Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows confirmed the news that the two have signed with Impact Wrestling and will be appearing at Slammiversary.
The announcement was made at the beginning of their Talk ‘N Shop Podcast with a scene shot inside an Impact ring. They promoted their appearance for tonight on the pay-per-view.
Later in the show, they noted it was a two year deal with Impact and indicated they would be going back to New Japan with Impact working around those dates.
On their live podcast, they also announced “Talk’n’ Shop A-Mania” for Saturday, August 1st with Anderson, Gallows, Rocky Romero, Chavo Guerrero, Willie Mack, Heath Slater, Rhino, Johnny Swinger, Mike Bennett, Maria Kanellis, and Ricky Morton among those featured on the poster.
I encourage anyone to check out the full interview. There’s some really interesting stuff about Paul Heyman, Triple H, issues with AEW, etc. It’s really awesome and KA/Gallows are a blast (Satin, not so much).
Two things stuck out to me from the Anderson & Gallows pod - let me adjust my tin foil hat:
I wonder if Heyman saying to go on social media and call him a liar and say he couldn’t be trusted is because he knew he would try to do things with talent and then later Vince would over-rule him and he wanted people to know he was in that position. Hey call me a liar, I am lying but it’s not my fault because everyone knows VKM makes the final call
Really odd for Paul Heyman to be counting VKMs money and feel Anderson & Gallows were overpaid for their roles. That would only make sense if Vince wanted to use those guys more to justify the money and Heyman didn’t see them in that featured position because he wanted to run Raw his way. Then that comment makes sense. So again, that comes from Vince - use em or I’ll cut em feels more in line with reality than Vince listening to Heyman on who to cut.
I thought that was weird, too. I do think they acknowledged that in the podcast. They knew at the end of the day Vince could have really went to bat and saved them. Maybe Paul brought their name to the table because they make so much and he had no intention to use them. Could’ve nudged Vince in that direction. Given Paul’s history though, I don’t discredit how they perceive it went down
Heyman was gone shortly after all this anyway. I think another guy who comes off very badly is HHH, who begged and pleaded them to stay (even talking about Anderson’s kids).
It’s more proof that HHH has zero power when it comes to the main roster. He can go play in his little sandbox on Wednesday’s and do whatever he likes but anything outside of that he is powerless.
Oh, I thought Triple H sounded terrible. So, so manipulative. He teamed with them in Japan, got that moment of vulnerability, and then insisted Karl Anderson do what’s best for his family’s future. Very carny.
Triple H’s role is weird. He clearly has power to negotiate these contracts, but no authority beyond NXT in their booking. And I get it’s his job to retain the talent to an extent. But at the end of the day, to me, even signing them in the first place was to appease AJ. There was never a plan and never a focus on tag team wrestling. Not sure why he wouldn’t just shoot straight versus false promises for a division that’ll never succeed under Vince.
It was basically a case of WWE being scared of anyone leaving for AEW therefore made large offers to talent but once all this kicked in, they were expendable. Now they have burned the bridges with AEW.
The biggest question is when WWE want someone like Cesaro (For example) to re-sign with the company, do they believe them because the deal is only good until the WWE want to invoke the 90 day no-compete clause.
Surely the talent are getting wise to the sudden push when they are reaching the end of the contract and how easily the contracts are terminated.
Maria Kanellis said in a recent interview that Triple H offered her and Mike the exact same argument (“Think about your kids”) when it came to contract negotiations. So it seems like a WWE strategy to keep talents from signing with other promotions.
That’s so gross. And how stupid does HHH look as a result. The more you hear about the guy, the less confidence everyone should have if/when he ever takes over the company
I dont blame Hunter, its on Vince IMO. As a person who is a #2 at a company, I can personally attest to how frustrating it can be when the owner makes a decision which may go against something you said. At the end of the day the buck stops with Vince.
The buck stops with Vince when it comes to hiring and firing. It’s still very carny and in poor taste for HHH to play this family angle to talent. I get the company was afraid to lose anybody. But you’d think Triple H would have more awareness than Vince. The tag division is fruitless. Just be straight with the guys. Stay or don’t, here’s the money. There’s more security in WWE, but there may be more creative freedom elsewhere. I wouldn’t say he do that to everyone. But Gallows and Anderson? They’ve never had plans for, I’d just shoot straight and not manipulate them with this family argument
While I still ultimately blame Vince, I see where you are coming from here, this is a fair statement.
As far as playing the family card, for me it depends on where it came from. If HHH said it with 100% pure intentions, those intentions being that HHH truly thought that by signing this contract they would in fact make enough money to support their families for the rest of their lives and that this was truly the right decision, it doesn’t bother me. If he said it as a manipulative tactic, full well knowing that they could very well be released, that’s a different story.
My point was in that, based on the product Triple H produces, it seems to indicate he’s more in touch with the 2020 wrestling landscape than Vince. I think anyone could agree that’s more than obvious.
Triple H is aware how things run on the main roster. The guy isn’t dumb (not saying you said that). I think it’s clear Gallows/Anderson were signings to appease AJ. The tag division means nothing on Raw/SD. Hasn’t in 20 years, likely never will until Vince is gone.
As for the actual firing? At the end of the day it’s all Vince. Gallows/Anderson aren’t full absolved either, because at the end of the day, they’re adults who made their decision for their own personal reasons. Which they acknowledge and regret
My point with Triple H is he comes off as a snake oil salesman. I’m sure he’s genuine in some ways. I’m sure he believes WWE is the place to be. But, he’s trying to close a sale first and foremost - it’s his job. I understand recruiting and retaining talent. If things went how TGB said it did though, I think it was wrong of Triple H to use the angle of “think of your family, you need us.” That doesn’t sit with me. WWE always tries to come off as being one big family…and we see how that turned out.
You’re right isn’t that we can speculate. But to me, the right thing to have done was to tell TGB that this is a big money offer, but they won’t have creative control. It seems they over promised, buttered them up with the Japan match, and The subsequent contract offer. That’s all part of the process for Triple H. Just comes off really slimey to me. That’s all . We don’t know everything, but i think there’s a better way to handle things
Full disclosure, I haven’t listened to the entire interview yet. They were under the impression they would have creative control? Was that in the contract?
I have zero sympathy with anyone who chooses to sign a 90-day contract with WWE. They know what kind of company they are dealing with so they are either naive or stupid to be surprised at what happened. That’s the chance you take when you sell your soul to the devil.
To be fair, I dont think they are asking for your sympathy. I agree that they are grown men/women who have a right to sign anywhere they want, and at the end of the day when you sign a contract you should be aware of exactly what you are signing. With that said, I dont judge anyone for signing with WWE or anywhere else. These wrestlers have their reasons, and its quite frankly none of our business.
On a side note, I do run a business and its my job to go over contracts with people. When I’m done I always say “do you have any questions?” “do you want some time to go over it?” “do you want to take it home?” or “are you ready to sign?” I would say that 90% of the time they just sign. With that said, I dont have anything hidden in my contracts, and I’m not looking to screw anyone over, but its the point that they dont even read them.
Sucks that WWE fired them, at the same time I still dont know if it was a bad move on their parts. Weren’t their contracts 500K/year? If so, if you include their 90 days, they still made a quarter of a million dollars each for 3 or 4 months worth of work. I’m not sure what they turned down from AEW, but you could still probably argue they made out financially by signing with WWE.
Not that the above absolves WWE of anything, I’m talking purely from Gallows/Anderson’s perspective.
It was a terrible move on their part. They could have been a big part of the first ever Dynamite with their friends and are now stuck in Impact.
Like John mentioned, it all comes down to these BS contracts. When people want out they are called whiners and not allowed to leave. But the second the company wants to cut people during a pandemic it’s all of a sudden easy to let go of people.
They should honour contracts either way but WWE is a slimy company