Scott D’Amore discusses TNA’s short lived relationship with AEW.
Throughout 2020 and 2021, AEW had a working relationship with TNA/IMPACT Wrestling. Stars such as Kenny Omega, Thunder Rosa, Christian Cage, Frankie Kazarian, and Christopher Daniels all got to compete in TNA during this time, with both Omega and Cage getting the chance to hold the TNA World Heavyweight Championship.
On the flip side of the coin, the Good Brothers (Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson) and Deonna Purrazzo got to compete in AEW during this time. When Omega and Cage appeared on AEW TV, they were almost always shown with their TNA gold.
On a recent edition of Talk Is Jericho, former TNA president Scott D’Amore talked about the relationship and explained it as a shot that the company had to take at that time. D’Amore also noted that there were some positives and negatives to the partnership.
“The idea was to do something with Don and Kenny. Kenny was getting ready to turn heel, Don I think has always been underrated for his ability to draw true heat. You know that, I know that, Dr. Luther knows that and others that have been around him. I think that’s been a forgotten thing in wrestling. The idea was for Don to come in and be a part of that. The discussions that I were a part of is that Kenny is so freaking good, how is he going to be boo’d? As Dutch Mantell would say, [you put that man with] Don Callis, he’s gonna have some heat. There’s that and that led to having Kenny crossover and come to Impact, win the title, have the Good Brothers go over there. It was, I think at the time for a company that was really in a tough spot, we hadn’t quite found our feet. We had improved, but going into COVID, we certainly weren’t on sound footing. To have Kenny come over, to have some exposure on AEW’s massive platform, it was a shot at the time that we thought we had to take. Looking back, I think there is a lot of positives to the relationship. I think there’s some things I wish we could’ve tackled differently, but overall, I stand by the fact that the decision had to be made. You look at what came out of it, buyrates with Kenny, even the buys with Christian. People are tied up in the fact that Kenny didn’t lose the belt, Kenny would’ve been happy to put over somebody at IMPACT, it was not what was in the cards. Of the options, here’s Christian. Here’s a guy who has so much equity and history in TNA. Here’s a guy who doesn’t get his due for being the first person to choose TNA Wrestling over WWE during a very scary time in the industry. When he first came, Vince McMahon wanted him to stay in WWE. He politely declined, flew in, and signed his TNA deal. He’s the first guy who ever did that. Sting had came, but Sting was sitting at home. Christian had actively took the gamble of saying, I may burn this bridge with WWE forever, which clearly he didn’t, but at the time, who knew? He chose to come to TNA. That’s such a monumental moment in TNA history that if it wasn’t going to be Kenny coming in to anoint his successor with the title, then having Christian do it, having the title featured on that massive rated first episode of Rampage and having Christian with his lineage come and be the guy to anoint Josh Alexander was a pretty great moment. I’m grateful for the relationship. Like I said, perfect? Nope. Certainly [had] ups [and downs].”
Elsewhere in the interview, D’Amore said that he wants to run a Maple Leaf Pro event at the Maple Leaf Gardens in 2025. Learn more here.
Stu Grayson was recently announced for Maple Leaf Pro’s Forged In Excellence event. Learn more here.
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