Chris Jericho Reveals He Called IMPACT Wrestling – Chris Jericho revealed on his podcast that he had called IMPACT in order to recommend his guest, and friend, Don Callis to the company. Jericho was interviewing Callis and Callis’ co-Vice President Scott D’Amore about their new position within the company. Jericho goes into full detail as to why he called IMPACT, saying;

My thought process was, and this is not a slight on anyone that has ran that company or been part of that company, working with that company, that has been around for so long, through so many incarnations and through all its ups and downs, and now I found with the last incarnation with TNA/Global Force is that it was a dead company. There was nothing exciting about it or sparking it, so to me, the only way to get it rolling would be to completely change directions and go with somebody new and different,” Jericho said. “When Billy Corgan was up for it I would have much rather him run it over Dixie Carter because it was somebody new, and I just really felt that it was my place to call the guys and say, listen, if you guys really want to lose money go for it, or use it as a tax write off then you have the right place. But if you really want to do something and role with it and be at a place where people are excited about then you have to go in this direction, and these guys [Callis and D’Amore] are the guys to do it with. So that was basically the jist of the conversation and it worked because here you guys are, but this is really the only way the company to grow is by doing something completely different and new.

D’Amore goes on to say that the plan is to mix established names who can still go with younger stars they can develop and mold into IMPACT Wrestling stars. D’Amore gets pretty candid, saying;

I think that there has got to be a combination. Things are done best when there is a combination of established stars working with guys that we are developing. AJ Styles is a homegrown talent here. Although he had a ‘cup of coffee’ in WCW, AJ Styles brand was built in Impact Wrestling. Just like Samoa Joe had a tremendous following, and when I took over the creative team in 2005, the first two phone calls that were made was to Samoa Joe and CM Punk. I got one but didn’t get the other, but they both proved to be huge stars. When Joe came in here, he had a good following, a niche following, and we put him out there and put him in front of millions of people on TV and everything at the time and refine himself as a worker, so I consider Samoa Joe a ‘homegrown talent.’ Then you think about guys like Bobby Roode, and Eric Young, and these type of guys. They were guys that were plucked out of Border City Wrestling on the independents and then were given this thing where we worked with them, so we think it’s great to see guys on SmackDown and NXT where guys that we worked with from day one are out there today.

So having ‘homegrown’ talent is what is going to grow this company, but in addition to it, it’s finding the right veterans. It’s Sting coming on board with us; it’s Christian, who even though is still factored in to WWE, is going to walk away and come to us and bring an aura and credibility to him where we can use his talent and notoriety to help build our homegrown guys. So I think it needs to be a mix of established talent to be used to develop our homegrown talent.

Opinion: The comments about Sting and Christian are interesting. On one hand, they, along with Kurt Angle and Team 3D were some of the best veteran additions to the roster in regards to their work ethic. However, could D’Amore say that Christian will be joining the backstage along with Sting? I doubt it, but it’s an interesting thought.

Second Show Added – AroLucha has announced a second live event. The first will be on January 19th of next year, at the Aztec Music Hall in Amarillo, Texas. The second will be the following night on the 20th, in Lubbock, Texas at the Fair Park Coliseum on the Fairgrounds. No one has been announced for those tapings as of yet, but it’s fair to say that Rey Mysterio will be appearing.

Rich Swann’s Relationship Update – Rich Swannn and his wife Su Yung have apparently made amends, despite the incident. Swann is going full press to try and prove his innocence, despite the eye witnesses, car damage and those who are outright saying the relationship is toxic. Yung posted the following on her Facebook page;

I can not wait to see my husband tomorrow! After such an awesome weekend of wrestling debuting in two different promotions across America nothing would be better than to see his face.

Opinion: Well, it’s good to know that even though Paige and El Patron have broken up, the Wrestling Gods have decided to bless us with another romance about to explode. Here’s hoping this one fizzles like Patron and Paige and doesn’t end too badly.

Quick Hits – Kenny Omega’s match with Chris Jericho on January 4th will now be a No-DQ match. John Cena’s first solo starring role “Ferdinand” only brought in $13,325,000, opening up against Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Conor McGregor responded to a question about appearing in the WWE with a crude, “..Fuck WWE!” reply.

The latest Ten Pounds of Gold is out.