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Sonjay Dutt and Abyss have left Impact Wrestling. Impact talent were informed of the departure yesterday in an email, PWTorch has learned.
According to PWInsider, the belief is that Dutt and Abyss are both headed to WWE in some capacity.
Dutt was a member of the Impact creative team, working alongside Jimmy Jacobs as well as Don Callis and Scott D’Amore. According to reports, and confirmed by PWTorch sources, Tommy Dreamer and Konnan are expected to take on a larger role with the Impact creative team moving forward.
Konnan has been with Impact Wrestling for the last two years, managing the reincarnation of LAX (Santana and Ortiz). Dreamer returned to Impact last year, featured in the feud between Eddie Edwards and Moose as well as Edwards and OVE. In addition to appearing on camera as a talent, Dreamer has also been working backstage recently as a producer for the company.
Abyss is leaving Impact as its longest-tenured talent. The 45-year-old has essentially been with the company since 2002, with the exception of a short time where he was without a contract. Abyss was inducted into the Impact Wrestling Hall of Fame last summer.
McMahon’s Analysis: No offense to Sonjay Dutt, but the addition of Dreamer and Konnan to the Impact creative team should be an improvement. They both have experience in the role, and they both have a lot of experience in the wrestling business. If this means Impact moves away from the goofy “undead realm” stuff, it’s a huge step forward.
The problem is, will it matter? Impact is toiling away on Pursuit Channel and Twitch, with the show airing only live in the Friday 10 p.m. timeslot and not on-demand on the company’s Twitch channel. They’re replaying the Impact shows on their Twitch stream throughout the week, but none of those replay times have been advertised, so fans have almost no idea when they can watch the show, outside of Friday night at 10 p.m. ET.
Impact has such a small share of the wrestling market at this point, that while the changes should be a positive move for the company, I’m afraid not enough people are going to see the changes for it to matter.
Except for the dozens of other countries where they’re NOT on the pursuit channel. There is a world outside American television, you know?
Is Jimmy Jacobs still there? If yes then the undead realm stuff will and should continue. There’s fans who like the undead realm despite the hate it gets from wrestling journalists.