{"id":14999,"date":"2018-03-03T12:43:00","date_gmt":"2018-03-03T17:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=14999"},"modified":"2018-03-03T13:48:47","modified_gmt":"2018-03-03T18:48:47","slug":"sami-callihan-responds-backlash-eddie-edwards-bat-incident","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2018\/03\/03\/sami-callihan-responds-backlash-eddie-edwards-bat-incident\/","title":{"rendered":"Sami Callihan Responds To Backlash Over Eddie Edwards Bat Incident"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This past Thursday, <strong>Impact Wrestling<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprowrestling.com\/2018\/03\/02\/impact-wrestling-scores-4th-highest-tv-rating-since-2016\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">drew one of it&#8217;s highest rating in years<\/a> with a show that main evented with a gruesome and brutal match up between <strong>OvE<\/strong>&#8216;s <strong>Sami Callihan<\/strong> and <strong>Eddie Edwards<\/strong>. While the match itself was hard hitting and fast paced, it was the ending that had the internet world a-buzz, when Callihan seemingly struck Edwards in the face with a baseball bat, that resulted in major blood loss and a trip to the hospital.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This is sick. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheSamiCallihan?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@TheSamiCallihan<\/a> RUTHLESSLY smashes <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheEddieEdwards?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@TheEddieEdwards<\/a> with a baseball bat and it violently ricochet&#39;s right into Edwards&#39; face. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/IMPACTonPop?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#IMPACTonPop<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/fKtCAjiN7F\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/fKtCAjiN7F<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; TNA Wrestling (@ThisIsTNA) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ThisIsTNA\/status\/969407016983769088?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 2, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This is exclusive behind the scenes footage of <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheEddieEdwards?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@TheEddieEdwards<\/a> moments after <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheSamiCallihan?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@TheSamiCallihan<\/a> brutally struck him in the face with a baseball bat. It includes alternate angles of the incident that weren&#39;t seen last night and is tough to watch. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/RdxAWM6DMG\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/RdxAWM6DMG<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; TNA Wrestling (@ThisIsTNA) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ThisIsTNA\/status\/969670391705866243?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 2, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>For die hard fans, this segment was old news, as it was heavily reported on when it happened back in mid-January when it was originally filmed. Eddie Edwards even reported in the next day that everything was okay and it was just a &#8220;couple broken bones&#8221;. Edwards hasn&#8217;t wrestled since the incident.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Thanks to everyone checkin in. Im good, couple broken bones couple cuts and a sweet black eye. Somedays youre the bat, somedays youre my eye<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Edward Edwards (@TheEddieEdwards) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheEddieEdwards\/status\/952596782478974976?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">January 14, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Following the airing of the episode, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tmz.com\/2018\/03\/02\/impact-wrestling-bat-to-face-eddie-edwards\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>TMZ<\/strong> followed up on the event<\/a> the following Friday morning, including interviewing Eddie Edwards himself on the incident.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Eddie Edwards: &quot;Here&#039;s What Happened!!!&#039; | TMZ Sports\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Yk6zH0wOZ9k?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>While many within the internet wrestling fan community and industry had heard of the matches horrific ending, for most, Thursday night was the first time they saw the encounter. Many wrestling personalities to quick to criticize Callihan for the spot, including Jim Cornette and an equally fired up Kassius Ohno (formerly Chris Hero).<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">OK, I just saw this for the first time&#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheEddieEdwards?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@TheEddieEdwards<\/a> should have beat the shit out of this stupid fuck&#8211;he set it up shoddy, was careless with his shitty swing &amp; they shouldn&#39;t have been doing it to begin with. Who the fuck &quot;trained&quot; <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheSamiCallihan?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@TheSamiCallihan<\/a> ? I&#39;m fucking hot. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/lpTIqxca29\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/lpTIqxca29<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Jim Cornette (@TheJimCornette) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheJimCornette\/status\/969693791828496387?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 2, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This hurts Jimmy&#8230;. I\u2019ll just keep watching my bank account go up. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/EAY7JVKSKG\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/EAY7JVKSKG<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Sami Callihan (@TheSamiCallihan) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheSamiCallihan\/status\/969696035864899584?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 2, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">You&#39;ll need a microscope.  Shame when untrained garbage wrestlers injure talent through clumsiness&#8211;most careless thing I&#39;ve seen in years, you should have been fired. This is what happens when a company can&#39;t afford real talent. Also fuck you. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/p3pUdq6fNf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/p3pUdq6fNf<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Jim Cornette (@TheJimCornette) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheJimCornette\/status\/969971037810184199?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 3, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Really? Really? There is ZERO correlation between how much money you make &amp; what happened in that ring. You should be embarrassed. ASHAMED.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Chris Hero (Is Back) (@ChrisHero) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ChrisHero\/status\/969799471650492416?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 3, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>With the wrestling community (both performers and fans) worked up and somewhat divided, Sami Callihan appeared in a video for TMZ today to address the situation, apparently sent by Impact Wrestling management to apologize for his actions. What happened next, was another promo from Callihan.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Sami Callihan Fires Back At Critics After Stunt Gone Bad | TMZ Sports\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Njn_130b1Ew?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Reports state that privately Callihan and Edwards have made piece over the incident since it occurred, but as far as TV goes &#8211; Impact or TMZ alike &#8211; it seems that kayfabe is still very much alive. For those watching at home, Edwards&#8217; ally of late, former Impact World Champion <strong>Bobby Lashley<\/strong>, was scheduled to team with Edwards next week for the special <em><strong>Cross Roads\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>event against Callihan&#8217;s brethren in OvE, <strong>Dave &amp; Jake Crist<\/strong>, but Impact is holding out on whether the match will still take place.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheEddieEdwards?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@TheEddieEdwards<\/a> was meant to team with <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/fightbobby?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@fightbobby<\/a> to take on oVe next week at Crossroads but after the brutal attack by <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheSamiCallihan?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@TheSamiCallihan<\/a> tonight that match is in doubt. More as we have it. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/IMPACTonPop?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#IMPACTonPop<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/fNYJlccaen\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/fNYJlccaen<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; TNA Wrestling (@ThisIsTNA) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ThisIsTNA\/status\/969408200943554561?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 2, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This past Thursday, Impact Wrestling drew one of it&#8217;s highest rating in years with a show that main evented with a gruesome and brutal match up between OvE&#8216;s Sami Callihan and Eddie Edwards. While the match itself was hard hitting and fast paced, it was the ending that had the internet world a-buzz, when Callihan [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":649,"featured_media":15010,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,6],"tags":[284,249,226,113,488],"class_list":["post-14999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-impact","category-north-america","tag-chris-hero","tag-eddie-edwards","tag-impact-wrestling","tag-jim-cornette","tag-sami-callihan"],"modified_by":"Jamie Greer","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/649"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14999\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}