doing the press conference and Austin Aries is there, Moose, Madison Rayne, Gail Kim, and then Scott D’Amore, Ed Nordholm and myself were up on stage as the executive team and interestingly I figured most of the questions if not all would be about Slammiversary but we did get one question about Sami’s comments, and I guess there were more but after the one person asked then the others kinda let it go but they wanted to talk to me afterwards about it because I kinda hung around and talked to about 50 reporters there. The question was ‘What do you make of Sami’s comments?’ and I hadn’t had a lot of time to think about it because I was just real busy with TV but I basically said, ‘I think for once I kinda find myself agreeing with Sami.’

“I’ve never really talked to Chris about it because I haven’t had time the last few months but it’s like, ‘yeah, why isn’t IMPACT Wrestling on there?’. Forget my nearly 30 year friendship with Jericho, you’ve got Ring Of Honor and no one else and we know that sometimes those guys like to do things on their own and I’m sure there’s a reason for that but that’s not IMPACT’s kinda thing so I was like, ‘yeah that is interesting’ and so I kinda said at the press conference that I felt like maybe there was something to Sami’s comments and we may have to investigate that further and then Ed Nordholm, the president of IMPACT Wrestling, basically just piped up and said, ‘Well I think you guys are being too politically correct here. Yeah Sami’s right, we should be there and by the way we’re going.’ So I don’t know what that means other than I guess IMPACT Wrestling in some form or fashion is going on this cruise as Ed’s the boss and he says we’re going so I don’t know what form that’s gonna take. I assume that means Callihan is going which is disturbing. Just what you didn’t want. He worked himself into a shoot to apparently but with Sami, you shot yourself into a shoot.”

What other talent will be going:

“I don’t know what other talent. We haven’t had discussions about it but I see Jericho’s been tweeting about it. Well I’m used to dealing with Chris so I’m sure that’s gonna be fine. We’re not gonna buy our own cabins.”

The possibility of Impact vs. ROH on the cruise:

“I think, to use Sami’s language, ‘If Chris and Ring Of Honor have the intestinal fortitude to step up and say, ‘Yeah we’ll accept that challenge’, I think it’s what’s best for the Jericho Cruise and it’s definitely what’s best for the fans because you can see people love interpromotional, we’ve been doing Lucha Underground, we’ve got IMPACT vs UK coming up, so we’ve already been doing that stuff, breaking those paradigms of professional wrestling, that whole insular mentality of ‘we only work with who we work with’ etc. I think that we’re in a position now with this where there are some really cool stuff for the fans. IMPACT vs Ring Of Honor could be very interesting and I’ll be interested to have some internal discussions about who we might take on that cruise ’cause I don’t know other than Callihan and who knows whether he’s available or allowed to travel internationally.”

“I think that it’s an interesting thing that it’ll be the first time that you’ve really got Ring Of Honor in kind of the same… very enclosed space, I guess you’d say, with IMPACT Wrestling. Who knows exactly what is gonna happen with that. Should be interesting, we’ll see what happens.”

Source: WrestlingINC

Impact Wrestling Stars To Be Part Of Chris Jericho’s Rock ‘N’ Wrestling Cruise In October 2018

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Chris Jericho has announced on his official Instagram account that active members of the Impact Wrestling roster will be apart of his inaugural Chris Jericho’s Rock ‘N’ Wrestling Rager at Sea cruise this October. The cruise is scheduled to run from October 27-31.

Jericho announced the cruise last year and has been gradually announcing who will be part of the event over the past year. There was speculation in recent weeks a deal between Jericho and Impact may be in the works, as Jericho has been posting cryptic social media posts. To book your reservation, you may do so here.

Source: WrestleView

Impact Wrestling Press Conference Notes: Slammiversary Main Event, Titles Merged, NJPW Star Returning

Slammiversary

Impact Press Conference Notes from their Slammiversary Press Conference that took place on Monday in Toronto.

* Impact Champion Austin Aries vs. MOOSE for the IMPACT Championship was announced as the main event for the Slammiversary PPV on July 22 in Toronto.

* It was announced that the Impact Championship and the Impact Grand Championship, both currently held by Austin Aries, will be merged into one undisputed Impact Championship. This ends the lineage of the Impact Grand Championship that was created in 2016 and was initially part of a 3-round, judging system for all title matches under the short-lived Billy Corgan regime.

* Former Impact X-Division Champion and current NJPW star “Bone Soldier” Taiji Ishimori will be returning to Impact at Slammiversary.

Interesting to note that Ishimori’s recent time in New Japan as part of the Best of the Super Juniors tournament, where Ishimori lost in the Finals on Monday to Hiromu Takahashi, was referenced by Impact, along with his new “Bone Soldier” moniker that Ishimori has taken since joining Bullet Club upon his New Japan return in May.

This looks to be another move by Impact in an attempt to reforge a working relationship with New Japan, as Impact executive Don Callis also does English color commentary for major New Japan events.

The full press conference aired live on Facebook and can be viewed by clicking here.

Source: WrestleView

John Morrison Interested In Signing With NJPW

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New Japan Pro Wrestling is continuing to gain popularity as a promotion. Although the company has been in operation since 1972, it has only been the past few years that they have made such a strong American presence. For years, NJPW has partnered with American promotions such as the NWA and Ring of Honor, even featuring these promotions and the NWA and ROH World Championships on their annual Wrestle Kingdom pay-per-view.

However, due to the ongoing western popularity, New Japan had their first American independent event last year, G1 Special in USA, which crowned Kenny Omega as the inaugural IWGP United States Champion after winning an eight-man tournament. Since then, the promotion announced two more U.S. events, Strong Style Evolved which occurred on March 25, and G1 Special in San Francisco, scheduled for July 7.

With the influx of gaijin (non-Japanese, or “foreign”) wrestlers now frequently competing in New Japan, such as Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks, Cody, Will Ospreay, Marty Scurll, Juice Robinson, Michael Elgin, Zack Sabre, Jr., Jay White, Bad Luck Fale, Killer Elite Squad, Beretta, and more, other names have become interested in joining the promotion. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, former Intercontinental Champion John Morrison has inquired to New Japan to compete for the company.

Morrison, 38, left WWE in 2011. Since then, he has competed for a number of promotions, primarily Impact Wrestling, Lucha Underground, and AAA. According to the Observer, Morrison’s relationship with AAA may cause a snag in being able to join New Japan. There had been some interest previously, but this same issue kept him from joining the New Japan roster. New Japan typically does not use anyone from the AAA roster, due to their working relationship with CMLL. However, New Japan executives have seemingly softened their restrictions on the AAA ban, since Rey Mysterio is competing for both promotions.

Source: WrestlingINC

Impact Wrestling Preview 5/24/18

Tonight on Impact on Pop TV:

* LAX vs. Cult of Lee

* Desmond Xavier vs. Petey Williams

* Moose vs. Kongo Kong w/Jimmy Jacobs

* oVe vs. Drago & Aerostar

X-Division Championship: (C) Matt Sydal vs. El Hijo Del Fantasma

John Morrison Confirmed For “Survivor” Season 37 In First Official Trailer

johnny mundo john morrison survivor cast trailer season 37 david vs goliath

A trailer for the latest season of CBS’s award-winning reality series Survivor revealed Impact Wrestling/Lucha Underground star John Morrison has slingshot his way into the cast.

The theme for season 37 is “David vs. Goliath.” As you can imagine, Morrison will be on Team Goliath.

“I’m as fast as a Corvette and as big as a Hummer,” Morrison says in the trailer. “Millions of wrestling fans know me as Johnny Mundo, the mayor of Slamtown. I’ve been a champion of every organization that I’ve worked for. I’m something extraordinary.”

Team Goliath is described as competitors who come from privilege and have capitalized on their advantages to crush the competition — including in the professional wrestling ring. Naturally, that leaves Team David to be like the rest of us who don’t have an 8-pack and luscious, flowing hair.

Earlier this month, we reported Morrison had been rumored to be part of the latest Survivor taping.

Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet

Impact Wrestling Preview 5/17/18

Tonight on Impact:

Unsanctioned Street Fight: Eddie Edwards vs. Sami Callihan – at House of Hardcore

* Austin Aries & Matt Sydal vs. Pentagon Jr. & Fantasma

Impact Tag Team Championship: (C) Eli Drake & Scott Steiner vs. Z&E

* Tessa Blanchard vs. Kiera Hogan

* The Funeral of Rosemary by Su Yung

* Madison Rayne returns to Impact commentary

* Brian Cage World Tour continues in Canada

Gail Kim Underwent Surgery Yesterday For Appendicitis

Gail Kim Surgery

Former WWE and TNA/Impact Wrestling Women’s champion Gail Kim underwent surgery yesterday. Kim originally thought she had food poisoning, but it turned out to be her appendicitis. Gail said on Twitter that she’ll probably be released from hospital Tuesday for recovery. Gail is currently a producer for Impact Wrestling.

https://twitter.com/gailkimITSME/status/995902335619686400

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Impact Wrestling Preview 5/10/18

* Will Sami Callihan get fired for what he did to Don Callis in Toronto?

* Moose vs. Kongo Kong w/Jimmy Jacobs from House of Hardcore

* X-Division #1 Contenders Match: Aerostar vs. Fantasma vs. Ishimori vs. Drago

* LAX vs. Z & E

* Brian Cage world tour continues.

Impact World Championship: (C) Pentagon Jr. Vs. Eli Drake

* A look at Tessa Blanchard

John Morrison Is Reportedly In The Cast For “Survivor” Season 37

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Survivor is about to get taken to Slamtown — as John Morrison (Johnny Impact/Johnny Mundo) is reportedly part of the cast in the upcoming season which recently wrapped filming.

According to Inside Survivor, Season 37 is scheduled to air this fall and the Impact Wrestling/Lucha Underground star is one of the new castaways who lived on Fiji’s Mamanuca Islands during filming.

Sources close to Morrison were coy about confirming the casting news, but none denied the report when The Sheet reached out to verify its authenticity.

The last wrestler to be featured on Survivor was Ashley Massaro in 2007.

Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet