Various: Josh Alexander on New Impact Deal, Swerve Strickland on AEW Signing, Discovery Purchases WarnerMedia

Josh Comments on His Reason for Signing a New Deal with Impact Wrestling

As noted before, this past weekend’s Impact Wrestling Sacrifice 2022 event featured the return of Josh Alexander to the company. During the show closing segment, Alexander revealed that he had recently signed a new contract to remain in the company for the foreseeable future.

A recent episode of The List & Ya Boy podcast had Alexander as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Alexander’s reasons for why he decided to sign a new contract with Impact.

“We agreed in principle and when my contract expired, we agreed before I had a chance to talk with anybody else. I knew where I wanted to stay and what I wanted to do.

I wanted this to happen from the get-go. I knew I wanted to stay with IMPACT because I’m clearly happy there, there’s a lot stuff going on there, I just want to wrestle, I don’t care where I wrestle as long I do what I get to do at the highest level and all this other stuff. It all materialized and came together pretty quickly. The whole work of the whole thing is that IMPACT has had this reputation of losing marquee talent time and time again. Me, being a babyface, I approached management and said, ‘If I’m staying, why don’t we make a thing out of it that I chose to stay at IMPACT.’ I probably could have gone somewhere else and could have gotten a job somewhere else, but I didn’t want to, so I wanted to amplify that. Not just for me, but for the whole brand of IMPACT and the fans.

There was a 1% chance I wasn’t going to re-sign with IMPACT. My relationship with everybody there, from management all the way through the locker room, I feel like I’m part of something that’s growing and on the ground floor and we’ve all got room to grow together. I’m a loyal person and a team player, I’ve been that way my whole life.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

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Swerve Strickland Comments on His Recent Signing with AEW

As noted before, this past Sunday’s AEW Revolution 2022 event featured the official AEW debut of Swerve Strickland (former Isiah “Swerve” Scott in WWE).

A recent episode of the Getting Over podcast had Strickland as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Strickland’s thoughts on the process that led to his signing with AEW.

“My first call was New Japan.I was on the phone with Rocky Romero and talked with Will Ospreay about it. That’s a little brother to me, he wants me to be over there as much as them.

My cousin, Will Washington, who helped produce ‘Who We Are’ AEW album, he talks with Tony Khan frequently and does a lot of media scrums as well. He also does the Grapsody podcast with Righteous Reg and Phil Lindsey, shoutout to them. Tony Khan reached out to him because we’re family and was like, ‘what can we do about getting him here?’ That was the bug in the ear. I was happy about interest being there really early on. I didn’t want to just show up there. I’m glad I had the 90 days. It gave me time to go out, travel, build a team, network, meet other people. I went to LA for 12 days and met so many people in the industry and outside the industry, in the music industry, fashion. I’m building a podcast team, a music team.

We’re forming something and I’m not just approaching AEW and Tony Khan with just myself. It’s a team and you’re getting all this other stuff with it. There is no way I can lose and there’s no way I can’t benefit the product with my team. With the Cody Rhodes situation and him leaving, that opened up a spot with those business acquisitions that he had. I don’t know if they’re doing a lot of those anymore or they are seeing those out until they are finally finished, but that left a window, ‘that gives me an opportunity to fill that void with these business ventures.'”

Strickland also gave his thoughts about his official debut for the company at their Revolution 2022 event.

“The position that they put me in to debut me, it gave the audience a different feel of what type of asset they’re receiving for AEW. I’m not just another guy who can come in and put on matches, they already have that. They’ve signed a lot of those guys and they are really gifted at what they do. I’m something different. You’re not just getting a talent, you’re getting a brand. In NXT, Swerve was a hip hop artist. In AEW, Swerve is a mogul. There is so much more expansion to myself as a professional outside the ring and what you’re going to receive inside the ring and on television every week. Everyone knew who I was. That alone, was like, ‘Okay, I’m in the right direction.’ I’m giving that feel and vibe to the world. They feel something different, unique, and new as well. That’s what they want. They don’t want a copy and paste from where they last saw me on TV. They want a different feel and different vibe in a different environment.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

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Discovery Inc. Announces Purchase of WarnerMedia

American mass media company Discovery Inc. announced that their shareholders recently voted in favor to become the new owners of WarnerMedia. It was announced that this merger is currently expected to be finalized in early second quarter 2022.

In regards to the impact of this merger on AEW, they will still be airing their shows on WarnerMedia’s owned TNT and TBS networks but will now be part of a larger family of networks and properties under Discovery’s umbrella.

Official press release:

Discovery, Inc. Stockholders Approve Proposals Related to Discovery, Inc.’s Acquisition of WarnerMedia

New York, NY – March 11, 2022 Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK) today announced that the Company’s stockholders have approved various matters relating to the acquisition of WarnerMedia from AT&T to create Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc., a premier, global entertainment company. The transaction will bring together WarnerMedia’s premium entertainment, sports and news assets with Discovery’s leading nonfiction and international entertainment and sports businesses.

At the Special Meeting of Discovery Stockholders held earlier today, based on estimated preliminary voting results, Discovery stockholders voted to approve the charter amendment proposals, share issuance proposal and the advisory (non-binding) compensation proposal. The approvals mark the completion of one of the few remaining closing conditions for the merger.  These preliminary voting results will be updated through the filing of a Current Report on Form 8-K to reflect the final certification of results from the Inspector of Election.

The acquisition is expected to close early in the second quarter of 2022, subject to other customary closing conditions. The Boards of Directors of both AT&T and Discovery have approved the transaction.