Konnan On What Impact Wrestling Needs To Grow, AEW Rumors, Creating New Gimmick Matches
As previously noted pro wrestling veteran Konnan spoke with Wrestling Inc.'s own Nick Hausman on the WINCLY podcast. Among many other interesting things, Konnan talked about his planned comeback tour, the Concrete Jungle match between LAX and The OGz at Impact Wrestling's Bound For Glory pay-per-view, Impact needing a better television deal, and rumors surrounding All Elite Wrestling.
On the subject of Konnan's upcoming comeback tour, the lucha legend indicated that he will be in good shape for the comeback tour by next summer. According to 'K-Dawg', he never had the opportunity to exit the pro wrestling business as a performer on his own terms and would like the opportunity now that he is healthier.
"Well, I had already told everybody that I was going to do a comeback next year. I'll probably be in good, good shape by the summer of next year. I still haven't gotten into weight-training. Now I'm just working on my conditioning, so I was going to do a comeback tour next year anyways. And isn't so much? there is an itch, but it was also more like I feel like I just want to say, 'goodbye' to the fans as a [pro] wrestler, as an active wrestler. I just want to be able to say, 'goodbye' on my terms because 10 years ago, I had to have hip surgery. I had a hip replacement and when they went in to do my hip replacement, my kidneys were damaged, so I had to get a kidney replacement, a kidney transplant, and a hip replacement. And, bro, I was in really bad health and I hadn't wrestled in 10 years. So all-of-a-sudden, I retired because I was hurt or disabled and everybody's like, 'well, what happened?' So I just want to kind of like go out on my own [terms] and be able to say, 'goodbye' to everybody one last time."
With respect to the brutal Concrete Jungle match between LAX and The OGz, Konnan divulged that he was going to deliver his signature rolling clothesline in the match until he saw how dangerous the ring became.
"Well, when I was watching it on the monitor, I kept thinking, 'oh s–t, I hope nobody gets hurt in the ring and falls through a hole or something like that, some s–t like that.' I wasn't thinking much about the fans because I didn't think the boards would fly into the crowd, but I kept thinking to myself, 'wow, this looks dangerous because it is right now and that adds an extra element, so if nobody gets hurt, this is really going to come across good.' And originally, I had told Sonjay Dutt that I was going to do my old rolling clothesline, which I knew would have gotten a humongous pop, but once I got out there, and I had seen how the boards were going, and how hard it actually was, I said, 'f–k that.'" Konnan added, "it worked in our favor – a lot of things could've gone wrong."
In Konnan's view, creating new gimmick matches is difficult.
"It's like horror movies, how many different ways can you scare people anymore? Everything has kind of been seen. So much has already been seen and done that it's very hard to come up with new stuff. Not that it can't be done, but it's hard, so you're always kind of doing a variation of a theme." Konnan noted, "it's very hard to come up with something new, that's original. I give [Impact] props for that [Concrete Jungle match concept]."
Also during the interview, Konnan acknowledged that Impact needs a "better" TV home to really make strides in the right direction.
"Well, I think that Impact has a great product right now. Not because I work there because if you've ever heard some of my past interviews, I'm not afraid to bury s–t even if I'm still in the company if it isn't any good." Konnan said, "there's great talent. There [are] great storylines. That cannot be argued. I think we need a couple of people on the show that move the needle, but bigger than that, way bigger than that, we need to be on a better network. And I think once Impact gets on a better network, the sky's the limit. It really is because you're giving people some really good TV."
According to Konnan, there seems to be some credence to the rumors that The Khan Family will work with Cody [Rhodes] and The Young Bucks in some form of pro wrestling venture.
"As far as ALL IN, like they say in English 'where there's smoke there's fire' and like they say in Spanish, 'where there's water, there's probably a river nearby.' The bottom line is there are too many things that are happening that point to something happening because I don't think they would've gone out there and trademarked, what was it, ALL OUT, right?" Konnan continued, "so [Tony Kahn] [has] got the money. He [has] the stars to do it with because, let's face it – we've already seen what they did with ALL IN, so imagine these guys, [Kenny] Omega, all these guys involved, you know who they are, with TV, I mean, I think something's going to happen."
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Source: Wrestling Inc.