In an interesting chain of events that unfolded recently, it seems as though many wrestlers recently released from WWE are looking into a career at Impact, and their possibly going to the arguably third largest wrestling promotion/company in North America, speaks volumes in terms of where the industry is headed moving forward.
Murphy To Impact?
Former WWE wrestler, Buddy Murphy, who is now going by the name, Buddy Matthews, may be appearing on Impact very soon. According to webisjericho.com, Scott D’Amore stated as much in a Twitch stream. The Twitch account and video belonged to wrestler and wife to X Division Champion, Josh Alexander, Jade Chung. In the video, D’Amore is seen in a jovial mood at a recent Toronto Blue Jays game, and he asks George Iceman (who’s seated beside him in the video) to announce the arrival of Buddy Murphy/Matthews to Impact!
Iceman declines to announce that, and specifically stated that he wasn’t yet allowed to make such an announcement.
Braun Strowman to Impact?
And in perhaps an even more shocking announcement by D’Amore on that same video, he refers to the upcoming Impact Bound for Glory event as Braun for Glory.
The event is headed to us in October—the 23rd to be exact, and that is also the time in which Strowman’s ninety-day no-compete clause will be coming to an end or thereabouts since his release in June.
He already announced that he will be wrestling in Qatar, as we reported as well, and that event will be on February 26, 2022. The event is called SuperSlam 3.
He has teased on social media that many promotions were vying for him a while back. It was also reported that WWE wanted him back, but wanted to pay him less. Many were speculating an AEW debut, but it seems as though Impact might be on Strowman’s horizon after all.
And what of The Fiend?
And in an even more shocking development, it seems like Impact is seriously interested in signing Bray Wyatt, according to a report at wrestlingnews.co.
The previous rumor was that Wyatt would be going to AEW, and the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer was almost positive of this, but as was recently stated by Brian Alvarez, Meltzer’s business partner, that that seemed unlikely according to contacts he has in AEW. He stated as much:
“…What I think I can safely say is I do not believe it is a guarantee that Bray Wyatt is going to AEW. Maybe he will, maybe he won’t. To me, this is not like CM Punk where CM Punk was going to AEW and I’m like 99.9999 percent sure that Bryan Danielson is going to AEW. I would not say anything resembling that for Bray Wyatt. I’m not saying it’s not gonna happen, maybe it will but I would put it at much less than 99.9999 percent at this point…”
via Wrestling Observer Live
And on a recent episode of Sunday Night’s Main Event, when asked about Wyatt’s future, Dave Meltzer himself stated:
“I’ve heard different things. I know Impact is really after him, from what I understand…There’s certainly people in high places that are of the belief that he’s coming, yes.”
via Sunday Night’s Main Event /Dave Meltzer
Many even thought he would re-sign with WWE, but that seems unlikely as well at this point.
Despite the fact that Impact struggles with ratings and their shows aren’t as jam-packed with fans like other promotions, it doesn’t mean they don’t have money. Anthem Sports and Entertainment, who own Impact, definitely have money indeed and it looks like they may be willing to spend some of it moving forward, and if these rumors are in fact true. Comedian Steve Harvey is an investor since they acquired AXS TV, and according to Wikipedia, he “…also has a strategic agreement with the company in Content Development and Promotion.”
It’ll be interesting to se e where all these men end up.
