Impact Wrestling has always done well in the United Kingdom, with some of their biggest attendance figures coming from UK shows. It’s been three years since Impact has returned to the British Isles, with a lot going on with Impact’s ownership and management taking precedence. Now that Impact has stabilized under Scott D’Amore and Don Callis‘ guidance, with a roster of some of the world’s top indie superstars, the company is returning to the United Kingdom to Wrestling MediaCon in Manchester, England on September 9. But that’s not all. Impact has issued an open challenge to the UK indie scene to send them their best wrestlers in what is being dubbed “Impact vs The UK” for the event.
Tickets for our return to the UK in Manchester at @WrestlingMediaC on September 9th go on sale THIS FRIDAY!
We're issuing an OPEN CHALLENGE to any UK Wrestling Promotion to bring their best wrestlers to face our best on September 9th!
FULL DETAILS: https://t.co/DUqd5oRk6f pic.twitter.com/U1BPtftwqZ
— TNA Wrestling (@ThisIsTNA) May 24, 2018
Yesterday, Impact Wrestling issued a press release on the event as follows:
TORONTO | LONDON – IMPACT Wrestling has issued a blockbuster open challenge to any UK wrestling promotion to face them in an inter-promotional series at Wrestling MediaCon 2018.
Ed Nordholm, the President of IMPACT Wrestling, made the challenge today, just 24 hours before tickets go on sale for IMPACT’s huge return to the UK at the biggest wrestling fan convention ever to hit British shores.
IMPACT will put on a full show on Sunday, September 9 as part of MediaCon in Manchester and its stars want to face the best of British to find out who is the best.
“Since we last came to the UK almost three years ago, we have seen how much the UK wrestling scene has evolved,” said Nordholm. “We are excited to return to the UK to demonstrate that IMPACT Wrestling has the best talent anywhere in the world, so we’re issuing an open challenge to any UK promotion to bring their best wrestlers to face the very best from IMPACT Wrestling on September 9th in Manchester.”
The organizers of Wrestling MediaCon 2018 said they are excited by the prospect of IMPACT Wrestling taking on a UK promotion.
“There are many fantastic UK promotions out there and we are expecting a lot of interest in this challenge from IMPACT Wrestling,” said a Wrestling MediaCon spokesman. “We are committed to finding the best possible competition for the stars of IMPACT Wrestling in order to showcase the UK wrestling scene in the best possible light.”
Any UK promotions interested in accepting IMPACT Wrestling’s challenge are invited to contact Wrestling MediaCon at [email protected].
With recent reports that the WWE’s new UK deals for stars will begin to limit which UK promotions they can work with, this could provide huge opportunities for those promotions who are shut out to showcase regional or other UK stars who are not currently under WWE UK deals. It’s also been reported that the event may be broadcast as an event special, either on the GWN App or on their Twitch channel, much like they did Impact vs. Lucha Underground over WrestleMania weekend.
So far, the challenge has received a couple responses, first from World Association of Wrestling (WAW)‘s Saraya Knight (mother of WWE Superstar Paige) and another from Liverpool’s TNT Extreme Wrestling – whose current World Champion Joseph Conners is part of the WWE’s UK division. But they’ve got other stars, such as Women’s Champion Lana Austin, Extreme Champion BT Gunn, as well as many other top UK stars.
https://twitter.com/TNTExtremeWres/status/999641115195305984
@IMPACTWRESTLING @WAW_UK
let's see if you will do what others bottle from!! Or you can stick to the usual companies as others naturally do @TheUKHooligans would be perfect, but let's see…. https://t.co/KDTHtDp2HD— Julia Hamer (@RealsarayaK) May 24, 2018
