Sports Illustrated is featuring a lengthy interview with Impact Wrestling executive Scott D’Amore where he talks about the new Impact Wrestling regime in charge (along with Don Callis) and tonight’s Redemption PPV in Orlando.
D’Amore on why the Impact re-branding will take some time:
“There is no short game to this, there is no magic pill or snapping of your fingers. Our goal is to make a bunch of small decisions, and those small decisions are going to slowly lead to things getting better and building a little momentum.”
On parting ways with Alberto El Patron and booking a new Redemption main event:
“We did not feel good about advertising something and not delivering it, and we were not going to put ourselves in a situation where that could happen again at Redemption. We saw a match that had people buzzing with the live crowd and had feedback through the roof on our live Twitch broadcast, and we decided to go with that as a rematch for our pay per view main event. Austin Aries, Pentagon, and Fenix squaring off in a three-way for the world title gives us a great main event on top of an outstanding card.”
On the changes and growth plans for Impact in 2018:
“It’s not going to happen overnight, but hopefully at the end of 2018, we can look back on where we were at the start of 2018 and say we’ve come a long way. We need to make smart decisions. WrestleCon in New Orleans was our fifth live event in the past six weeks, and it’s the fourth one that sold out. Those are babysteps. Historically, this company hasn’t always done that. We need to say we’re going to do something and then do it. If we keep constantly being honest and working hard, then hopefully the fan base will come back. We’re going to have to earn back one fan at a time.”