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For Episode 14 of Dropkick DiSKussions, I had the pleasure of chatting with the man who challenged Brian Cage at Impact Wrestling’s recent Bound For Glory pay-per-view, speaking with him shortly before the event.
Sami Callihan has been involved in one of professional wrestling's hottest and most talked about rivalries of 2019, and I had to ask him all about the feud and The Draw's attack on Melissa Santos.
I was also intrigued by what Callihan thought of Jim Cornette's slightly unpleasant comments about him, and of course The Draw's upcoming Insane Championship Wrestling debut against BT Gunn in Glasgow.
You can watch the entire interview below, or read on for the entire transcript.
Now, I need to start at what, in my opinion, was one of the biggest rivalries of 2019 in wrestling. Yourself and Tessa Blanchard. That Slammiversary match was just incredible and it was one of many where you tore the house down...
Yeah, we just wrestled again at my company, The Wrestling Revolver, which you can check out on the HighSpots Wrestling Network as well as all social media platforms at PWRevolver and on the website, ProWrestlingRevolver.com.
Me and Tessa actually went to battle again and this time it was in an Ohio Street fight. Each time it gets crazier, a little crazier, a little crazier. Tessa Blanchard, I never thought I would have said this in 100 years but Tessa Blanchard has become one of the biggest rivalries of my career.
She's incredible and I think you guys tear the house down every single time I've seen you.
I tear the house down at everything I do, I'm kind of really good at professional wrestling.
I completely agree, not that that matters. Moving on... You're no stranger to fighting against the opposite gender. We saw that recently when you beat up Melissa Santos on Cage's wedding night. My only question is - why?
Why not? It's nothing that hasn't been done in the Attitude Era. Everyone wanted the Attitude Era back and I think Impact Wrestling is the first company to kind of give it back to them.
They're not afraid to get a little edgy, they'll cross that line, not afraid to offend some people and upset some people.
People have been turning up to WWE and everywhere else, wanting that Attitude Era-style wrestling and Impact Wrestling is the only company around the world on a national level or a worldwide level that's giving that back.
One of the biggest influences of my career is Tommy Dreamer and he has Piledriven 150,000 women in his life.
NEXT: An incredible open challenge
COMING UP: Sami Callihan reveals his dream match
So, let's just assume you're the next Impact Wrestling World Champion because, for me, it's definitely happening sooner rather than later. Who do you want to defend that title against first?
I'll defend the belt against anyone around the world.
As soon as I become the Impact World Heavyweight Champion, I'm throwing out a challenge to any other champion from around the world, from any company because I'm going to prove the Impact Wrestling World Championship is the big belt in professional wrestling.
Man, I love that. Even inside Impact, you've got people right now like Rob Van Dam and Rhyno coming in. What's your opinion on veterans like those coming to Impact?
I think it's great. I think Impact Wrestling is a true buffet of professional wrestling right now.
You have legends and up-and-comers, you have the stars of the future, you have some of the best current wrestling stars in the entire planet right now.
Right now, the Impact roster, I would put it up against any other roster on the planet.
You've got guys like RVD, Rhyno and Tommy Dreamer that are up top and doing these old school things, and they're huge legends that people still love to see.
On the other hand, you have people like the Rascalz, people like Ace Austin that are absolutely killing it right now and are revolutionary in this business, and one day they will go down as being some of the biggest legends of professional wrestling.
We spoke about Tessa Blanchard there, and you've wrestled against Taya Valkyrie as well. Is there anyone in the Knockout Division you'd like to take on?
Me and Taya Valkyrie's match from Lucha Underground doesn't get press for how good it was. It's right up there with my matches with Tessa Blanchard.
I think pretty much all the women in the locker room could step up and have matches with any of the guys because, at this point, I don't believe.. In 2019, if we want equality, it's not intergender wrestling anymore, it's just professional wrestlers.
They have women Jessicka Havok, Jordynne Grace, Rosemary, Tenille Dashwood. They have one of the best women's divisions in all of professional wrestling right now.
One man who has had some unkind and pretty unsavory words about yourself is a certain Jim Cornette. Do you have any response to his comments about The Draw?
How about we not talk about Jim Cornette? Because that is how we keep him relevant.
He knows what he's doing. He tries to book his wagon to whoever the most relevant professional wrestlers are at the time so, at the end of the day, Jim Cornette can just kiss my ass.
Very smart worker but he can kiss my a*, and how about we don't talk about him?
NEXT: Sami Callihan reveals his dream match
I don't know if you can tell but I'm from over in the UK, somewhere you wrestled for Impact last year in Manchester, how did you enjoy working in the UK, or did you enjoy it?
One more time. The accent is throwing me off over the phone. Say again. If I could read lips, we'd be fine, but I can't read lips over the phone so I can't understand.
So, I'm from the UK...
Scotland, England, Ireland...?
Scotland.
I'm about to make my debut... Well, my return to Scotland after 10 years, I'll be wrestling for ICW at one of the biggest shows of the year at the beginning of November, so maybe I'll see you there.
Haha, yeah, man! I've got that question coming up.
Do you see how good I am at this interview thing? I know how to hit bullet points, I know how to segue into the next thing and touch on everything we want to talk about. I'm really good at this professional wrestling thing.
Well, you mentioned you're coming back to Glasgow, that's my hometown and I can't wait to see you there.
You're making ICW debut at what is definitely the biggest Scottish show every year, arguably the biggest British show of the year every year. You're debuting at it against BT Gunn. How much are you looking forward to wrestling in Scotland again and what played into your decision to come to ICW?
The first time I ever went to Scotland, I went for an All-Star tour and I actually wrestled Drew McDonald and Jack Jester in Loch Ness.
This time, I'm coming back to wrestle BT Gunn, who I've wrestled before and he chopped me harder than any other human being on the planet. The way I see this going, this is going to be a fight and the way I also see it is me coming over as Impact World Champion and defending that belt on the line against anyone doesn't matter if it's BT Gunn or anybody else on the ICW roster.
One final question. We've spoken about that there, you're wrestling in the UK, you want to defend the Impact World Championship once you win it to any and all comers.
If you could wrestle anywhere in the world against anyone in the world, defending the championship, who would you choose and where would you choose to do it?
Me versus Terry Funk in Japan for the King of the Death Matches, in an Exploding Landmine Deathmatch over a lake.
Thank you to Sami Callihan for talking with us. You can follow Sami on Twitter here, and Impact Wrestling here.
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