Latest Update on AEW's Relationship With Impact Wrestling

11/01/2021 03:47 pm EDT

AEW World Champion Kenny Omega shocked the world late last year when he and Don Callis departed the "Winter is Coming" special by stating they would be appearing in Impact Wrestling. This kicked off a working relationship between All Elite Wrestling and the Nashville-based promotion, one that saw Omega become Impact World Champion, Tony Khan and Tony Schiavone appear weekly on Impact via "paid advertisements," Moose challenge Omega for the Impact title inside Daily's Place in Jacksonville, The Good Brothers frequently appear on AEW Dynamite, Matt Hardy & Private Party appear and compete on Impact and Christian Cage beat Omega for the Impact title during AEW Rampage's premiere. But not long after Josh Alexander beat Cage to become world champion at Bound for Glory reports started popping up that the relationship between the two companies was over. 

Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer provided an update while on the Sunday Night's Main Event podcast over the weekend. He stated that, while the relationship between the two isn't dead, there are no plans for any kind of crossover in the immediate future. 

"So there's nothing planned going forward, but that doesn't mean there won't be anything in the future. But the last thing was Christian Cage as champion and that's over," Meltzer said. "...It's always a Tony Khan call. If Tony Khan wants to do it, he'll do it. There's nothing right now."

While plenty of wrestlers in both companies got involved in the AEW/Impact crossover in some form or fashion, many fans pointed out that the relationship was often one-sided in that, other than Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, Impact wrestlers never appeared on AEW programming and big Impact matches like Omega vs. Swann and Cage vs. Alexander weren't advertised on AEW's end. Also, despite fans hoping for it initially, there was never a full-on invasion angle from either side. Though, as Chris Jericho pointed out in an interview with ComicBook earlier this year, that was never in the cards. 

"Our roster is jam-packed as it is," Jericho said. "And I think our involvement with Impact has been pretty much what it should be. I'm not saying this in an egotistical way, but AEW is at a completely different level than Impact is. So anything that we're doing with them benefits them a lot more than it benefits us, in my opinion. And I think the fact that they've had Kenny Omega there, they've had Private Party there. That's a bonus for them. Chris Jericho will never go to Nashville and work in an empty studio in front of somebody. There's just no reason for me to do that. If those guys came over to invade, who are they going to [bring]?

"If we needed to make it big, we could," he added. "But right now, our roster is so jam-packed, and we're doing such a great job of creating our own stars as it is. You could always do an invasion at some point, but I just don't see why that really benefits AEW right now when we've got so much going on and so many of our own guys who are really breaking through to the next level. I want to keep the focus and spotlight on that."

What do you think the AEW/Impact partnership should lead to next? Let us know your thoughts down in the comments! 

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