Impact Spinning the Callihan/Edwards Baaseball Bat Botch into a Positive

[It's Damn Real!]

Even TMZ is picking up on it now, interviewing Edwards about the botched spot:

http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0302/637517/sami-callihan-address-baseball-bat-incident-with-eddie-edwards/

It's kind of amazing how something they caught a lot of heat for (Cornette is probably still fuming as you read this) they've been able to spin into positive PR for the company. That promo Callihan cut about not being sorry about any of it was great. Their feud wasn't half bad to begin with, but all of a sudden it's must-see.

And this coming on the heels of drawing a 2018 high in viewership numbers that seem to be gradually improving by the month? Not bad, Don Callis and Scott D'Amore. Not bad at all!

[Lee]

Hardly say it's a positive but he's using it to push himself as a heel. Smart work really but definitely not a positive.

[It's Damn Real!]

It's been picked up by TMZ, and has gotten more eyes on the product, even if it's for a "bad" reason. I fail to see how that isn't a net positive.

[Lee]

TMZ always pick up wrestling stories, there's one about Sunny getting a DUI just below it. Who's going to see "shit his eye socket is fucked" and then decide to watch TNA? Even the TMZ article says that Calihan feels really bad about it which negates the storyline in the above article.

Here's the TMZ article:
http://www.tmz.com/category/tmzsports?adid=TMZ_Web_Nav_TMZSports

[Yaz]

If you go with the adage that no press is bad press, then yeah, this is great for the company. I agree with Lee, Callahan using this to push his character is smart, but there isn't going to be a single person who reads a story about a botched spot that should have never taken place to start with and see that said botch resulted in a hospitalization and go "Man, I need to watch this Impact stuff."

[FunKay]

People like Cornette and Kassius Ohno are calling him out over the incident on social media, and he's spinning it. You can argue about the taste of the move and indeed you can question if illustrating how careless a performer was in quite seriously injuring a fellow professional is a smart move, but it's certainly making Callahan genuinely unpopular and that could become a good thing if they can market him effectively.

[It's Damn Real!]

On second thought, I suppose I overspoke. I think you guys are right, though, in that, at the very least, Callihan has been able to market himself as an even bigger, more dastardly heel because of this. Impact happens to benefit from that, though, given he's under contract to them. Anyone catching wind of this who may tune in to see what comes of it, even if that comes as a result of negative stigma, is still tuning in. So, sure, if we want to chalk it up to "no press is bad press", then I agree.

[Slyfox696]

All I'll say about it is this...this is the first I've heard of TNA in a very long time and it's the first time I've heard either of these two names in TNA. And I didn't know Lashley was still in TNA until this video.

Is it more likely to get me to watch? No, but at least I've heard of something now.

[It's Damn Real!]

Progress of a kind, right?

[Dave]

Wrestling is wrestling. If you've got something that happened on TV and the press are picking up on it, it's best to try and spin it into something positive. As Yaz pointed out, even bad press is still press. It's pretty evident that this was a genuine mistake - a stupid one to begin with but still a genuine mistake. Regardless it just makes good sense to make any sort of positive you can.

[Jack-Hammer]

It was a stupid mistake, no question about that, and just flat out sloppy work that isn't exactly something to be proud of. However, it happened so if there's any possible way to make a positive out of it, they might as well give it their best shot.

I don't expect anything to come of this as far as anyone tuning in to watch. I mean...well, it's ultimately just a story about a wrestler making a sloppy mistake that caused severe injury to the guy he was working with. Not exactly a ringing endorsement of the Impact product.

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

I've been hit in the head before with a bat. Suck it up princess! Pretty shitty botch, I kind of blame the guy on the bottom for moving the chair too much, if it was me, that thing would be secure and an easy target.