IMPACT Wrestling: Omega segment tapings, contract expirations, status of Madison Rayne
This past weekend was full of news relating to IMPACT Wrestling. AEW World Champion Kenny Omega is filming content with the promotion. Some talent contracts may be expiring sooner than planned. IMPACT Knockout Madison Rayne is leaving the business for another job.
Omega filming content with IMPACT
Kenny Omega will already be in action in the promotion’s Hard To Kill pay-per-view on January 16. The match on the card has Omega teaming with The Good Brothers (Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows). They will face IMPACT World Champion Rich Swann and the Motor City Machine Guns (Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley).
Prior to that event, there are plans for Omega in IMPACT prior to that PPV match next month.
According to sources at PW Insider, IMPACT is taping material with Omega this week in Jacksonville, Fla. The footage will be inserted into the episodes that they have to run regarding the angle.
An additional note in the report is that Omega will not be present at the IMPACT television tapings. However, it is hard to tell what Omega and Don Callis have up their sleeves.
There was some consideration that the Good Brothers might appear on AEW Dynamite during this partnership. However, this has yet to come to fruition. In a pre-taped episode airing this week, neither Anderson nor Gallows would appear. We’ll have more on the AEW special Holiday Bash later today.
Some IMPACT talent contracts expiring sooner than expected
With IMPACT getting a lot of attention due to their recent partnership with AEW, they may be losing some key stars from their roster.
A report from Fightful states that there are multiple contracts that “are actually up earlier than expected publicly.” However, it is not certain of the contract status of said talent on the roster.
Additionally, it was reported that the company would have several re-signings months after the original contracts became official. However, some of these contracts have only recently come into effect.
As a result, some of the deals appear to have a few months remaining. However, it’s quite the opposite as some contracts are expiring as of New Year’s Day. Therefore, without a new contract, some talent will likely become free agents or will work on per-appearance fees.
The promotion has television tapings next month, as well as in March. During this time frame, several talent contracts will expire. It will only be a matter of time to see what the company does and who they choose to re-sign.
Madison Rayne leaving the wrestling business
While not exactly a surprise, a major cornerstone in the promotion’s Knockouts division is bowing out of the wrestling business.
Five-time Knockouts Champion Madison Rayne will be leaving her position with the company soon. Rayne is accepting a full-time position outside of the industry, according to Mike Johnson at PW Insider.
Rayne currently does color commentary alongside her husband Josh Matthews.
She would get her start in 2009, signing with IMPACT. At the time, it was known as TNA Wrestling. In addition to her championship runs, she was a faction member of The Beautiful People alongside Angelina Love and Velvet Sky. Other faction members were Cute Kip and Lacey Von Erich.
She would also become a two-time Knockouts Tag Team Champion alongside Gail Kim.
After 15 years in the business, Rayne has been less present for in-ring action. In 2020, she has only been in a handful of matches. She would wrestle her final independent match with Chicago’s Warrior Wrestling against Kylie Rae.
It is not currently known when Rayne officially leaves her position.
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Jake Leonard, a broadcast media and journalism veteran, is the editor-in-chief of Heartland Newsfeed. Leonard is also GM and program director of Heartland Newsfeed Radio Network, wrestling editor and contributing writer for Ambush Sports, a contributing writer for My Sports Vote and Midwest Sports Network, and a former contributor to Bleacher Report and Overtime Heroics. He resides at home in Nokomis, Ill. with his dog Buster.
