fightful

IMPACT star had WWE interest before re-signing

Added 2022-05-04 20:55:01 +0000 UTC

Fightful spoke to Moose ahead of IMPACT Under Siege in Northern Kentucky.

Moose confirmed a 2021 Fightful Select report indicating that WWE was interested in bringing him in before he re-signed with IMPACT Wrestling. We were told at the time that IMPACT didn't even want him to hit free agency, and there were feelers sent out to Moose by WWE officials who are no longer with the company. Moose said that he had decided to leave for WWE until Scott D'Amore approached him with a final offer that got him to stay with the company.

Independent of the interview, Fightful learned Moose had informal talks with WWE that included pitches for him to go to WWE, and even to go straight up to the main roster. However, Vince McMahon personally had to sign off on that. In the meantime, IMPACT Wrestling a came along with a significant offer and a major improvement upon his old deal, but required a quick response in signing it. Moose decided to go with IMPACT Wrestling, and those we spoke to within WWE said there was no heat on him for making that decision. Moose's IMPACT contract is for two years.

When we reached out to WWE sources about the talks, we were told that Canyon Ceman was the point man on that, but that WWE would have been very particular about not contract tampering. Ceman has since left the company.

We did some Cincinnati trivia with Moose, who recounted meeting fellow TNA Wrestling legend Adam Pacman Jones. Moose said they were hanging out before Moose ever got into pro wrestling, and Jones was so obnoxious that Moose wanted to punch him in the face the entire time.

We also spoke with Moose about Josh Alexander, who he was very happy to have worked with and that IMPACT Wrestling retained. He said they paced their match in a specific way for Rebellion to maximize the story being told.