Ed Nordholm, Scott D’Amore and Don Callis on Impact Wrestling’s Past Year

Meet the new boss, please be different than the old boss. About a year ago, Anthem Sports and Entertainment took over Impact Wrestling. This was a huge change of pace after all the years under Dixie Carter, which weren’t exactly the best times in the world for the company. Things are starting to settle down now, but it seems like a good time to look back and see how Nordholm’s tenure has gone.

Nordholm, along with new members of creative Scott D’Amore and Don Callis, were recently interviewed by Newsweek.com to discuss the first year of Nordholm’s tenure running the company. The interview talks about Jeff Jarrett’s return and subsequent departure from the company, the issue with the Broken Universe and the new creative direction. Here are some highlights:

On Jarrett’s Return and Departure

“Jarrett was a great assistance to me. Unfortunately, as we got into the summer, I think the stress of trying to [overhaul Impact] clearly was starting to have some impacts on him and his issues to deal with the situation. We had to part ways. I regret that it turned out that way, but I’m grateful for everything he did for me.”

On Changing the Landscape of Impact Wrestling

“When I was looking into [joining Impact] last summer, to me, there wasn’t a cool factor. There wasn’t a buzz about the product—part of that is on the booking side, doing things that don’t make sense,” says Callis. “Why is it that [independent] promotions in the U.K. or Northeast in the U.S. can rent wrestlers, put on a show and get a tremendous buzz on the internet? You have to be different. People try to be WWE-lite…we can’t be that. We have to try to be different, whether that means more athletic, more edgy, whatever it is. We have to be different.”

And on the Future Going Forward

“In 2018, we’re re-establishing trust with the talent, with business partners, with fans. You can’t fix it overnight. We’ve seen, historically, I call it the dangling carrot: ‘When we have this, everything’s going to be great.’ We’re going to roll up our sleeves and work hard. Slowly but surely we’re going to make progress. When we look back at the end of 2018, I think we’re going to be happy with the progress we’ve made.”

You can read the full interview here.

Nordholm isn’t on TV very often but here’s something he did:

IMPACT & AAA Rey De Reyes 2017 Part 2| IMPACT Digital Exclusive

Opinion: Nordholm’s time running Impact Wrestling has been hit and miss at best but at the end of the day, it’s better than Carter’s time on top. Carter seemed to be in completely over her head for years and now it seems that things have at least stabilized. If that’s the case, the company should be getting better in the near future.

What have you thought of “Impact Wrestling” as of late? Are things getting better? Let us know in the comments below.