The lead-up to Kon being signed to IMPACT.
Back in early January of 2022, IMPACT Wrestling brought former NXT Tag Team Champion Kon in for a quick match with Josh Alexander. At that same taping, Kon would have a more lengthier match with Eddie Edwards.
Present day, Kon is signed to the company on a multi-year contract and he is a member of The Design alongside Deaner and Angels.
He guest appeared on episode #140 of the House of Hardcore Podcast and the road to him being signed was documented. Tommy Dreamer shared that he introduced Kon and IMPACT Executive Vice President Scott D’Amore to one another. After the matches Kon had with Alexander and Edwards, D’Amore was impressed with his professionalism on top of already being impressed with the shape Kon is in.
Dreamer: But then I was just like, man, he (Kon) moves really, really good, he’s still in great shape and that’s when I go and I was like, ‘Man, I’d totally forgotten about ya’ and I was like, I want Scott D’Amore (to see you) because you’re so big and you’re moving so good. Like somebody we could use in IMPACT and this is the first time you go and meet Scott. I remember we’re in the kitchen and I introduce you, you have a nice little introduction, you go about your way and then at the end, Scott’s like, ‘Man, he’s still in good shape. That’s number one’ and I was just like, ‘Yeah, he is’ and then he’s like, ‘Yeah, he moves really well’ and he’s like, ‘Man, he’s so big! But for a big guy, he moves really, really well.’ Boom, that’s the end of how that goes and then we’re looking for somebody for Josh Alexander. Dreamer gives you the phone call again. It’s like, ‘Hey man, we’re gonna do this, this and this.’
Kon: Best phone call. You sat there and you say, ‘Hey man, we got something for you. We’re gonna be in town. You might like it, you might not’ and I was like, ‘Hell yeah Tommy. Let’s do it. Let’s do it.’
Dreamer: You have a good showing. Here’s the best part and I think everybody who listens to this as well, if you’re a wrestler. He was to come in and put over Josh Alexander real quickly and I was like, ‘Hey man, this is what they’re offering. The next day, you’ll have a match, it’ll be more of a competitive match but this is kind of like a tryout for you,’ blah, blah, blah and you were like, ‘Cool, I’ll do it.’ Went out there, did his job to the best of his ability, it worked and the next day, had an equally as good match and then got him on the radar of the company that he’s currently employed with and it was like, ‘We don’t have anything right now. But I’m telling you, I know we will have something’ because again, you impressed the boss with your work, your professionalism. Just being you an lo and behold, Eric Young leaves and we’re like, ‘Hey man, we wanna do a tag team.’ Again, Scott’s like, ‘He’s in great shape, he moves great, he did great business for us. Let’s bring him in’ and I don’t know how long in between. I wanna say four-to-six months?
Kon: That’s about right, yeah.
Dreamer: And then hey, not only do we want to give you this opportunity but we wanna hire you again so I got to hire you. Again, I get to hang out with you and very, very blessed that I do.
At the Under Siege show, The Design fell in defeat to Sami Callihan, Rich Swann and the returning Jake Crist.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit House of Hardcore with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
