Various: Tom Hannifan Signs New Impact Contract, Superstar Bully Graham Health Update, Indies

Apr 11, 2023

Tom Hannifan Signs New Contract with Impact

In a recent press release touting the success of Impact Wrestling’s recent Multiverse United event, Anthem Sports & Entertainment revealed that Impact announcer Tom Hannifan recently signed a new official contract with the company.

Hannifan has been working in Impact as their lead announcer since January of 2022.

Official press release:

IMPACT Wrestling Enters The “Multiverse”
IMPACT produced the historic “Multiverse United” event on March 30 — a joint partnership with fellow wrestling icons New Japan Pro-Wrestling — broadcast live from the Globe Theater in Los Angeles. The sold-out event was proceeded by the promotion’s first-ever live telecast on AXS TV, and was also televised on Anthem’s Fight Network platform.
IMPACT Wrestling made its triumphant return to Canada in March, selling-out both of its shows at Windsor, Ontario’s St. Clair College on March 24 & 25. The promotion will once again roll into the “City of Roses” later this year, when its PPV “Slammiversary” event on July 15 & 16.
2023’s 3 Stars: IMPACT’s January’s “Hard to Kill” in Atlanta, February’s “No Surrender” in Las Vegas, and March’s “Sacrifice” in Windsor, Ontario, all sold out.
A new World Champion will be crowned: The record-setting title run of Josh Alexander is officially over as he will relinquish the IMPACT Wrestling World Championship due to a triceps tear that will require surgery. On Sunday, April 16, at the REBELLION event in Toronto, Steve Maclin and KUSHIDA will face off to determine the new IMPACT Wrestling World Champion.
Five Minute Major: Darren McCarty – a four-time Stanley Cup champion and one of the NHL’s most notorious enforcers – went from front-row fan to participant at an IMPACT Wrestling show on Friday night, March 26, in the company’s annual SACRIFICE live pay-per-view, held in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. When Bully Ray threw a beer in McCarty’s face, it set off the hockey legend, who jumped the guardrail to attack Bully Ray. McCarty was first refrained by security before Bully Ray personally invited McCarty into the ring. Bully Ray and McCarty immediately went at it in a hockey fight brawl. Bully Ray ultimately won the battle when he sent McCarty crashing through a wooden table. McCarty will get his revenge on Thursday, April 6, when he teams with Tommy Dreamer and Yuya Uemura for a fight against Bully Ray and The Good Hands tag team (Jason Hotch and John Skyler). The 6-man war will air at 8 p.m. ET on AXS TV in the U.S., and Fight Network in Canada.
The March 23 IMPACT show on AXS TV grew 20% week-over-week among P2+ viewers and was the highest-rated show for the week on AXS TV. This was the second highest-rated IMPACT show in 2023 with 18% more viewers than the 1st quarter average.
The March 30 IMPACT special “Multiverse United” on AXS TV featuring IMPACT and New Japan Pro-Wrestling talent was the 3rd highest show for 2023 and the highest-rated show on AXS TV for the week.
On the digital media front, IMPACT Wrestling programming amassed 872,674,661 total video views across all Anthem Sports Group digital partner channels for the 1st quarter, while on social media, IMPACT garnered 50,600,000 total impressions on Twitter and reached 379,867,852 accounts on Facebook.
IMPACT’s streak continued with the pre-sale of Series 1 of IMPACT action figures, unveiling the legendary likenesses of IMPACT favorites such as Eddie Edwards, Deonna Purrazzo, Jordynne Grace, and Moose. The launch was met with tremendous enthusiasm upon announcement, yielding yet another impressive sell-out for the brand. Series 2 is currently in production with an expected launch slated for late summer/early fall. Fans can visit ShopIMPACT.com today to bring home their own piece of IMPACT Wrestling action.
Additionally, IMPACT Wrestling was proud to announce the signings of popular tag-team “The Motor City Machine Guns”—Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin—as well as rising Knockouts star KiLynn King and announcer Tom Hannifan.

“Superstar” Billy Graham Health Status Update

As noted before, WWE Hall of Famer Superstar Billy Graham is currently dealing with a bone infection that has spread to his bone ears and portion of his skull. Graham has been hospitalized for a second time over this health issue.

A health update was recently posted on Graham’s official Facebook page stating

Hello friends and fans.
First of all, I hope you had a very Happy Easter to you all, and thank you so much for your prayers and donations.
I communicated with Valerie tonight. Although Billy’s very serious myriad of health issues continue (deafness, infection, dialysis for kidney malfunction, congestive heart failure, and on and on; plus approaching four months in either the hospital or the rehab center and away from home, 75 pounds weight loss in three months….) , I am very pleased to show you this photo from Easter Sunday. This is a true miracle, and I think you will agree, so amazing to see that the superstar has not lost his fighting spirit! Also fantastic is that Valerie is once again able to go visit Billy in person.
As always, please keep praying for the champ, thank you! If you are able to donate for his mounting medical bills, it is deeply appreciated, and thank you!
https://www.gofundme.com/f/superstar-billy-grahams-recovery…
God Bless everyone, and I hope all had a wonderful Easter!

Misc. Wrestling News & Notes

New Japan Pro Wrestling recently announced that they have pulled Eddie Kingston off of the card of their Collision in Philadelphia 2023 event on April 16th in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania due to him recently suffering an injury. It was also announced that Orange Cassidy will be replacing Kingston for his scheduled match against Gabriel Kidd at the event. It was also announced that should Cassidy retain his AEW International Championship at this Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite show, his match against Kidd will be a title match.

NJPW announced that Clark Connors has recently signed a new official contract with the company. While terms of the deal was not stated, Connors contract is currently believed to be for one year in length.

Former NWA wrestler Bobby Fulton recently announced that his historic tuxedo jacket that he has owned since 1984 as part of The Fantastics was stolen from him at NWA’s 312 event this past Friday in Highland Park, Illinois.

As noted before, former wrestler Tammy Sytch was arrested this past May in Florida following a police investigation into a fatal car accident involving Sytch in March of 2022. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that Sytch is currently scheduled to attend a pre-trial hearing this Thursday based on recent court records.

As noted before, Lucha Libre AAA recently announced the updated card for their Triplemania XXXI: Monterrey event on April 16th in Monterrey, Mexico. TheCubsFan reported that social media influencer Adrian Marcelo will not be allowed to compete in his scheduled match against Chessman at the event due to him recently failing his licensing exam. It was reported that this exam was held by the Monterrey’s lucha libre commission this past Wednesday and Mercelo had quit during the first hour of the three hour physical test. It was also reported that Marcelo is still planning on attending AAA’s upcoming event.

Game Changer Wrestling announced that they will be holding a new four-event tour of Japan on July 17-20 in Tokyo.

Tommy Dreamer announced on Twitter that his mother is currently in ICU following her recently suffering another brain bleeding health issue.

In a recent interview with the Ring The Belle podcast, Jody Threat confirmed that the reports of her recently signing an official contract with Impact Wrestling are true. Threat stated “It’s my first contract ever. I feel so lucky, being a Canadian, it’s very hard to get eyes on you and very hard to get those reps in and get out there and just get to a point where a company wants to invest in you because there is a working visa that goes along with it. I’m just feeling so ecstatic, so lucky to have been chosen by a company to this level with such a great locker room that has decided to invest in me.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

Impact recently announced one new match and one updated match for the card of their Rebellion 2023 event on April 16th in Toronto, Canada:

Last Rites match – Eddie Edwards vs. PCO
10-Person Hardcore War match – Team Bully (Bully Ray, Kenny King, The Good Hands (John Skyler & Jason Hotch), & Masha Slamovich) vs. Team Dreamer (Tommy Dreamer, Yuya Uemura, Frankie Kazarian, Killer Kelly, & Bhupinder Gujjar)

Pro Wrestling Revolver recently announced a new match for the card of their Mayhem For All event on May 6th in Clive, Iowa: