Jordynne Grace is with Impact Wrestling for at least the next two years.
The Impact Knockout sensation almost wasn't -- or it seemed that way Saturday night. Reports emerged that Grace had been working without a contract since making her debut last year. As it turns out, that was true, and let to her landing a new long-term deal with the company that puts her with Impact well into 2021. From her stance, it's the place she wanted to be, and she spoke highly of Impact.
"I cannot stress this enough. I love Impact," Grace told Fightful in an exclusive interview. "No company is flawless, of course, and I think anywhere I went, there would have been some sort of problem. No company is truly without issue. Whether it’s not enough exposure, not enough money, not being used properly, not being used enough... I’m sure I would have gripes with ANY company. Impact is a company I truly believe in, and they’re doing their best. I have amazing friends there, and I have a blast backstage. Ed, our president, is really one in a million. He sat with Brian Cage in the hospital when he was injured for hours, which I admired, and he’s always been so friendly to me. Don and Scott are doing a great job, and I always feel relaxed talking to them. I’m hardly ever stressed out. I have so much freedom. All the girls get along very well, and they’re always inviting me out after the shows even though they know that I never party and like to sleep. The cattiness is almost non-existent, and everyone is always helping one another. I could go on all day about why I’m happy at Impact. There’s countless reasons. Impact makes me love my job. I’m sure if there was an issue, they just wouldn’t have offered me anything and had me go on my way."
Along with the revamped deal, Grace also sees herself improve financially. She was well aware of her lack of official contract, and was hoping to prove to the company that she was worth the terms she was targeting in negotiations.
"I let them know a short time ago," said Grace. "This sort of thing happens more often than you would think, and it’s not specific to Impact at all. I know of multiple instances with other companies and wrestlers it has happened with. Normally, however, the dirt sheets don’t pick up on it, so it’s a little less dramatic. I was hoping to have some good matches and show that I could follow direction and criticism beforehand, of course. I wanted to renegotiate the original deal once I had shown I had value and worth."
Grace found herself talking to several companies along the way. When explaining the situation, she admitted that she's spoken to ROH, NWA, All Elite Wrestling and WWE about potentially working there.
"I had contact with each of those companies, and had many options and offers in front of me. At the end of the day, Impact is where I wanted to be. I was ready to make a difficult decision if needed, but I was sincerely hoping everything would work out in the end! I can’t be sure if Double or Nothing had anything to do with it, but it’s a possibility," said Grace.
When speaking about what motivated the situation, Grace told us that she was looking to make pro wrestling more of a full-time job, and cited downtime with her fiancé -- ROH's Jonathan Gresham -- as key factors in looking to re-negotiate. After talking down a four-year deal to two years last fall, the actual contract was never signed. However, she's now with Impact through May of 2021.
"The original term was two years, which has remained the same. The only difference is we were able to hammer out a deal where I’m able to focus more on wrestling and performing, less on struggling financially. My main goal was to be able to limit the amount of time I spent on my “shoot job”. I work as a legal transcriptionist, and it was becoming very difficult to juggle with my wrestling schedule. I’m now able to just work part-time. I’ll never fully quit, as I love what I do, but now I’m able to spend more time training and giving attention to my fiancé, who also works an incredibly busy schedule. Any instance we’re home at the same time really needs to be spent with each other at this point," she closed.
With a cast of Knockouts including Taya, Tessa Blanchard, Kiera Hogan and Rosemary, the company has locked up one of the key members of the division.
You can see Impact Wrestling's live Impact stream here on Fightful.com weekly.
