Brian Cage Praises Michael Elgin, Talks If Impact Should Work With AEW, WWE 24/7 Title
Brian Cage won his first Impact World Title at Rebellion although his win was overshadowed a bit by the debut of Michael Elgin. The two know each other quite well and Elgin congratulated Cage on his win by delivering a powerbomb to the already-injured champion.
Cage spoke to Wrestling Inc. on our WINCLY podcast about Elgin and how he feels about him inserting himself in the main event picture.
"I know Elgin very well as we used to be tag partners and tag champions in PWG," revealed Elgin. "First and foremost, I'll say that I'm glad Elgin is in Impact as he's a phenomenal talent. He brings a lot to an already-stacked roster, especially the heavyweight division.
"I think he lucked out by the fact that I was hurt and he was able to come out and do that. Now he's able to do his thing and I hope to be back for Slammiversay and put on the performance that I wanted to put on at Rebellion, and I expect it to be against Elgin.
"So, that's the game plan and I hope he's ready."
The World Title match at Rebellion was the penultimate match of the night as a Full Metal Mayhem match closed the show. Elgin talked about the title match not being the show closer.
"I didn't mind at all because I knew what we were doing and the type of match we were gonna have. It was easier for them to follow us than us following them as they had to clean up the ring," Cage said of the hardcore-style match. "Hindsight, with what happened with my injury, I'm even more thankful that they got to close the show instead of us."
Cage was then asked about the possibility of Impact working with other promotions such as AEW to co-produce shows or content.
"Obviously, yeah. Essentially, everyone in the pro wrestling business is in the business together. We're all trying to make money and WWE is obviously the global conglomerate and has the stronghold on everything. I feel like everyone who's competing against each other and them, if everyone would work together, we would present way more possibilities as far as matches and storylines," said Cage.
"I would love to see more partnerships going down whether it be with Impact and AEW or Impact and ROH."
Cage also talked about how he'd like to see a talent swap where Impact brings in talents like The Briscoes for a short period of time and perhaps someone like Willie Mack and Rich Swann then get to work for ROH.
Another hot topic in the wrestling industry is the new 24/7 Championship in WWE that is very similar to the old Hardcore Championship. Cage was asked about his opinions on that and if its presence is needed.
"It was really cool when they had it originally back in the Attitude Era," stated Cage. "But honestly, no. I think it's cool as a niche or short-term gimmick, but I don't think they need to bring that back.
It over saturates that market too than it already is as far as the hardcore and extreme stuff."
Cage will defend the Impact World Championship at Slammiversary on July 7th at Gilley's Dallas in Dallas, Texas. His full interview with Wrestling Inc was included in a recent episode of our WINCLY podcast. It can be heard via the embedded player at the bottom of this post. In it Cage discusses the frustration he feels being Impact Champion while injured, Michael Elgin joining Impact Wrestling, his Impact title win not closing Rebellion, who he wants to face at Slammiversary, WWE's 24/7 Championship and more.
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