Kenny Omega to Compete on Impact Wrestling?

[It's Damn Real!]

While the company still has names such as Moose, Alberto El Patron, Johnny Impact, Eli Drake, Bobby Lashley, EC3, Eddie Edwards, Matt Sydal, and LAX to maintain interest, the change in contracts to be per-day instead of annual could be a major blow in maintaining these talents. Hopefully, with the new executive staff, there will be strides in the right direction in making Impact Wrestling the compelling product that it once was. Moreover, gaining notable talent is another factor that could turn interest back to the company.

Based on a recent episode of Wrestling Observer Live, one person could possibly be competing for Impact Wrestling in the future.

A listener asked whether Kenny Omega could appear in Impact since Don Callis has the opportunity to form a partnership with New Japan and Ring of Honor. While being signed as an executive vice president of Impact Wrestling, Callis also serves as an English commentator for New Japan Pro Wrestling, alongside Kevin Kelly. Moreover, ROH has a partnership with New Japan, and have been featured on the Wrestle Kingdom pay-per-views for the past two years.

When asked the question, Bryan Alvarez made it clear, based on the interview Chris Jericho had with the Wrestling Observer, that Jericho has absolutely no desire to compete with any other American promotion other than WWE. He oftentimes calls himself a “disciple” of Vince McMahon and even admitted that they are friends and frequently talk about things other than pro wrestling.

However, regarding Omega, Alvarez stated that it is certainly a possibility that Omega could show up in Impact. If this were to occur, it could very well shake up the company for the better, especially since the company is now based out of Canada, and “The Cleaner” is Canadian. It would be an easy transition to revolve the company around him.

https://www.inquisitr.com/4685480/rumor-kenny-omega-to-compete-in-impact-wrestling/

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The funny thing about this, assuming it actually happens, is that Omega himself might not even be the big grab here as much as the idea of rekindling their fractured relationship with NJPW.

 

[Starkist]

I am not certain any wrestler could help iMPACT as it is not the wrestler that are not producing, it is the writing team and 3 months worth of shows taped in advance that is hurting them. Signing Omega or getting him to appear would be nice. I personally do not mean nice as a wrestler as I have not seen one match of his. I mean nice in the aspect of new blood widely known who can also help with building a relation with NJPW if he is featured properly. I hope it happens as he is also Canadian so visa concerns hopefully wouldn't be an issue if he did come on board.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

The thing is that even through omega is pretty much the king of the indy's, he's not a mainstream name so to the casual fans, the guy means nothing and he's just another name. What impact truly need is a big mainstream name like lashley or Cody Rhodes to attract fans that have stop watching wrestling or fans that are just tired of watching wwe.

 

[ABMorales787]

The thing is that even through omega is pretty much the king of the indy's, he's not a mainstream name so to the casual fans, the guy means nothing and he's just another name. What impact truly need is a big mainstream name like lashley or Cody Rhodes to attract fans that have stop watching wrestling or fans that are just tired of watching wwe.

Except they are/were there and haven't moved the needle. No casual is watching Impact. Pop TV is the kind of channel you'd either leave on as background noise or you'd find because you're looking for a specific show. It is highly doubtful the Impact viewers are casual and the mostly steady show ratings reflect that.

Kenny Omega has proven to be a very good draw for ROH so it stands to reason that he can do the same for Impact. Kenny around would probably eliminate the need to PAY people to attend their shows. They need star power and the biggest star not signed to WWE these days is Kenny Omega.

 

[Richard Blonoff]

Kenny Omega has proven to be a very good draw for ROH so it stands to reason that he can do the same for Impact. Kenny around would probably eliminate the need to PAY people to attend their shows. They need star power and the biggest star not signed to WWE these days is Kenny Omega.

I'm going to disagree with you on this one. I don't think Kenny himself is the draw. I think him being part of the Bullet Club is the draw. ROH books a lot of their stories around the group, and as such I think that is telling enough to show that the group is a bigger draw than their individual members.

That said, since Kenny rarely appears on the independent scene if the show isn't affiliated with NJPW, it is hard to say just how big of a draw he truly is at this point.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

Except they are/were there and haven't moved the needle. No casual is watching Impact. Pop TV is the kind of channel you'd either leave on as background noise or you'd find because you're looking for a specific show. It is highly doubtful the Impact viewers are casual and the mostly steady show ratings reflect that.

Kenny Omega has proven to be a very good draw for ROH so it stands to reason that he can do the same for Impact. Kenny around would probably eliminate the need to PAY people to attend their shows. They need star power and the biggest star not signed to WWE these days is Kenny Omega.

Agree but at the same time, they have Alberto El patron who was also a very big draw on the indy scene before going back to WWE and he didn't move the needle, Same Goes for Johnny Impact. The ROH fans won't go and what Impact because Omega is on that show mostly because they knows that the IMPACT product is inferior to the ROH product and he won't be able to have the type of matches that he can have outside of IMPACT.

The fact is, you can bring pretty much the biggest star on the indy's into IMPACT wrestling and it won't move the needle because the brand as a whole is dead. They are pretty much were guys from other promotion come to wrestles and get exposure, their no rime or reason for the brand to exist anymore and even the hardcore of hardcore fans of Impact knows it since from some of the ratings that came out for the last months or so, they lost at less half their audience if not more every week, so right now, they could announce that CM Punk is coming to IMPACT wrestling and it would change a think. So if i was Omega, i would stay as far away as possible from IMPACT because at the end it would just hurt is career as a draw on the indy's.

 

[stingray11214]

Kenny Omega is going nowhere near Impact. First off, they probably do not have the money to pay him! Do you have any idea how much he could command? Moose makes $110K this year with Impact. Omega will probably want that much for the whole shooting schedule for that week. Not including Merch, travel and lodging, which he will also probably want. Nordholm is about to let his stars go, and you expect that he will have money to pay Omega? Hell, Kenny Omega vs. Mario Bokara was great when they did it in Rahway, NJ two years ago. Is anyone going to want to see that as an Impact Main Event? It is just not going to happen.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Omega isn't going to be the Great White Hope, so to speak, that's going to turn Impact Wrestling's fortunes around. Bigger stars than Omega have come and gone over the years and what has ultimately happened is the company has emptied its coffers to give guys these big money offers without really getting much anything in return. Last week's episode of Impact Wrestling drew 160,000 viewers, the worst in the history of the show and if Omega isn't a regular for Impact, then all he'll do is pop a rating and that's not really what they need.

If Kenny Omega shows up once every 3 or 4 months, or whatever, then eventually even the novelty of his appearances will wear off and the numbers will drop off, just look at WWE and Brock Lesnar as proof of that. In my opinion, Impact Wrestling is basically going to have to start back at square one, put the focus on young indie wrestlers who aren't super well known, but who're talented, and begin the slow process of rebuilding while, hopefully, learning from past mistakes. Some of those mistakes include spending huge sums of money on special attractions and/or former WWE guys to carry the company because it's just not worthy it; sure, some buzz gets generated and that'll last for a little while but it's never really led to sustained growth.

 

[jpickens]

Why would he give up a good thing by signing with a company where he'll either be stuck in the Xdivision or going after the IMPACT Gran championship with maybe one or two world title shots.

 

[theshadowranger]

Really? I'd put money on the opposite. I think they'd make him world champ WAY too soon.