He explained that it’s not something he feels he needs to do.
To kick start IMPACT Wrestling’s Bound For Glory event, the IMPACT Hall of Fame ceremony took place. Traci Brooks was inducted by fellow Hall of Famer Gail Kim and company President Scott D’Amore inducted Mike Tenay and the late Don West.
Going into the ceremony, Tenay chatted with Mike Johnson of PWInsider for an in-depth interview. During their chat, Tenay stated that he would not rule out a return to pro wrestling commentary. He admitted that before he was swapped out from his role as TNA lead announcer in 2015, he would have liked to continue in that position for a few more years.
If Tenay did come back to commentary, it’d have to be under his terms and he does not know if there’s a company that is willing to meet his terms. He said being on commentary is not something he feels he needs to do.
Would I have liked to have continued in the role (as TNA lead announcer before I was swapped out)? Yeah, probably for a couple more years. I reflect back on it and the funny thing is I’ve spent more reflection in the last couple of weeks, in terms of preparation for what I’m going to say (during the Hall of Fame speech). I’ve done more reflection in the last couple of weeks about my career than I have in the years since I’ve announced. In my head, I kind of moved on, and it’s actually been nice to reflect back and think of so many funny stories. Things that went down through the years in terms of — and I know it went on forever on that but in terms of me coming back, would I ever? It’s the weirdest thing… I never wanted to have multiple retirements, come back, retirements. Pretty much everybody does in the history of professional wrestling. I felt like it was kind of a clean break. I follow everything religiously. I don’t think it would be that tough of a transition if I did want to come back. I don’t know if every company wants an old guy on their TV show. At the same time, would I rule any possibility of a comeback out? I would say no, I wouldn’t rule it out, but it would have to be under my terms. I don’t know that any company is willing to have it under my terms. It’s nothing that I really feel in my heart like I need to go back and do. Again, in this reflection of the last couple of weeks, I think I’m kind of happy with everything that I did. And I liked moving on from it. Right place, right time. I can’t say I never would do it, but it’s not something that takes up a lot of my time thinking about thinking, gosh, I need to get back to doing wrestling announcing.
The now-Hall of Famer spoke to current IMPACT play-by-play announcer Tom Hannifan. He relayed to Hannifan that for the first time in a long time, he feels IMPACT’s commentary booth is in good hands with Hannifan and Matt Rehwoldt.
Believe it or not… Tom Hannifan had reached out to Scott D’Amore and had just asked if maybe he could talk to me because I had never met Tom. Our paths had never crossed before. I had a wonderful conversation with him and I made it very plain to him how, for the first time — and again, you can use this — for the first time in a long time, I feel like the broadcast booth is in excellent hands. I just sense a stronger commitment from the team than I’d seen in years and I really like the direction that they’re going and I think the two of them together really have a bright future. I always enjoyed their work when I listened, and Tom even asked me, ‘Oh, I know you probably don’t have time to watch the show.’ But you know, I’m just a maniac that watches everything now. DVR allows me to get it at a good speed. So, I’m looking for certain things when I can get to them, but I keep my eyes and ears on pretty much all the products that are out there these days and even the subscription ones, the New Japan World and I love watching. CMLL is a really guilty pleasure for me, so I do watch a lot and the direction that those guys have taken with the broadcast, I think they’ll only get better with more time together like pretty much all announce teams do.
In 2024, IMPACT is going to be reverting back to the TNA name. That rebrand will kick-start at the Hard To Kill pay-per-view on January 13th.
