Sami Callihan Talks Fans Being Upset With Michael Elgin Joining Impact
Over the last few weeks, Impact Wrestling has welcomed guys like Rob Van Dam and Michael Elgin into the fold. Sami Callihan has been an established presence in Impact for a while and he talked about the newcomers arrivals when Callihan spoke to Wrestling Inc. on our WINCLY podcast.
"People will talk all the crap they want on Michael Elgin but he puts on the best matches on pretty much every show he's fought on," said Callihan. "You can't not say the dude doesn't pour his heart into professional wrestling because there's no off night for Michael Elgin. That could be in front of two people or 100,000 people and he's gonna go out and wrestle to the same standards."
Callihan then talked about how the fans that don't like Elgin because of stories about him from outside the ring are what make pro wrestling great, because everyone gets to be heard.
Callihan had a chance to win the X-Division Championship at Rebellion but fell short in his efforts against Rich Swann. Callihan talked about what went wrong and how he was screwed out of winning the title.
"Probably that Impact management screwed me and don't want me to be the face of the company," stated Callihan. "That's what it boils down to each and every time when I get these big time matches and Impact throws a monkey wrench at the plans because they are afraid that Sami Callihan and oVe would be the face of their company."
When asked why Impact wouldn't want oVe to represent the company, Callihan said because they don't want them getting into the heads of fans.
"We don't believe in the status quo," Callihan said of oVe. "As soon as we get one of the big belts, they're gonna have to let us talk that much more and people are gonna have to listen."
Callihan's feud with Swann got very personal when Callihan brought up the murder of Swann's father. Callihan revealed why he went that deep to get under Swann's skin.
"In pro wrestling I don't think anything's off limits. If I wanna talk about something, I'm gonna talk about it….There was no other option for us. It was gonna get personal and that's exactly what it did," said Callihan.
"He said some pretty hurtful stuff too. People don't ever wanna be, 'Oh, Rich Swann said this or that.' They also wanna say, 'Oh, Sami Callihan said this.' But he said some equally hurtful things."
Callihan admitted that despite the defeat, getting revenge on Swann isn't his main goal at this time.
"There is that bond as I've known [Swann] since he was 16 years old and he's lived at my house off and on. There will always be something there, but I know going forward my eyes are on the Impact World Heavyweight Championship," stated Callihan.
Apart from Elgin, another big name to join Impact recently is Rob Van Dam who Callihan calls a legend but also says his time is up.
"He's legend but it's about time that all these ECW legends should just quit and let the younger guys step up and run this business," said Callihan. "I'm sick of the Tommy Dreamers, Sabus, Sandmans and RVDs.
"It's our time to shine and it's not theirs anymore because we're changing the wrestling business.
"I've done battle with Tommy Dreamer all over the world and the guy is kinda like my dad. But I'm not gonna lie, I love beating his ass."
Sami Callihan can be seen every Friday night on Pursuit and Twitch as part of Impact Wrestling. Slammiversary tickets went on-sale on Monday. TV Tapings for the weekly TV show, Impact!, will be held June 6-7 at Melrose Ballroom in NYC.
