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Like we said, like we keep saying because it's great, you are the current World Champion. Of course that happened at Slammiversary. Now, I'm not sure if I remember an event in the past few years with so much hype surrounding it, so much excitement and it somehow still exceeded expectations. I need to ask...
I know that backstage in IMPACT and in the locker room for the past year and even longer, there has been a very high morale, a lot of excitement and determination - but were there any nerves in the buildup to the event that maybe, you know, there was just too much expectation to deliver or was it just pure excitement and wanting to go out there and get it over and done with?
I think it was pure excitement. I'm not going to lie, it was pressure but I think it was good pressure, and added pressure. We had a lot of eyeballs on us with the hype going into the event so especially being in the main event, it's like, "Okay, it's a big pay-per-view, we're the last match, it's the main event, we have to get out there and represent not only ourselves but represent the company to the best of our abilities.
If anything, all the hype, all the pressure, it forced us to go out there and make sure that we did everything we could because, after an event like that, you don't want to come through the back, you don't want to be like, "Oh, I wish I did this, I wish I tried harder." That is one thing IMPACT will never do. We're always going to leave it all out there and I can say, without a doubt, everyone on the roster went out there and left everything we had out there in the ring.
I feel like that something every IMPACT interview I've done, everyone has spoken about the thing I mentioned there of how tight-knit a locker room you guys are, how determined everyone is to pull together and work as a team. That being said, there have been... I think an understatement would be "a lot of new additions to the locker room" over the last few days. I know it's early days, but how are they all fitting in?
Yeah, so far, so good. It's obviously still fresh and still new but I feel like anybody who is going to come to IMPACT, anybody who is able to come to IMPACT or come back to IMPACT, they understand what IMPACT is about and I feel like that between the front office and the wrestles coming and there is an understanding of how this works, how we act and how we support each other. I think that is something that is understood before coming in so, so far, so good and I feel like they great additions to the locker room that I think will help us take the next step.
I would be remiss not to ask about a few of them. I will not run through all of them but I would like to get your thoughts on a few. You're holding the gold right now but I need to ask about someone who is definitely familiar with holding gold in IMPACT.
He's almost like a legend when you think about IMPACT or even back even when IMPACT was under the TNA brand. What are your thoughts on Eric Young and him returning to IMPACT?
I think... First of all, he's a great wrestler and a great asset to have coming back to IMPACT. It's our chance to capitalise on him.
He went elsewhere and obviously wasn't given the chance that he should be given but that's going to be their mistake. He's coming back to IMPACT and the great thing is he's coming back with something to prove. Not that he has anything to prove but he's coming back with something to prove which, again, that sets into the IMPACT locker room where IMPACT has been written for so long and we've had this underdog attitude which can play to our advantage.
Him coming back and wanting to prove something, it will just help IMPACT as a whole and I'm looking forward to working with him and wrestling with Eric Young.
The possibilities of match ups throughout the whole roster - it's unbelievable the fact that he can come back and we get to use him, and he gets to do what he wants to do and prove to the world that no-one should ever you miss out on the chance again to use Eric Young to their full advantage.
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