Various: EC3 on Leaving Impact Wrestling, HBK “Lost My Smile”, Indies

Ethan Carter III on Why He Left Impact Wrestling

Newsweek had an interview with Ethan Carter III and one of the topics discussed was the reason why he left Impact Wrestling for WWE.

“My decision to leave Impact had nothing to with their business or finances and everything with me wanting to challenge myself to something new. Leaving Impact was a very difficult decision as I had six months left on a very lucrative and talent-friendly contract. Anthem lived up to that contract and always treated me with the utmost respect as a businessman and a person.”

WWE Did You Know – Shawn Michaels & “Lost My Smile” Promo

In a “WWE Did You Know” type fact, Tuesday was the 21st anniversary of Shawn Michaels’ “Lost My Smile” promo. During the promo, Michaels revealed he was vacating the WWF Championship due to a knee injury and was also considering retirement unless he could “find his smile again.”

It has been speculated for years that Michaels was unwilling to drop the belt to Bret Hart at the time and came up with the knee injury excuse to vacate the title instead. Michaels claimed in his autobiography that he was very upset at Hart for constantly stating it was a fake injury during interviews.

Indie Wrestling News & Notes

Joey Janela announced a new match for the card of GCW’s Joey Janela’s Spring Break II will be David Starr versus Mike Quackenbush. This match and the main event of Joey Janela versus The Great Sasuke are the only matches currently confirmed for the show.

PROGRESS announced that Matt Riddle will be facing off against champion Travis Banks for the PROGRESS World Championship at their February 25th show in London, England. Riddle won the fan vote against Jonah Rock to determine the new number one contender for Banks’ championship.

New Japan Pro Wrestling recently released a 30 minute mini-documentary on the reunion of Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi as a tag team. Omega and Ibushi previously teamed together as the Golden☆Lovers from 2009 to 2014.