Originally Posted by Mr. Nerfect
Alright, I just gave this a proper think through:
I find it interesting this was announced the night before Impact had their PPV. It’s indirectly probably the biggest promotion they’ve gotten in a while. This is where Mickie James is going to have a Texas Deathmatch. WWE can’t (or won’t) promote that sort of thing. But Impact can, and they’ve got two workers in there that might be able to outshine the AEW girls who do that, where it is “special” (if that’s the sort of thing you’re into). And that’s going against the AEW TNT special.
AXS also has a new deal with New Japan. At least part of the reason New Japan left AXS was because Anthem bought AXS and wanted to really push that working agreement between New Japan and Impact. If that deal is back on, it’s quite likely that AXS’s agreement with New Japan is that they can only work with approved partners — which may exclude AEW, but include Impact Wrestling (obviously) and maybe WWE.
The freedom to work New Japan was almost definitely a factor in some guys signing with AEW in the first place. Bryan Danielson and Jon Moxley come to mind. But we also know the freedom is there with Chris Jericho, Omega, The Bucks and I think even Cody Rhodes. Even though it was never a given New Japan would cave to AEW either, if that possibility has been completely removed — at least for as long as New Japan has their AXS deal — that takes away a lot of Tony Khan’s leverage in negotiations. He’s got money, but now he can’t promise the freedom and opportunities he once could.
The restructuring of NXT makes sense. It really does. But unless you are just looking at costs, it doesn’t really mean that WWE can’t still offer a product for the “hardcore fan” in addition to having a developmental show and their main roster rigmarole (which I do genuinely believe they think is superior). But it’s possible that a deal with Impact Wrestling is almost like having an outsourced version of that. Potentially. I haven’t really kept up with the tone of their product.
A lot of the recent WWE releases have great business minds and a lot of experience in a variety of backstage roles. They could be very valuable players in companies that acquire them. But it makes a little more sense to put some of them on the market if you know another company is going to make big plays. It wouldn’t surprise me if there is some “encouragement” for Anthem to pick up a lot of the people WWE has released, and by breaking the bank a bit, and by contrasting themselves to AEW’s bloat, also go after some of the big name free agents out there — Bray Wyatt, Braun Strowman, Jeff Hardy, Samoa Joe and the like. At some point it becomes cost prohibitive, but Anthem isn’t exactly going to go broke. Even if they run at a loss with Impact for a tiny bit, it might still be worth making big pitches to guys and girls, using money and the allure of working New Japan (and maybe even STARDOM, since they are both owned by Bushiroad), which further edges AEW out of talent.
A Toni Storm MAY choose AEW for the money, exposure or because she simply wants to work there. But she MAY choose an Impact Wrestling because she wants to work STARDOM and with her husband. Decisions, decisions.
It’s actually potentially quite a brilliant play. Help Impact out short-term, get them to lock down a New Japan deal, ice AEW out of certain talent relations, disperse the hardcore fan-base.
Imagine this hypothetical edition of Impact Wrestling:
* Your advertised main event is Roman Reigns & The Usos vs. Moose & The Good Brothers (surreal and unlikely, but whatever).
* Kazuchika Okada and Hiroshi Tanahashi open the show. They go about 30 minutes, great match, watch New Japan on AXS.
* An X-Division match, maybe even an Ultimate X to crown a #1 Contender.
* Jeff Hardy is announced by Impact Commissioner, William Regal as their newest signing. He gladhands with the fans. Samoa Joe (at Regal’s side) grabs a mic and says he was against this. Jeff squanders opportunity after opportunity and a guy like Joe who has worked to be trusted enough to be put in this position has to watch someone soak up Impact’s resources when there are young talent who just killed themselves to earn a shot they wouldn’t piss away. Jeff says he’s had his demons but that’s the price to pay when you are wired like him. Joe deals with his burdens one way, Jeff another. Jeff challenges Joe and Joe tells him he doesn’t want to wait for Jeff to burn another bridge. They’re doing this next week to kick off Impact.
* A Women’s Title match between Mickie James and Deonna Purrazzo finally sees Deonna beat Mickie for the Women’s Title.
* A new Hit Row diss track drops. They’ve got a match next week.
* Something, something, something with your regular Impact guys. Maybe a squash match and some promos.
* The main event goes to a double disqualification when things get too loose and egos get out of control. The lights go out and The Wyatt Family — Bray Wyatt, Braun Strowman and Erick Rowan — hit the ring and beat down EVERYONE. See you next week!
How epic would that be?
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