How Scott D’Amore And Don Callis Saved IMPACT Wrestling
15 April 2020. It's a day wrestling fans will never forget, and for good reason. WWE let go of a number of in-ring talents, producers, and Performance Center trainees, citing budget cuts as the reasoning despite it being their most profitable year to date. Even over a year later, pro wrestling fans still can't even begin to comprehend the events of that dreadful Wednesday evening. WWE's loss would, however, be of huge benefit to Ring Of Honor, All Elite Wrestling, and, in particular, IMPACT Wrestling.
Eric Young, Deonna Purrazzo, The OC's Luke (now Doc) Gallows and Karl Anderson, Heath, EC3, Curt Hawkins (now Brian Myers), and Zack Ryder (now Matt Cardona) have all joined the IMPACT roster following their WWE cuts, with only EC3 having departed since - even then, he's since cropped up in (and signed with) ROH.
Just like the aforementioned Brian Cage, Lucha Bros, et al, these names weren't just brought in for the sake of filling a roster with recently-released WWE stars. They've all been genuine game-changers to the company. Young, Purrazzo, and The Good Brothers pairing of Gallows and Anderson, for example, have lifted championships; the World, Knockouts, and World Tag Team Championships, respectively.
Scott D'Amore, Don Callis, and co. capitalised on Black Wednesday to great lengths.
If you look at the calibre of matches, promos, and storylines from over the past year, the majority of them stem from those Black Wednesday releases. Look at Eric Young and Rich Swann's World Championship story arc. Young and Swann both returned to IMPACT on the same night - July's Slammiversary pay-per-view - but it was Swann who received the warmest welcome back. Young, taking exception to this, began a tirade against the now-current World Champion. Included in their story was Rich's emotional retirement speech and eventual comeback story, both of which were tremendously produced. Just think about the reaction had there been a live audience in attendance for Swann's title win at Bound For Glory.
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