Petey Williams was on the Wrestling Perspective podcast and talked about a host of topics including the rumors of Chris Jericho coming to IMPACT Wrestling.
You can listen to the interview here, they sent us these highlights:
The chances of Chris Jericho coming to IMPACT:
"At this point I wouldn't be shocked because of everything you just read. Canadian-based company, Don Callis, Scott D'Amore, I wouldn't be shocked. Before when he teased years ago coming in I would be like, 'Ah, that's not gonna happen', but now I wouldn't be as shocked. Jericho's doing his own thing, he's going off to New Japan and his cruise and all that kind of stuff. He doesn't really need WWE anymore. He's got his band, all that kind of stuff. So why not for him have a little bit of fun? I've even heard him getting in his last run backstage he'd be be getting heat with somebody because politics, whatever the case may be. He's gonna come to IMPACT and there'd be none of that.
"But let me say this, I have no idea if he's coming. I figured those decisions will probably be held really close to Scott, Don, probably Sonjay and Jimmy. Those are probably the only four people that know if he comes. If he doesn't come in or if he comes. But they're not gonna spread that, they're not gonna let that leak out or whatever the case may be. And then the next question is what do they do? Who does he feud with? When does he come? How does he so it? All that kind of stuff which will probably be for future podcasts if he ends up coming to IMPACT."
If Jericho could be used to get a better TV deal for IMPACT:
"Oh yeah, absolutely. It's business, pretty much. TV is business, right? So the hardest part about TV and all that kind of stuff is getting on network television, okay? That's the hardest part. You look at companies and stuff like that and they have all the talent in the world, it's just hard to get a TV deal. There's only so many spots, so many TV shows. There's more than just wrestling shows going for those spots. It's hard.
"So we're already a television company. Fox Sports Net, Spike TV, Destination America, Pop TV we've been on all those networks so we're already on TV. So yeah, when you go to a different network or even the same network, maybe you want more money or whatever when it comes to negotiations, right now if we go they were like, 'here's our stars'. He might have a guy on... I don't know, I'm throwing this out there, like on a Spike or something like that, they'll be like, 'Ah I don't really know any of those people'. Right? Maybe, possibly. They might say, 'Ah I know a couple', whatever. You have Jericho on there, you present it to Spike and they're like, 'Oh yeah! Chris Jericho.'
"Back when we first went to Spike and Rhyno was our champion, in Windsor at a BCW show we had to put the belt back on Jeff Jarrett. Why? Because he was our most recognizable person for us to go onto Spike TV with. Rhyno wasn't. Jeff Jarrett was. And at the time, I think we were just getting the Dudleys. So that was like us getting bigger stars and all that kind of stuff. So yeah definitely use those names as marketing tools and bargaining tools and all those things for bigger contracts, for television or going to a different network or whatever the case may be. So yeah, absolutely."
If he feels IMPACT will resign with Pop or try to get on a bigger network:
"Yeah, you're gonna use Jericho as a bargaining tool. Obviously you look at what networks are bigger, you look at how many viewers potentially can watch Pop, right? Which is less than how many viewers can potentially watch Spike. I always go back to Spike because that's probably the biggest network we've ever been on. At the end of the day, I think any wrestling company would want to be on broadcast television if they were big enough. Not cable, but the ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox type thing, those ones where you only need an antenna to watch it, if wrestling were that big again. I mean that's the goal, right? Or to get on cable shows that are providers for... you know, they're on all the cable packages and that kind of stuff. So yeah, definitely.
"If IMPACT can move to a network that has more potential viewers, they're gonna go for it. It'd be stupid not to. You can't build a company and stay stagnant if you didn't. But it's not like I'm saying anything that's edgy or anything because I think Pop knows that like, 'Hey, this company grows, they're probably gonna leave us or unless we give them more money or whatever, maybe they will be the ones that are like flagship show pretty much'. It's like, 'Hey, they're gonna help our network build' and in that case then they lean on us more and then they'd have to pay us more money and all that kind of stuff. Everybody knows it's business. Everybody."
What Jericho would do to the IMPACT locker room:
"I would say 'great'. I've never actually met Chris Jericho. He knows who I am, just judging from some of his podcasts. He has interviewed guys who I've wrestled and all that kind of stuff. I have no idea what his thoughts are of me. I really dont. I mean he could be one of those guys that says to me, 'That Canadian Destroyer move is stupid! You killed the business!' and all that kind of stuff, or he could be like, 'Hey man, great job getting that move over' and all that kind of stuff or whatever. I mean, I'm all for it. Anything that's gonna help the company build and stuff like that, I've never heard he has a negative reputation, or a bad reputation I should say, and he's already a locker room leader over at WWE when he goes there. So what's not to like? And he's been in the business since before I even started wrestling. If anything, I think it would just be good for our product pretty much."
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