Former WWE/Impact Wrestling referee Brian Hebner welcomed JBL as his guest this week on his podcast. Before speaking with JBL, Hebner gave his thoughts on some current wrestling events, including Logan Paul being announced as Roman Reigns’ opponent at Crown Jewel:
“My honest answer? Stupid. I thought it was kind of a joke, but I get it because I know how it works to make money. Roman Reigns will be great to get the best out of him. I hope they keep it short.”
“I’m trying to figure out how he got that title shot. What did he do to get that title shot? I’m really lost in that. You know how I am. I’m a very detailed person when it comes to storylines and there is not one there, is there, or did I miss something?”
Hebner was asked to give his thoughts on some of the Impact contracts coming up shortly:
“I didn’t see any (of the contracts) obviously, but there was some word that I had received from a few of the guys that were in limbo as far as what they were doing. I knew they signed six month deals and there were quite a few of them to be honest that I was told about. That looks like October is when these deals run out, sometime in October. It’s going to be a really interesting time for Impact as far as their biggest PPVs, or one of their biggest PPVs of their year, Bound for Glory. I’m really interested to see if they are able to retain the guys and girls that they have under these deals coming up or if they’ll just be able to sign them through Bound for Glory and then go from there. So it’s going to be an interesting time for Impact at this point.”
On whose contracts that are coming due:
“I don’t want to discuss it because it’s not my business. I don’t even know if what I’m saying is actually 100% correct as far as the people I’m thinking about. That’s why I don’t want to do that. I don’t want to say anything out of turn.”
“Now things have changed quite a bit since the new regime has come in, so maybe some of the thought process has changed a little bit. I know several, and when I say several, I’m talking about 4-6 guys who really, really wanted to stay with Impact to see if they can work something out there because they were really happy with the travel and the money, and all that kind of thing. I know there’s people there that are extremely excited to stay. I just don’t know if that will be that with the way the new regime is, because nobody wanted to go to WWE except for the money. I mean, that’s what it was. Now people want to go because they feel like it’s a totally different place and it’s not being run by Vince McMahon and that f**k face, Johnny Ace.”
One of the names who could be leaving Impact is Maria Kanellis. She revealed this week that her Impact per-appearance deal expires next month and she’s open to signing with AEW or WWE.
Click below to listen to the entire podcast.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Refin’ It Up with Brian Hebner with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
