Hello and welcome to the WrestleTalk news - I’m Oli Davis, press the thumbs up.
Since his debut in 2002, Abyss has been one of TNA’s biggest stars - literally, he’s
6 foot 8 and 350 lbs, and is arguably the promotion’s most enduring star, being one
of the very few TNA originals still with the company.
His four-way match with Rhino, Sabu and Jeff Hardy in 2005 is still seen as one of the
best matches the promotion ever put on [IMAGE], and from sacrificing his body in hardcore
stipulations to turning down a WrestleMania match with the Undertaker out of loyalty to
TNA - IMPACT are finally recognising Abyss by announcing him as this year’s Hall of
Fame inductee. Oddly, Abyss will actually be the first full
TNA original to go in, with the previous inductees Sting, Kurt Angle, Jeff Jarrett, Earl Hebner
and Gail Kim all making names for themselves before joining the company. And he’ll also
be the only IMPACT Hall of Fame member to never have worked for WWE. Nice one, Sting.
That’s his fault. But do WWE want to work with Impact?
PWInsider revealed a few days ago that a meeting took place last week between top IMPACT officials
Ed Nordholm and Scott D’Amore at WWE HQ in Stamford with members of Triple H’s team
- although neither Triple H or Vince McMahon were in attendance.
The article claimed that the subject of the meeting was unknown, but an IMPACT source
specifically denied that it was about the sale of the promotion or its tape library.
The latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported that it was the “Impact side that was pitching
and the WWE side that was listening” - with Dave Meltzer speculating it could involve
a deal to air IMPACT episodes on the WWE Network, with IMPACT’s Pop TV deal up later this
year. He has since gone back on this, however, writing
in today’s Daily Update the meeting was in fact requested by WWE, and it wasn’t
IMPACT pitching ideas - adding that “no substantial news” had emerged from it so
far. The Newsletter notes that despite improving
creatively this year, Impact is still struggling to make money. WWE has already made deals
with Impact to use footage of both the Hardyz and AJ Styles in Network specials, so the
business relationship between them is probably the best it’s ever been. Synergy.
You can’t say the same about WWE and New Japan, though...
...as Kenny Omega just used ‘Roman Reigns’ as an insult. Burn.
While cutting a promo on New Japan’s G1 winner Hiroshi Tanahashi, look at that guy’s
hair - who gets a shot at the IWGP Heavyweight title at January’s huge WrestleKingdom show
- the current Champion Kenny Omega threw shade more devastating than ‘duckbutt’, ‘sparkle
crotch’ and ‘bitch’ all combined. “When a Tanahashi match ends, you’ve already
f****** forgotten it. I wanted matches that stay with me forever, more than 24 hours,
more than one week. Why they f*** do you think they call me the best bout machine?! It’s
not because I’m the greatest athlete in wrestling. Because I can create emotion and
I can create a memory and because Tanahashi could never f****** do that. Really Tanahashi
belongs in the WWE. He can be the next Roman Reigns.”
OOOOOOOOOO AHHHHHHHHHH Omega then took to Twitter to reveal the online
backlash to his promo: “Rough day at the office today... All 10
of Tana’s foreign fans took to Twitter to say mean things to me. Rumor has it they even
posted stuff on Reddit too...I’ll be okay guys, I swear.”
Attention WrestleTalk Pledgehammers! The brand new WrestleRamble Extra podcast is now live
on Patreon - over three hours of Luke and I talking one of the best matches in the company’s
history between AJ Styles, Samoa Joe and Christopher Daniels, a Roderick Strong vs Austin Aries
match from 13 years ago that still holds up today, and some awful wrestling from Jeff
Hardy against Bobby Roode. It’s an absolutely fascinating show, as 2005 TNA is practically
WWE’s roster right now. Apart from A1… because he wasn’t very good.
Become a WrestleTalk Pledgehammer on Patreon today to get two exclusive podcasts a month
and loads more exclusive content by clicking the link onscreen now! I’ve been Oli Davis,
and that was wrestling.