Exclusive Interview: Johnny Impact discusses Austin Aries crossing a personal line and making history with his wife ahead of Bound for Glory
Anyone keeping up with Impact Wrestling will have noticed that there's a bit of a buzz in the air again, Slammiversary introduced the new Impact regime in a big way and their weekly Impact Wrestling episodes have been consistently exceptional ever since.
Maybe that's why Johnny Impact told me 'This year's Bound for Glory will be the best Bound for Glory out of all the Bound for Glorys'. And I've got to say, that's a bold statement to make but I admire his confidence.
Whilst it might be a bit early to call this Bound for Glory the best ever I can't lie when I say that I think I'm looking forward to this pay-per-view more than any other this year. That's why I was excited to chat to Johnny Impact about Impact Wrestling's biggest show at the end of it's 'revival', and he certainly thinks the company is heading in the right direction.
Impact: "[Impact Wrestling] are really good with their talent, and letting talent do what they do, sometimes the best way, in my opinion, to run a wrestling company is to introduce your talent and then get out of the talent's way, nobody knows how to be Johnny Impact better than Johnny Impact for example, I'd say the same for Pentagon, Fenix, [Brian] Cage, Sami Callihan, Eddie Edwards, Trevor Lee, the roster in general, Trevor Lee knows who Trevor Lee is, Austin Aries clearly knows who Austin Aries is, I guess."
I agreed, citing my interview with Eli Drake at Wrestling MediaCon in Manchester, England where Drake mentioned how much freedom he was given by Impact Wrestling to cut his own promos and how he cringes when someone writes a script for him.
Impact: "Yeah, Eli Drake, for example, is a good example of somebody that has really come into his own, he's not like a guy that you can tell him what to do to get over. He's been talking to himself in the mirror for years, he's got these unique promos that no-one can write for him, he's got to do his own thing."
There's certainly no denying that guys like Eli Drake and Sami Callihan have benefited from the creative freedom that Impact Wrestling as afforded them, but that amount of freedom doesn't come without its problems and controversies.
Next: Johnny Impact reveals he really doesn't like Austin Aries following controversial tweets and talks making history with his wife Taya Valkyrie