Eddie Edwards Interview: Slammiversary, Davey Richards, Satoshi Kojima, And More
More recently, you've teamed with [Satoshi] Kojima. You had a great match against Deaner and Joe Doering, so how did you find working with him because obviously he's been in the business for years?
Eddie: Yeah, thirty-plus years or something from him. He's a legend. He's done so much in Japan, and obviously I spent a fair amount of time in Japan. Japanese wrestling has meant to much to me personally in my career. To be able to tag with him, it was awesome. Again, I tend to say this quite a bit because I'm lucky, I'm grateful, but tell me I'm going to be tagging with Kojima in IMPACT Wrestling. Go back however many years and tell me that. Yeah, that ain't happening. But here it comes, it happens. It was an honour to tag alongside him for the World [Tag Team} Titles.
We keep in touch and stuff, he checked up on me after my appendix. Wrestling's wild. You never know where you're going to be or what's happening, but it was great to work alongside him. Again, a guy I really do admire. A style that I love and really enjoy doing, especially alongside him.
You say wrestling's wild, obviously Kojima came in from New Japan, like FinJuice did, and like El Phantasmo did. You mentioned Kenny Omega, but is there anyone else from New Japan or AEW you'd like to see come to IMPACT?
Eddie: Man, I don't want to narrow it down. I'd like to cast a wide net for anybody. Anybody from New Japan, anybody from AEW, the more the better to create this working relationship that we have and to make it continue to grow and have it work. Just send anybody and everybody, send some IMPACT guys to AEW, IMPACT guys to New Japan. I think the ideas are endless with that, I'd welcome any of it.
Well, of course, the big reason we're here is Slammiversary this weekend. Very excited for it. You'll be facing W. Morrissey, which I can't wait for. How does Slammiversary as a day compare to a set of tapings, for example?
Eddie: Any time we have a pay-per-view, you can feel that buzz. Especially if you go back last year, the buzz surrounding Slammiversary, the hype, the mystery opponents, and everything that happened. We had all eyes on us and went out, we delivered. This year, again it's like, it's a pay-per-view, it's something special, you can feel it already, but then on top of that, we have fans back in the building for the first time in over fourteen months. I can't express how much I've missed this, you know what I mean? That connection that you have, that I have when I'm in the ring and I look out to the crowd, you have that eye contact and you can feel the emotion.
The adrenaline that you have when that happens, I'm getting chills just talking about it just now. The feeling backstage when the music's playing or when the show starts and the first match is out there. You're hearing the crowd reacting and it's like, "Oh, okay, I can't wait to get out there". That's truly how I feel. Slammiversary's going to be special regardless, but it's going to feel even more special because fans are going to be in the building and we're going to be able to interact. We're going to be able to go out there and deliver for that live crowd in attendance. I can't wait.
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