With the upheaval happening at WWE, and AEW setting themselves up to be the most formidable competition in the business (a competition WWE now seems ready to embrace), it’s easy to forget that Impact Wrestling is still out there, doing its thing and facing its own struggles. “All Ego” Ethan Page, one of the company’s current stars, recently offered his perspective on how things are going there.
During an appearance on the 411 Interview Podcast, Page said that the mood backstage at Impact is really positive right now, and he feels great about it himself:
Personally, I’m enjoying it. I would say the locker room is the best it’s been in a very long time, and the morale in the locker room is a lot better than it’s being portrayed on the internet. I think people are excited to show up to work because of the people they get to work with, so I’m happy that I’m there.
Despite the talent on the current Impact Roster, they’ve been having problems with their current TV Network, the Pursuit Channel. During one episode in May, Pursuit simply never returned from their final commercial break, leaving the last segment of the show unseen. On another night, Pursuit showed the wrong episode of Impact all the way through. If Pursuit isn’t well run, it’s also not well known or much-watched. A lot of people didn’t get the channel to start with, and it’s since been dropped by AT&T Uverse, and DirecTV has dropped it from their HD lineup, as reported by 411Mania.
As Ethan Page points out, any problems with Pursuit can be avoided by watching the show on Twitch instead:
If there is issues with Pursuit, just throw the Twitch app on on your smart TV, or just go to Twitch.TV/ImpactWrestling and it airs the exact same time. And then the commercials aren’t even even there, I think most of the time you get Melissa Santos chatting with you in the chat. Check it out. I can’t really defend or trash a TV station. I don’t know what they’re doing, right or wrong. But all I know is it works every week right on Twitch, and if you want to see the show there is an option.
There have also been rumors that a better TV deal is coming for Impact, which Ethan seems to know something about, but he’s not telling:
I have heard that there is going to be a new TV station. I do not know what the station is, or if I do I’m not allowed to tell you. I would say it’s better than what’s going on right now. I can guarantee that.
Page acknowledges that Impact is in a rebuilding phase right now, but points out that this happens to every company:
Yeah, but I feel like that happens to a lot of companies in any sort of business. There’s gonna be like ebbs and flows, ups and downs and it’s just how you handle it that really matters the most. Stuff like this literally happens to everybody, so I think as long as the roster stays as good as it is now, and continues to improve … all it’s going to take is getting the right set of eyes to watch the show. Because the product is there, it’s just getting the exposure I think it deserves.
Hopefully Impact does get that better TV deal, if only so those of us without Pursuit access can see All Ego Ethan Page wrestle on TV again.
