Karl Anderson Says He And Luke Gallows Are Going To Convince AJ Styles To Return To Impact
Freshly signed Impact talent, "The Good Brothers" Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows, recently had a discussion with Sportskeeda about their future in Impact Wrestling.
The duo believes that revealing their Impact contracts the night before they debuted at Slammiversary was the proper way to generate buzz for the event. In these unprecedented times with an ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, Karl thinks that their approach was a new way to get people interested.
"I think in this environment, I thought it made it more fun to announce it ahead of time," Karl explained. "I would say, if this was in front of a live crowd, it may be there are ways to have a surprise, and you get that reaction from the surprise that maybe you could have held off. But I think in this Covid-19 environment, and with there not being a crowd, I think us announcing that we were coming to IMPACT actually got a lot more eyes on the pay-per-view, and that's what made it so cool."
Gallows revealed that the collective talent that has signed with Impact, including EC3, Brian Myers, Eric Young, and Heath Slater, were all in communication with one another as they transitioned to the new company. He thinks "The Good Brothers" were a big help to the talent that hadn't been on the independent circuit before.
"Well, yeah, we were all talking [because] we're all friends," Gallows explained. "We were all talking leading up into this, and I think it came off beautifully. Like you said, EC3, EY, Brian Myers, Heath – it came off great. But yeah, we were talking a lot. Karl and I have had success outside of WWE, so a lot of times, people come to us to ask. Especially someone like Heath who was in that system for 14 years. They don't necessarily know what it's like outside, so we don't mind helping our brothers along when they need it. But I think we were a huge part of that."
Anderson is personally excited for the opportunities both Heath Slater and Brian Myers now have to showcase their abilities away from WWE. He notes that this is a great time to be an Impact fan because the product is going to be enhanced.
"Gallows said this earlier that Heath – what Heath can do when he comes back and just being able to stand out, show what he can physically do, is going to be awesome," Karl said. "And Brian Myers – people really haven't gotten a chance to see what Brian Myers can do. He's a talented brother. And of course, EC3 has had a main event run in IMPACT before, and then Eric Young was obviously the World Champion. There are so many things that got picked up at Slammiversary and the TV after, and it's an exciting time for impact."
Although they're currently in a different promotion than their former O.C. member, AJ Styles, Anderson notes how that is not their intention for long. He says that with Gallows by his side, he plans to convince AJ Styles to come back to Impact at some point.
"Ultimately, we're going to talk AJ Styles into coming back to IMPACT. That's what we're doing every single day. We're texting him and telling him to come back," said Anderson.
Gallows also made it clear that they're looking for a potential manager in the future. He lists Scott Steiner and Hulk Hogan as two candidates for the job. He also notes that Finn Balor, who is currently involved with WWE's NXT brand, would be a great addition to the Impact roster.
"Oh yeah, I want 'Big Poppa Pump' Scott Steiner to be one of our managers. I want Kevin Nash in the picture," Gallows said. "Hulk Hogan recently called us 'the greatest tag team to ever do it', so I want him to be one of our managers. I'd like to recruit Finn Balor and AJ Styles to Impact. The list goes on and on."