GFW/WWE News: Ed Nordholm talks about GFW product being more in-ring oriented than WWE
GFW Bound for Glory will take place on the 5th of November
What's the story?
President of Impact Wrestling, Ed Nordholm talked to The Ottawa Citizen about choosing Ottawa as the venue for Bound for Glory. He also talked about how the GFW product differs from that of WWE.
In case you didn't know...
WWE follow the Sports Entertainment form of wrestling, by which their primary focus is on storylines in the company. The episodes focus on those storylines, and how they progress on a week to week basis, be it through promos, or in-ring competition. A prime example of this is the storyline of Cena and Reigns for No Mercy, where they faced each other in the ring exchanging promos numerous times but did not participate in any match.
The heart of the matter
The GFW President talked about the GFW focus being different than WWE, specifying that their tagline is "Less Talk, More Action."
“It’s a style of wrestling that focuses more on the action in the ring than in the storylines. Not to take anything away from WWE, that is their product and they obviously do a spectacular job. But we have a very good show with talented wrestlers, athletic wrestlers.”
He implied that the capabilities of the wrestlers of GFW were more than that of WWE, for putting on top quality matches.
He went on to talk about selecting Ottawa as the location for Bound For Glory 2017.
“It’s the nation’s capital, it’s a good place to make a statement in our inaugural effort to bring our premier event outside of its traditional home in Orlando.”
Finally, he had one other thing to say which might be interpreted as a slight dig against WWE.
"We want to have a venue with an intimacy with the crowd. The crowd will pack it rather than be spread out through it. It’s just the right size, it’ll ensure we can get people in the stands where they’ll have a connection with our wrestlers and vice-versa."
WWE has had problems recently in filling up stadiums with tickets for No Mercy still on sale even with matches featuring Brock Lesnar, Braun Strowman, John Cena and Roman Reigns. The comment about filling up stadiums might just be a dig at WWE, or he might have just said it in the context of GFW. It remains open for interpretation.
What's next?
GFW's global pay-per-view, Bound for Glory 2017 is set to be held on the 5th of November in the Aberdeen Pavilion at Ottawa, following which for the next 5 days the shows of Impact will be taped.
Author's take
WWE and Impact are completely different creatures that should not be compared. GFW seems to churn out problem after problem be it financial or legal. Hopefully for them Bound for Glory will be successful, as they are featuring big names like Johnny Impact, Alberto El Patron and Eli Drake.