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What’s the story?
In an interview with Sports Illustrated’s Extra Mustard section, Impact Wrestling executive Scott D-Amore opened up on a myriad of topics.
D’Amore addressed Impact Wrestling firing Alberto El Patron after he no-showed a Lucha Underground vs. Impact Wrestling Twitch event.
Besides, D’Amore also spoke about getting fans interested in the organization again, as well as his vision of how Impact Wrestling ought to be presented.
In case you didn’t know…
El Patron was being touted as one of the top stars in Impact Wrestling—with experts noting that he would perform for the promotion for the next couple of years, before assuming a backstage role.
Nevertheless, El Patron failed to appear at a Lucha Underground vs. Impact Wrestling Twitch event which took place over WrestleMania 34 weekend in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Following which, Impact Wrestling released a statement, confirming that they’ve indeed fired El Patron from the promotion.
The heart of the matter
Regarding El Patron not showing up for his main-event matchup at the aforementioned Lucha Underground vs. Impact Wrestling event, D’Amore asserted that it was an unfortunate situation.
He added that they had to ensure the show would go on for the capacity crowd at the Sugar Mill in New Orleans; and rather than having fans focus on a guy who wasn’t there, they put forth a show where three top performers closed out the show by entertaining the fans.
Furthermore, D’Amore explained that their goal is to get fans interested in Impact Wrestling again, and in order to do that, they’ll ensure that the always deliver what’s advertised as opposed to the Alberto El Patron situation where the headliner of the show didn’t show up.
D’Amore continued that they didn’t want the same situation to repeat itself at Impact’s Redemption PPV, owing to which they’ve booked the rematch between Austin Aries, Pentagon and Fenix in a three-way for the world title as the main event for the aforementioned pay-per-view.
D’Amore also put forth his idea of what Impact Wrestling ought to be presented like moving forward—
"Taking an athletic, modern-style product and applying some good old-fashioned storytelling to it. We can have more of a guerrilla approach and be more gritty. We can do some things that WWE is never going to do because they have such a high standard of production and it's just not going to work for them."
What’s next?
Impact Wrestling’s Redemption PPV takes place at the Impact Zone in Orlando, Florida on April 22nd.
The event is set to be headlined by a Triple Threat Match for the Impact World Championship as reigning titleholder Austin Aries takes on Pentagon and Fenix.
Author’s take
Truth be told— D’Amore is spot-on with his analysis of Impact Wrestling’s portrayal in the days to come.
Besides, Impact Wrestling handled Alberto El Patron’s absence in a tactful manner, by letting go of the performer who’d clearly been going through issues on the personal front.
