Could ROH & Impact pursue inter-promotional plans?
As of late, All Elite Wrestling (AEW) has actively been working with Impact Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) via inter-promotional working agreements. It appears that the “Forbidden Door” has been kicked wide open, leaving plenty of room for exciting matches that were previously impossible.
It takes a lot of footwork to arrange a deal between two companies, especially those without a huge television audience or even a large footprint in the U.S. Unfortunately, some deals do not always work out.
A report from Ringside News references a recent interview of Matt Hardy by Entertainment Tonight Canada, who revealed in a discussion on cross-promotion in professional wrestling that Ring of Honor Wrestling (ROH) and Impact nearly had a huge crossover between the companies in 2017.
“I think (cross-promoting) is great. I’ve always thought it was great for business,” Hardy stated. “A lot of people don’t know about this.”
The Hardys-Young Bucks Impact-ROH angle that never happened
Hardy would reference a potential crossover angle between The Hardys, who were contracted to Impact, and The Young Bucks, who was at ROH.
“Right before my brother and I left Impact to return to WWE, we were actually going to do a Ring of Honor-Impact crossover angle…for three or four months,” Hardy said.
Unfortunately, changes in management for both ROH and Impact would happen, and it became a distant thought as Matt and Jeff Hardy went back to WWE following the expiration of their contract with Impact.
While it is difficult to gauge whether the promotions would attempt a deal in 2021, Hardy states that it would be a good idea for anyone who wants to help elevate brands without fear of a potential takeover.
“So, I’m all for it. I’ve always been down with it from the beginning,” Hardy adds. “And I think especially considering WWE is such a massive global promotion, I think any other promotion that is up-and-coming when they work with other promotions, has it helps to the element of unpredictability.”
“Unpredictability is what makes wrestling successful in 2021,” concludes Hardy.
Hardy has been part of many pro-wrestling companies over his illustrious career and has seen a lot of backstage politics unfold, including potential inter-promotional ordeals. However, in the COVID Era of wrestling, history continues to unfold in 2021 as cross-promotion is becoming more commonplace.
For instance, FinJuice (David Finlay and Juice Robinson) from NJPW won the Impact World Tag Team Championship off The Good Brothers (Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows) at the promotion’s Sacrifice PPV on March 13.
This week on AEW Dynamite, the IWGP U.S. Championship is on the line as reigning champion Jon Moxley defends against NJPW legend Yuji Nagata.
Credit to ET Canada and Ringside News for the quotes.
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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.
