Impact: Joe Hendry Signing, Mia Yim on Her Recent Impact Return, New Backstage Hiring

Sep 16, 2022

Joe Hendry Signs Impact Contract

Thursday’s Impact! show featured the official Impact debut of former Ring of Honor talent Joe Hendry.

Hendry made his surprise debut appearance during a video segment parodying AEW’s backstage fight incident from their All Out 2022 event earlier this month. This segment mentioned that an elderly man had a chair thrown at them and was covered in bite marks that left them in a critical condition at a hospital surrounding by his loved ones. During the segment, Hendry burst into the room and started signing how he was coming to Impact to help bring positive motivation to the company.

.@joehendry will motivate @IMPACTWRESTLING!#IMPACTonAXSTV pic.twitter.com/bEjuURDnTX
— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) September 16, 2022

Following the show, Impact announced on Twitter that they had signed Hendry to an official contract with the company.

.@joehendry signs with @IMPACTWRESTLING!#IMPACTonAXSTV pic.twitter.com/ZqicbZg71z
— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) September 16, 2022

Mia Yim Comments on Her Impact Return Helped Get Her Wrestling Career Back on Track

A recent episode of the Straight Talk Wrestling podcast had Mia Yim as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Yim’s thoughts on how her recent return to Impact Wrestling has helped get her wrestling career back on track.

“So the thing that I always tell people, even though me and Keith are together, we are our own separate brands. I never wanted to be one of those couples that are like, ‘If you book my husband, you have to book me’ or vice versa, or we’re a package deal. We’re not like that, so it’s like babe, you go do what you gotta go do. In my opinion, Keith is a much bigger star than I am, and I’m completely okay with that. I’m gonna go do me and do whatever I wanna do. So I’ve always wanted, like after getting released, IMPACT was the only thing on my mind, just because that’s kind of where I started to flourish. Like my first experience on TV was IMPACT, and then all my friends are there, Gail is there. I’ve gotten real close with Scott. So for me, it was more so trying to get this [points to head] under control and teaching myself that I can wrestle and I am okay in the ring. It’s more of a mental obstacle for me where I knew that IMPACT was going to give me that comfortability and the trust to just be like hey, we’re here for you, we’re gonna help you with whatever you need. This is your platform, go do what you know you can do, without any hesitation.
The first couple matches, I’m a perfectionist so I’m like I know this wasn’t perfect, but was it okay? Just kind of second-guessing everything. But then the more it was like, you’re doing great. Keep listening to the crowd, go do what you gotta do, like you’re doing awesome, and we’re happy with it. It was a confidence thing for me more so than getting a wider platform or money or anything like that. It was just, I needed IMPACT, and I told Gail this from the jump, that like my mental is not where I wanted it to be, and I knew that they could get me back on track.”

Yim also gave her thoughts about her favorite matches in Impact since her return and how positive feedback from her peers has meant a lot to her.

“To me, it was my own personal test like okay, we are semi-main, if this match can be the quality of a semi-main or even a main match, I will be happy with it. Hearing the crowd, having the crowd behind me is a feeling I can’t even explain. But hearing the crowd, watching it back, and my biggest thing which I think, WWE has done a lot for me, is the psychology and putting things together where it makes sense and the transitions, so it was nice to see that instead of doing all the crazy moves back to back, but like have meaning and purpose and a story behind it and facials and emotion, it felt really good after the match, to the point where Gisele was like everyone in the back was applauding both you and Jordynne after the match. Just knowing that even our peers really appreciated and showcased the support for the match, and then watching it back and seeing that, having a good match and knowing you had a good match is awesome. But watching it back and being like, ‘Damn, that was really good,’ and just seeing all the little things that I did that I didn’t even think about doing, I think that match with Jordynne definitely put it in my brain like, ‘You know what, yeah, I still got this, and I can still go. Yeah, I’m back, I’m here now.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

Impact Reportedly Recently Signed Guy Dudley to Backstage Executive Job

Impact Wrestling reportedly recently hired former wrestler Sign Guy Dudley, real name Lou D’Angeli, to a backstage executive job in the company, according to PWInsider.

Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that Impact recently hired D’Angeli to oversee their marketing department going forward, as well as other backstage duties that were not stated.

Johnson reported that D’Angeli had been working in a consultant role for the company for the past several months prior to his hiring to a full-time executive job. D’Angeli reportedly has also been working in a backstage role at Impact’s recent television tapings.

D’Angeli previously worked for WWE as their Director of Live Events and Director of Promotions and Event Marketing from 2006 to 2010 and for Cirque du Soleil as their Director of Marketing from 2010 to 2021.