The IMPACT Wrestling vs Ring of Honor war wages on as Johnny Impact (AKA John Morrison, Johnny Mundo, John Hennigan, et al) has announced he will be on board Chris Jericho’s Rock ‘N’ Wrestling Rager this October. And he’ll be doing so on a mission, to take on the entire Bullet Club, all by himself.
As has been the theme for this entire interpromotional battle, Impact is seeking out a match that could almost, maybe, never happen on land. It certainly couldn’t happen in a blender or in Toys R’ Us, because they are closed down now. Credit to Impact for dreaming big however. It’s a match that could perhaps happen at Madison Square Garden as the rules have changed, but to be certain, Impact wants to check with Dave Meltzer first.
📣Johnny Impact (@TheRealMorrison) is headed to sea on board The Ship of Jericho and is ready to take on the Bullet Club! Don't miss this moment in wrestling history, book NOW: https://t.co/Sb1g2fWVVY pic.twitter.com/BNCvlG6zrt
— Chris Jericho Cruise (@jericho_cruise) August 16, 2018
All of those locations, even MSG, are highly unlikely given the nature of where Impact works and where his would-be opponents work. That leaves one option. A place where the rules of North American promotions don’t exist. A place where Sami Callihan can face Marty Scurll, where the Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson) can face LAX (Santana and Ortiz), and where Johnny Impact can take on all “27, 50, 100 – are we counting Adam Page?” members of Bullet Club. That place is international waters and more specifically, the Chris Jericho Cruise.
While Impact won’t be able to face the entire Bullet Club as half of them are in Japan causing as much trouble to NJPW as possible, he will perhaps have his shot at Marty Scurll, the Young Bucks, Cody, Kenny Omega and yes, Hangman Page, who jokes aside, is very much a member of the group. But looking at the matches already booked, it seems that Scurll is out as he’s booked to face Callihan in the first IMPACT vs Ring of Honor match that was announced, plus he’ll be in the Bullet Club (Scurll, Cody, Omega) vs Alpha Club (Young Bucks, Jericho) once-in-a-lifetime match, and he’s in the Sea of Honor tournament. Page is also in Sea of Honor and the Bucks are booked in two matches already. As it would appear, that might leave just two members of Bullet Club open for a match in Kenny Omega and Cody.
Having both wrestled in WWE, Cody and Johnny Impact are no strangers to each other. Wrestling under the John Morrison name and Cody as Cody Rhodes, the two have faced each other at house shows and with meaningful opportunities on the line such as in the 2010 King of the Ring tournament and in 2011 in a match for Rhodes’ Intercontinental Championship. As luck would have it, the two would even face off outside of WWE in 2017 in Qatar, as Impact, as Johnny Mundo, successfully defended his QPW Souq Waqif Championship against Rhodes.
So while Impact has made clear he wants to challenge all of Bullet Club, there is one member in particular that would give fans a dream match that could indeed only exist in the middle of the ocean, somewhere between Miami and the Bahamas. That of course would be the first-time ever meeting of Impact and Kenny Omega.
Having traveled different circuits their entire careers, Impact and Omega have barely shared a country let alone a ring. While both did work for WWE at the same time in 2005-06, the two were in different territories with Omega coming up in Deep South Wrestling and Impact a product of Ohio Valley Wrestling. Impact went from OVW to the main roster but Omega never did, opting to take a different path, one that almost saw him leave the industry altogether. Thankfully he didn’t. Instead, while Impact was perfecting the Shaman of Sexy character alongside Joey Mercury and Melina in MNM or with “Chick Magnet” the Miz, Omega was starting his career in Japan. By the time, Impact left WWE in 2011, Omega was well on his way to making a name for himself, having worked for Dramatic Dream Team, All Japan Pro Wrestling and his future home, New Japan Pro Wrestling.
The next few years saw Omega become more and more entrenched in the Japanese scene while Impact committed to the art of lucha libre beginning to work for Lucha Underground and Lucha Libre AAA. From there, Impact took the independent route that led him to Major League Wrestling and IMPACT Wrestling among others, and Omega became a bonafide star in Japan as the “Best Bout Machine.” Impact never wrestled for ROH, the one company outside of NJPW that Omega wrestles a good deal in, and the two never met in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (Impact was in the 2016 Battle of Los Angeles, Omega wrestled there in 2015 and 2017).
Johnny Impact and Kenny Omega are two of the best wrestlers in the world, one trained in the art of lucha libre, the other in the Japanese puroresu. They have never faced each other. They’ve never teamed with each other. They’ve never shared a ring. But if Impact gets his request, they will on the Cruise of Jericho. Whether its in a singles match or a giant Bullet Club vs IMPACT Wrestling tag team match (as Impact did put out a call to any of his roster mates to join him), Johnny Impact and Kenny Omega will finally meet, and its well overdue.
