As we previously reported, Chris Jericho originally recommended that Impact Wrestling hire Don Callis to run the company. Callis was appointed as Impact Wrestling’s vice-president on December 5th, 2017 and The Wrestling Observer Newsletter has more details on Jericho’s call to Impact.
Winnipeg has produced a few great professional wrestling talents such as Roddy Piper and Kenny Omega. Callis and Jericho are both on that list of Winnipeggers as well. Jericho reportedly spoke to another prominent name from Winnipeg, Leonard Asper. Sygnus Corp, Asper’s company, owns a significant ownership stake in Anthem Sports & Entertainment, the parent company of Impact Wrestling, and Asper was speaking to Jericho about Impact’s finances.
As Asper shared Impact Wrestling’s financial issues, Y2J had an answer to put someone in charge that they could trust. Jericho told Asper that Impact Wrestling had been “run by snakes” and highly recommended Callis lead the company. It was reported Jericho said Asper should “hire Callis to run the company or fold.”
Jericho had discussed the call on an episode of Talk Is Jericho last December. Jericho said he believed Impact needed a fresh start with people at the helm who hadn’t previously led the company. Jericho said hiring Billy Corgan would’ve been an upgrade over Dixie Carter, but it wouldn’t have presented a new direction for the fans to be excited about, so he suggested Callis and D’Amore.
“My thought process was, and this is not a slight on anyone that has ran that company or been part of that company, working with that company, that has been around for so long, through so many incarnations and through all its ups and downs, and now I found with the last incarnation with TNA/Global Force is that it was a dead company. There was nothing exciting about it or sparking it, so to me, the only way to get it rolling would be to completely change directions and go with somebody new and different,” Jericho said. “When Billy Corgan was up for it I would have much rather him run it over Dixie Carter because it was somebody new, and I just really felt that it was my place to call the guys and say, listen, if you guys really want to lose money go for it, or use it as a tax write off then you have the right place. But if you really want to do something and role with it and be at a place where people are excited about then you have to go in this direction, and these guys [Callis and D’Amore] are the guys to do it with. So that was basically the jist of the conversation and it worked because here you guys are, but this is really the only way the company to grow is by doing something completely different and new.”
Callis is currently also the lead announcer for Impact Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling’s English live language team. Scott D’Amore, another fellow Canadian, was appointed Vice-President of Impact Wrestling alongside Callis.
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