Want more wrestling news, rumors, and results? Be sure to visit PWInsider.com and PWInsiderXtra.com.
PWInsider.com interviewed Josh Alexander yesterday about a myriad of topics related to TNA and when asked about his contract being extended and the belief online by some he was being "held hostage" by the company, Alexander commented:
"First and foremost, when I started out in this business 18 years ago, all up until 14, 14 years then when I signed my contract, I was never a Scott D'Amore guy. There's a lot of people in Canada, Canadian wrestling that are Scott D'Amore guys. I never broke through that veil or whatever it was to become a Scott D'Amore guy. Our relationship was something that grew over working together in Impact over the past, five years and I'm very fortunate for that. I value everything I've learned from Scott as a coach, the mentor, as my boss and stuff like that for the past five years, I couldn't imagine, working for a better boss, which is, the tough thing to say when this business, gives you a kick in the teeth and, things get changed around and moved around, but, that's business at the end of the day. I never...I never in my wildest dreams thought I would work for Scott D'Amore my entire career. It would have been cool, the realism of the fact that this is a business at the end of the day, and I, might never always work for TNA or Impact is just a reality of it.
As for the contract and stuff like that, I didn't even know. My contract was coming up until all this stuff happened and I actually read it over and looked at it again because it's been two plus years since I signed the thing and it actually, it expired on Valentine's Day and they had 10 days to pick up the option and I signed that contract. I see all the tweets and stuff like that of people saying I've held hostage and stuff and just to dispel that narrative, like I signed that contract two years ago. I knew there was a third year option. Sure, it would have been better for me if they didn't pick it up. I'm sure, so I could renegotiate something new and probably, for more money and for a longer term or I could go out and free agency and see what I could get elsewhere.
But yeah, at the end of the day of all things in this business, I want to remain and be a professional up first and foremost, and that's very important to me and, I signed that contract and I'm not being held hostage. I'm here, for at least another year unless something, is negotiated before then for me to stay for a longer term and stuff like that, which is, Anthem Management has said that is an option and stuff that we're going to discuss in the future, but for right now, it's business as usual.
I'm going out there every single time, like I said, with No Surrender, trying to give the crowd something different, something good, every single time I get in the ring, 100%."
What he says to fans upset or worried about recent changes:
"I think it all falls...there's several aspects and departments and all these different people that make the show run and happen. Other than President Scott D'Amore being terminated and stuff like that and being replaced with new management and a new vision and all this stuff, at the end of the day, it comes down to who's getting in that ring. We're the ones that are giving the people what they paid to see, and for the most part, man I can't say any of that's changed from No Surrender, Bayou Blast, these past weekend, having three weeks between the announcement and then shows just left a lot of time for people to be twiddling their thumbs, making phone calls, assuming the worst, from the locker room all the way to the fans, and I think it served a really good message to everybody, both the locker room and the world and every fan of TNA and, everybody that might not be a fan of TNA, but especially the worst that once we do get in that ring, once we do put on shows, it's going to be much of the same and our locker room, like I've always said, we are a collective group of people with a chip on our shoulder that want to go out and show the world Impact Wrestling, TNA has always been what I've called the land of opportunity. If you never got an opportunity elsewhere, you're going to come here, and I guarantee you're going to get one, and it's up to you to make the best of it, and that has served me very well over the past five years, and I think there's a lot of people in that locker room that share the same sentiment that, once they get their opportunities, they're going to make the best of them, so we're going to continue to go out and just, do what we do best, work hard, try to put on the very best show possible. I think our PLEs especially stand up against anything in the pro wrestling world whether you're a WWE fan, an AEW fan, a New Japan fan, from bell to bell, from the first match all the way to the main event we're putting on, an amazing in ring product and that's not going to change."
Mustafa Ali and others coming into the company:
"The one thing that stood out to me, especially this weekend that I didn't realize was once Mustafa Ali won the exhibition championship. He got on the microphone for the house afterwards and said, this is his first major championship in nearly 20 years of pro wrestling, which was mind blowing to me, but I guess it's a fact if you said it I haven't fact checked it, got on Wikipedia or Googled it, but if that's the case, man, like that is the perfect. Way to just sum it up that this is the land of opportunity. Mustafa Ali has been, a highlight wrestler throughout the business for these past few years. Now he, going from the hottest free agent to somebody that is in TNA and for the foreseeable future, here to stay.
He's going to make the best of these opportunities we have. He went out with Chris Sabin at No Surrender and had one of the best X-Division matches I've seen in a very long time. Chris Sabin, obviously, for, I can't skip over him and saying this, that he's one of the most underrated wrestlers in the history of this business, man, 20 years straight here in TNA, Ring of Honor, other companies in Japan, just going out there and having some of the best matches of all time and still in his prime to this day, 20 years later, blows my mind, but I'm itching, chomping at the bit, whatever you want to say to get in the ring with somebody like Mustafa Ali, to get in the ring with somebody like Nick Nemeth, because these guys come from other companies and they have all this fanfare, they have this huge following and stuff like that, much like the Good Brothers and anybody else that has come in before. The second they step foot in the ring with somebody like me, or Eddie Edwards, or anybody else in this company, we show that we're on that same level and all these fans that might be tuning in to see them, see us, and they're just like, man, this TNA thing, people can go people are really good, and stuff like that. It just helps get more eyes on the entire brand, and, the wrestlers collectively as well. "
What he'd like to see Anthem do to improve TNA's footprint:
"For me personally, it doesn't depend on, bringing in outside talent, getting more eyes in the company. I think that we have an amazing core group and locker room and stuff like that. There's guys out there that I think might be lesser known, up and coming young wrestlers that I think I would like to see brought in so that, we can build new stars and stuff. There's some super talented people that still are not under contract with WWE, AEW and all these other companies, But I think. deserve an opportunity. So I would like to see that happen. I think it just all boils down to getting on a mainstream network, somewhere where people can consistently watch us. And it's more accessible for the viewer because the shows aren't the problem. I really don't think that I haven't thought that for years.
I think we've, through you. Scott D'Amore's vision through the first five years of this company. The thing I could agree with most is that we were doing this slow build. We weren't trying to rush anything like, TNA might have in the past and we built this locker room that is so dependable, so consistent that just, whenever we get more eyes on this company, I think that it's just the sky's the limit at that point. So I think we're ready for that. I think it's going to slow build to this point. But now that, something like that might materialize, I think the second it does, I think TNA is that's the next step to get, even bigger than it has ever been. "
If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!
Bang On Casino
