Fightful Wrestling Weekly 7/21: IMPACT, NWA, EC3, WWE

NWA

As of right now, NWA has no firm plans moving forward. The presentation was largely the vision of former VP Dave Lagana, and with him out, there isn’t much direction. Fightful has learned that NWA World’s Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis was considered for a VP spot, but doesn’t have the same skill set that Lagana presented.

We’ve also heard of some interesting contract numbers that came from NWA. Fightful heard that Ricky Starks passed up $1000/month from NWA for a new contract offer before he left the company. The champion Zicky Dice was only offered $250 a month at one point, which was passed on. He’d later sign for the remainder of 2020 before being granted his release. His deal was due to be up for renegotiation in September. We’ve also learned that Thunder Rosa is indeed under contract to the company, and Allysin Kay still plans on working with them.

We’ve heard more about this situation in the recent days, as these deals were actually renegotiations for many when the original deals expired. Ricky Starks originally had $1750/month before rejecting the $1000 deal. NWA also controlled contracted wrestlers outside bookings, which we’re told would routinely be priced out for many promoters to afford.

Most of the roster members we’ve spoken with are very fond of Billy Corgan, and says he treats people with respect, but mentioned he wasn’t very active in the company of late. He was particularly a proponent of the aforementioned Zicky Dice, and wanted Ricky Starks to chase Dice for the TV Title as a primary program.

The NWA roster by and large found out about Lagana leaving the company when everyone else did. Prior to that, there were weekly zoom meetings with about a dozen people to talk about the direction of Carnyland, which is now canned for the time being. Talent were told via e-mail that if they don’t believe in the vision of the NWA moving forward, they’re free to leave. A non-disparagement clause is included in the language of the deals.

WWE Social Media

We were given some insight about WWE’s social media methods. If you’re participating in a social media campaign for something promotional like Snickers, they’ll ask you to tweet about it, but won’t tell you an exact tweet to put out. They’ll supply a link, as opposed to a direct tweet script. As a part of a tv program or feud, they’ll instruct some more succinct tweets in order for their other social media to utilize as well. Sometimes talent gets texts or calls informing them of the company’s wishes, or found at TV, but it was said to be “loose handed.”

NXT Crowd

Although conditions have improved since the initial set of tapings, some people have either outright refused to come in, or hadn’t shown up to some of the event tapings before all of the positive tests even dropped. We’re told many no-showed the back lot fight between Adam Cole and Velveteen Dream, specifically. Along the way, some NXT Talent, including Undisputed Era were asked to come in as extra noise before friends of the wrestlers were eventually brought in. Prior to that, many of the top names in NXT were exempt from even being asked to come by.

EC3

I spoke to EC3, who gave us an incredible look inside him leaving WWE. He actually got a call from Drake Maverick — which he ignored — and then got a call from WWE. Before he picked up the phone, he realized what was happening. He said the person doing the firing was very upset and was likely having one of the worst days of their lives. He’s happy that Drake will get to continue working on NXT because it’s cool and fun there. He wasn’t as upset this time about WWE letting him go as he was the first time. The reality was he was probably going to ask for his release anyway, but considering the landscape he decided to ride it out a while.

The day EC3 got fired, he actually started filming the vignettes that we see now. He wanted to pitch this personality, promo and vignettes to WWE, but he also saw how badly they fumbled everything in relation to the Fiend and was hesitant.

He finally confirmed he had been battling a concussion, which we can confirm he was cleared for as far back as February. EC3 said it was the most physically trying thing he’s ever been through, and actually had a concussion when he got called up to the main roster. EC3 noted that he didn’t feel in control whatsoever of his situation within WWE.

EC3 spoke highly of Jon Moxley and said that because he personally doesn’t like complaining about his situation, someone else doing it for him meant a lot. He wants to wrestle Moxley outside of WWE. He called the WWE creative process broken, as he and his friend with a handheld camera could do more for his character than WWE could.

EC3 told an interesting story about a viral Sonny Kiss moment as well, which he said was because the crowd at the show would have been flat for the original finish. He called it on the fly and said Sonny was great to work with. He also said he didn’t give a shit about the 24/7 Title, but winning it in the Philippines was cool.

Ivelisse

In a lost interview from WrestleCade, Ivelisse spoke to Fightful, but wouldn’t go on the record when we asked her about the rumors we’ve heard about her possibly taking a fight with Combate Americas. Fightful learned that as far back as last year, Combate Americas at least had an interest in speaking with Ivelisse about the potential of joining them. There was a lost interview with Fightful where she mentioned an MMA company speaking to her, which we later found out was Combate. They’ve also brought in Thunder Rosa and Alberto Del Rio in the past. Ivelisse was at this week’s AEW tapings and got a WWE tryout last year.

It was pretty clear Ivelisse didn’t want to burn any bridges by saying anything rough, as she didn’t broach a nixed 2018 Impact Wrestling run that came down to a matter of days or hours. She said she was “too close to slip up.” She spoke highly of WWE and her tryout, and said that the WWE facility was much improved and a lot bigger than when she was there. She reiterated that her time was coming soon. Ivelisse was outspoken about the style being taught during her time in FCW, but told us that she’s just glad to see changes were happening, and she feels like there’s been a lot that has held her back in the past, and she wants to contribute towards the things that are going on now.

We talked about taped vs. live environments, and she said that she tries to lay things in to a degree that won’t need to be edited anyway. It was admitted, however, that having the ability to edit is a nice benefit. We also spoke about her cage match with Kiera Hogan, and Ivelisse told us that doing different things is a major motivator for her.

Deonna Purrazzo

If you’ve watched Fightful shows over the past couple of weeks, you probably heard us mention that Deonna Purrazzo was working without an IMPACT contract, leading many to believe she’d not win Saturday. After winning the Knockouts Championship, we’re told that Purrazzo and IMPACT are still working on a per-appearance basis.

IMPACT Wrestling

As Fightful Select reported Saturday, MotorCity Machine Guns are back in the the fold in IMPACT, with big plans for them. The plan as far back as of last week was for them to emerge victorious and win the Tag Team Championships, which airs Tuesday.