Scott D’Amore discusses the Knockouts and IMPACT World Title matches at Hard To Kill.
The second match of Mickie James and Deonna Purrazzo’s rivalry is taking place at IMPACT Wrestling’s Hard To Kill pay-per-view on January 8th. Mickie is scheduled to defend the Knockouts Title against Purrazzo in a Texas Death match. James won the title from Purrazzo at Bound For Glory.
James is currently in the midst of her third run with IMPACT. Scott D’Amore, Executive Vice President of IMPACT, heaped praise onto Mickie and her career while on Busted Open Radio. Scott recalled the early days of TNA and going to the powers that be and pleading for them to sign Mickie to an exclusive deal because he had a feeling she would get signed by WWE.
He added that he always thought Mickie could have been TNA’s female version of AJ Styles, as far as tenure goes like how Styles was with the company from 2002-2014.
Going back nearly 20 years, in the early days of TNA, I remember going into the office and pleading because I knew that Mickie [James] was going to get an offer from WWE and she wasn’t under contract with us and I just knew she was special. At the time, she was still in — ah, what was Raven’s group? Tommy [Dreamer], you’ve got to know this. What was Raven’s group with [CM] Punk and [Julio] Dinero and Mickie?
Eh, it’s Raven [D’Amore jokingly said]. But no, she was one of the athletes I thought in the early days of TNA could really be the center piece. I always thought she could be the female AJ Styles for our company and it didn’t work out that way. She went on and as you alluded to Dave [LaGreca], had a first-ballot Hall of Fame career and I thought the window had closed for the opportunity to get to work with Mickie again but hey, wrestling’s a strange business and the world’s a strange place and here we are, all these years later, getting an opportunity to do it and she is still peak, peak performance and she’s a class-act, she’s a positive influence and just having somebody like Mickie as a role model around — if Mickie wasn’t still top-skilled, her wrestling skills weren’t still top-level, she would be worth having around just for the presence and the influence that she can have on a locker room but then the fact is, she’s as good or better then she’s ever been in the ring so not only is she a leader for as far as how she conducts herself, how she shows up to the building, how she carries herself, how she does media. She’s also still going out there night in and night out with us and showing everybody, male or female, this is how to be a world class — as you said Dave, Hall of Fame-caliber performer. Night in, night out and being a true pro so I think that’s awesome for our company and grateful to have her and Deonna [Purrazzo] and guys, let’s kick ass this Saturday [at Hard To Kill].
Matt Cardona is going to be in the IMPACT World Title match at Hard To Kill. Cardona debuted for IMPACT at their 2021 Hard To Kill event. Initially, Cardona was not booked for the show and the two parties had conversations to work together down the line. Cardona flew himself to Nashville and told D’Amore that he’d be ready if he needed him.
And then with Matt Cardona, you said it Tommy [Dreamer], there’s been no bigger supporter for Matt Cardona than Tommy Dreamer and when he got let go from WWE, Tommy, right away was like, ‘This guy’s got something.’ Matt wasn’t ready to do something there, the timing never worked out and it’s literally, we’re coming up on the one-year anniversary [of Cardona’s debut]. It was Hard To Kill last year guys where — I don’t know if this story’s out there but Matt Cardona just flew himself to Nashville, flew himself to Nashville to the pay-per-view, you know? I found out the day before that he was getting on a plane and he was coming to Nashville and that shows you that he — his catch line is ‘Alwayz Ready’, isn’t just something to put on a t-shirt. He was sitting there, he was excited about things, he had seen things with The Good Brothers and with Heath and with Brian Myers and all that and he was like, ‘I wanna be there.’ So when it was kind of like, ‘Oh, we’ve got a full card and everything else. We’ll look at something down the line,’ he decided to book himself a flight, hop on a plane and he was in Nashville. One of the first things he said to me was, ‘It’s not a gimmick. I’m always ready. If you need anything, I’m here, I’m ready’ and he’s had an unbelievable year in IMPACT and outside of it. He has completely reinvented and revitalized himself and that’s why I think all three of these competitors [Cardona, Moose & W. Morrissey], all three of these athletes are the perfect example of what IMPACT Wrestling stands for.
Below is the current lineup for Hard To Kill:
- Knockouts World Championship — Texas Death Match: Mickie James (c) vs. Deonna Purrazzo
- Ultimate X Match: Jordynne Grace vs. Rachael Ellering vs. Tasha Steelz vs. Rosemary vs. Chelsea Green vs. Lady Frost
- IMPACT World Championship — Three-Way Match: Moose (c) vs. Matt Cardona vs. W. Morrissey
- JONAH vs. Josh Alexander
- Hardcore War Match: Eddie Edwards, Heath, Rich Swann, Rhino & Willie Mack vs. Doc Gallows, Karl Anderson, Eric Young, Deaner & Joe Doering
- IMPACT Knockouts Tag Team Championships: The IInspiration (Jessica McKay & Cassie Lee) (c) vs. The Influence (Madison Rayne & Tenille Dashwood)
- ROH World Championship: Jonathan Gresham (c) vs. Chris Sabin
- IMPACT X Division Championship: Trey Miguel (c) vs. Steve Maclin
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit Busted Open Radio with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
