It's been a weird past few years for Impact Wrestling. Will 2018 be the year things start getting better?
Speaking with The Mirror, Impact president Ed Nordholm and executive vice president Don Callis talk about Impact's 2018 ambitions. Nordholm thinks this year won't be any watershed moment, but it will be about taking incremental success, taking it slowly and rebuilding markets, including in the United Kingdom.
Success for 2018 is relatively modest. Success is that we started and each week will be a little better. Aspirations are to build slowly but surely, build trust, re-establish there is a product that people can come and see. From a product perspective, I don?t think there is going to be a watershed moment, where there will be a big reveal. It's going to be incremental successes. As we are here today, we do want to reestablish ourselves in the UK market, build on what we did last year in India, but both of those will be modest.
For Don Callis, he wants 2018 to be the year Impact becomes a destination for wrestling fans. He wants there to be a buzz for the product, something that hasn't happened or developed within Impact for years:
Globally speaking, by the end of 2018 we want the product to be a destination for wrestling fans. I don?t think it's been that for a while quite frankly. I don?t think there has been a buzz or cool factor for the product. We are going to rely on talent and our ability to put them in the best position possible for success, so that at the end of 2018, there is a buzz about the product. Once you have that buzz you have fan engagement and then a lot of good things can happen after that.
Impact's first taste of success under this new regime hopes to be on April 22, as Impact Retribution will air live in Toronto, Ontario Canada, with Austin Aries defending the Impact Global championship against Alberto El Patron.