Former Impact Wrestling World Champion Eddie Edwards has had a roller coaster couple of months. From taking a reckless baseball bat shot to the eye courtesy of Sami Callihan to teaming with Tommy Dreamer at the company’s Redemption pay-per-view. But through all of the ups and downs, he continues to be one of the most reliable performers in the company.
Eddie Edwards was recently at London for an Impact Wrestling media week. He spoke to Humza Hussain about various topics such as his immediate reaction to being hit in the eye with a baseball bat, whether he wanted to work with Sami Callihan after the incident, and Impact’s return to the UK. There was nothing off limits, and Eddie opens up about all the mayhem over the last few months.
In your opinion, what’s the best thing Impact Wrestling has been doing over the last few months to try and create a better product?
It’s the fact that everybody is on the same page behind the scenes. From the wrestlers to the office, everybody has the same goal, and that’s bringing Impact Wrestling back to where it was, and going even higher than before. It’s not going to happen overnight, it’s going to be one step at a time, and everybody knows that.
The lines of communication are also open between everybody with this new regime. It’s very free-flowing. We are all trying to help each other out, and everybody is on the same page, which is a very important thing in the world of professional wrestling.
And every regime has its own issues, but if we as a company didn’t go through what we’ve been through, we wouldn’t be where we are today. None of us would be who we are. Everything happens for a reason.
We recently spoke to Shane Helms, and he believes the company’s biggest problem is production. They don’t have the production value of WWE, and the problem is fans compare everything to WWE. Do you agree with that assessment?
If you’re comparing directly to WWE, it’s going to be different. That’s the point of Impact Wrestling, to be an alternative. It’s not a competition between Impact, and WWE, it’s two completely separate entities. It’s just a different product; it’s not about over the top stuff, it’s more of an intimate feel.
On Impact, you might have matches from House of Hardcore, Border City Wrestling, and we even had something from Brian Cage in Australia. It’s a unique thing, and it kind of takes it back to the old school days. We are showing you that this Impact Wrestling, it’s hard hitting and there’s action going on in that ring.
Impact had their first pay-per-view under the new regime, Redemption. Was there any added pressure when you went out that night because the company really had to deliver as it was their first big show?
The fact that it was called Redemption was very appropriate because it felt like it was Impact’s shot at redemption. Anytime you have a pay-per-view it’s a big show. But like you said, there was that extra feeling of pressure. This was our first real chance to show everybody that this is our company, this is our crew, and this is what we can do with it.
When I watched the whole show, I felt like it delivered from top to bottom. People seemed to be happy with how it went down. So I think that we’re on an upward trend right now. I also think in those big show situations, you want that extra pressure; you have to put it on yourself. You have to want to represent yourself and your company by delivering in those pressure situations.
One of the big stories that came out of Impact was, of course, your incident with Sami Callihan. The injury you suffered was quite severe. After an injury like that, does it make you hesitant about performing certain spots in the ring?
No, it can’t. When you’re cautious, and you’re weary, and you’re timid, that’s when other injuries are going to happen. You don’t want to do anything stupid, but you can’t be thinking about that kind of stuff. If you’re thinking about that, you are not focusing on what you’re doing in the ring. You are not focusing on your job of putting on the best match possible. So you have to put it by the wayside and see what happens and hope for the best (laughs).
You then started a very long feud Sami, but was there any part of you that no longer wanted to work with him after that? Because a lot of people would not have blamed if you did feel this way.
It was a freak accident, and somewhat of an irresponsible accident. Things happen. Was it handled the best way on his part? All I can I say is I would have handled it differently. I think a lot of people from the outside looking in would have handled it differently as well.
But we have turned a negative into a positive. Luckily, as of right now, there are no long-term effects. My eye is healed, my vision is all good. It was about taking that and running with it. People were talking and wondering what’s going to happen next. And this was also a chance to do something different. The wrestling world is very PG right now, but with this storyline, we wanted push the envelope and to take it to the limit.
This story is built on pure emotion. People saw me get hit with that baseball bat. You can’t deny that happened. Then Sami was stalking my wife, and so my character has been pushed to his limits. Everybody can feel that emotion, everybody can relate to that. So it’s this unique storyline where it’s going to be intense, violent, and may be uncomfortable, but that’s life. And it’s not violence for the sake of violence; the story makes it all happen.
When you got hit by the baseball bat, what was the first thought that was going through your mind?
I got hit and I was covering my eye, and I was just hoping that my eye was not in my hand. I took a peak and saw the blood all over my hand. And of course, I was worried about my vision. That’s a scary thing, and anything with eyes freaks me out. It was just a whirlwind of emotions, and there wasn’t even pain, it was just the shock and the thought of what’s going to happen.
That led to your House of Hardcore match at Redemption. How was that experience teaming with Tommy Dreamer in essentially his match?
I’ve always been a fan of ECW and a fan of Tommy Dreamer. For so long, Tommy has been a big help to a lot of the young guys behind the scenes. He’s always been there for me, he will always give his opinion, and you can always ask him for advice. He wants to help the world of professional wrestling because he loves it so much.
So to team with him in a house of hardcore match and be side by side, it was a cool thing to team with one of the guys that I idolised. Also, the way the story progressed, he was giving me words of wisdom and giving me advice. So we were showing what he does behind the scenes on TV.
There was also another veteran performing at Redemption, and that was Scott Steiner. How important do you think it is to have guys like this in the locker room, especially at this stage where the company is rebuilding?
You need guys that have been there, guys who have done it at the highest of levels for so long. You would be a fool not to ask them for advice, and I don’t see what everybody does backstage, but I think people are realising you have to take advantage of these opportunities. Just take advantage of these guys, and pay attention and take a notebook out.
It also helps bring a little bit of nostalgia for the fans. Fans get to see guys who they have grown up watching, and so it adds another element, and another layer to Impact programming.
Today, we see a lot of talent on top of WWE that made their name in Impact Wrestling. However, when Impact had stars like Angle and Christian, they were labelled as a lesser version of WWE. Do you find that to be pretty hypocritical?
People are always going to find something to criticise about either company. If you’re a fan of Impact, you’re going to find something to say about WWE and vice versa. But the world of professional wrestling is so different now. Impact Wrestling has all these different working relationships with companies, and it's a unique time for WWE. There are guys getting opportunities there that wouldn't have ten years ago.
It’s a unique time, it’s a different time, and it’s hard to look back and try to criticise certain things. Impact can just worry about Impact, that’s all we can do.
Your one of the performers that can wrestle anybody and have a good match. Do you find that you have that you have a preference when it comes to what style of wrestler you face?
I welcome every matchup because it’s going to be a challenge for me to do something different. If I wrestle Austin Aries, it’s going to be a different match to when I wrestle Bobby Lashley. And I loved wrestling Bobby Lashley because there was that natural storyline of this underdog facing a monster.
But I don’t have a preference; I like to switch it up. I wouldn’t want to wrestle the same type of wrestler the whole time because then my style will get stale and I’ll get lazy. So it’s nice to switch it up by doing these hardcore matches for example. There matches where I’m seeing if I can do it or not, so it’s a test for me. Now we also have guys like Pentagon Jr. and Fenix, and I look forward to wrestling them. The wrestling world is changing, and I want to make sure I'm changing with it.
In 2016, Impact had their last UK tapings. But this year they are returning to the UK, and I wanted to ask you how important do you think the UK market will be for the company?
I know it’s going to be extremely important because if you look at the history of Impact coming over to the UK when we did the tours, they were so important to us and the fans. The UK market was so important to Impact, and we want to get it back to where it was. So coming back in September is just the first step of hopefully coming back a little more regularly like we did before.
We want to show the UK fans that we have not forgotten about you guys. Speaking of the wrestlers, we want to be here as much as anybody. We know how important it is, and that’s why when the UK shows happen, they are big shows.
Also, the good thing about the office and this new regime is it’s taking it one step at a time. We’re not going to try and sell out Wembley right away. It’s going to take time, and let’s take the right decisions one step at a time. It’s not going to happen overnight.
What’s your favourite memory of performing here in the UK?
It has to be the first time Davey Richards and I tagged, it was in Wolverhampton, England. That was where the American Wolves were born. So that’s probably my favourite memory because it was so historic for me and it has led me to this career that I have been able to have. That was such a big moment.
Originally published in June 2018 for Total Wrestling Magazine
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