Tag: ed nordholm

Abyss, Sonjay Dutt depart Impact, headed to WWE

Posted on by Bryan Rose

This story was updated at 7 AM Eastern.

Two more names are out of Impact Wrestling.

Ed Nordholm, President of Impact Wrestling, released a statement to Wrestling Inc. confirming that Abyss and Sonjay Dutt, who are currently working as producers and occasional talent have been released, with Konnan and Tommy Dreamer being added to Impact’s creative team in their place.

“We reached an amicable agreement with Sonjay and Abyss to allow them to pursue this opportunity,” the statement says. “They have been tremendous contributors to IMPACT Wrestling and we wish them every success. We are thrilled that Konnan and Tommy Dreamer have agreed to bring their 50+ years of experience to our core creative team.”

PWInsider first reported the story this afternoon. In this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer said both men are headed to WWE to likely work in backstage roles for NXT.

“Dutt was under contract through September but he had the chance to go to WWE as they are looking to expand backstage people for NXT. Dutt, Jimmy Long (who WWE already hired) and Park were three of Jeremy Borash’s best friends when he was in Impact and that probably ties that all in,” he wrote.

Abyss has been with the company since 2002, appearing on the very first NWA-TNA show under the name Justice. He was inducted into Impact’s Hall of Fame last year during Bound for Glory weekend.

Dutt has also been associated with the company for years, first starting in 2003. He most recently returned in 2017 when Jeff Jarrett regained power, joining the promotion as a producer.

Anthem’s Ed Nordholm on streaming service plans, commitment to GFW

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Impact Wrestling’s Global Wrestling Network, an attempt to be positioned as the alternate brand to the WWE Network, will be launched next week with 850 to 900 hours of content and a $7.99 monthly price point, according to Ed Nordholm, the Executive Vice President of Anthem Sports and Entertainment.

Nordholm appeared on Wrestling Observer Radio Friday and spoke of the company’s future, saying the goal is to break even and eventually make money, but they knew full well when they purchased the company that wasn’t going to happen overnight.

“We’re invested in this company. We’re growing it. We know it’s not going to turn around tomorrow.”

The key news revolved around the announcement of the streaming service. The service will have both a free and a pay tier. There will be a one-month free trial period for everyone who signs up.

For those in North America, the free tier would include episodes of Impact Wrestling released ten days after they air on Pop TV. Of the company’s approximately 3,000 hours of tape in its library, about 850 to 900 of those hours will be part of the archives in the pay tier.

He also noted the goal is not for this to be just the GFW or Impact streaming service, but the alternative streaming service.

“We do expect in the very near future to be bringing in our partners as well,” Nordholm said. It’s not branded an Impact app. We want it to be a generic place for AAA, NOAH, if we can persuade New Japan or anybody. We’ll have a plan, an efficient place for an aggregation of wrestling content that isn’t related to WWE.”

“Most of the product will be in the pay tier. It’s hard to make the business work in the digital world off an ad-based product. There will be stuff available on the free tier, but you’ll have to go to the pay tier for the archives.”

Regarding The Crash, the company’s other partner, which has been running strong sold out shows in Tijuana, he said, “Not sure if Crash has that ability (to provide live show content), but if they had that ability to provide the content, we’d be looking for something to be on the app.”

As far as selling the library to WWE, that makes no economic sense at this point.

“I know full well how the WWE Network would monetize the content and what they could pay for the library,” he said. “It makes no sense for me to sell it for that kind of price. I’d rather keep it, put it up on the app, and monetize it myself.”

For subscribers, the full show with Nordholm is available to listen to below:

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Impact’s Ed Nordholm: WWE has ‘no interest’ in Broken Hardys gimmick

Posted on by Joseph Currier

The legal situation surrounding the ownership of the “Broken Hardys” characters inevitably came up when Ed Nordholm (president of Impact Wrestling and Executive VP of Anthem Sports & Entertainment) sat down with John Pollock for an interview that aired on this week’s episode of Live Audio Wrestling.

Just as inevitably, Nordholm spoke definitively about the characters belonging to Impact Wrestling.

“I think it’s unquestionable that the ownership of the characters in the storyline resides in Impact Wrestling,” Nordholm said. “I don’t think even the Hardys would dispute that. They’ve all signed contracts. Their contracts are standard contracts. Not only in the wrestling industry, but in the entertainment industry, generally, the producer of the show owns the content and it doesn’t really matter who in the creative team came up with the idea of what the character should be.”

“The person that owns the storyline and the character is the person who invested to take that idea and put it on TV. That’s what we did. Impact put those characters on TV, and the contracts with those people are indisputably contracts that provide their IP to Impact.”

It didn’t take long for Reby Hardy to respond to Nordholm’s comments after the interview had gained attention. She wrote on Twitter that Nordholm was: “Taking advantage that fans do not know details of contracts, which were NOT ‘standard entertainment contracts’ & not drafted under Anthem.”

Nordholm also had interesting comments regarding whether WWE is even interested in the “Broken Hardys” gimmick. He claimed that he’d be open to speaking with The Hardys and that they’ve been offered the opportunity to find an arrangement that would work for both parties, but said that he doesn’t believe WWE is interested in their “Broken” characters.

“As far as I know, the WWE doesn’t want the gimmick, and indeed, from every conversation I’ve had with them, I’ve been told they have no interest in it,” Nordholm said.

Reby Hardy responded to that as well: “Only thing apparent here is the level of desperation from a person of his position doing a phone podcast re: intentions of a billion $+ co.”

Below is the video clip where Nordholm discusses the legal situation: