Enzo Amore’s been a free agent for a while, but as of today (May 16), he’s a free agent without potential sexual assault charges hanging over him. The authorities in Phoenix confirmed they didn’t find sufficient evidence to pursue a case against Amore (real name Eric Arndt) for the allegations which contributed to his WWE release, and Enzo says he’s looking to reconnect with his fans with new entertainement ventures.
Naturally, the focus shifts to other wrestling promotions for whom the fast-talking cruiserweight could ply his trade. And as years of “what’s so-and-so doing in The Impact Zone?!?!” jokes show, a lot of people expect ex-WWE wrestlers to show up in Impact Wrestling.
With that company’s co-executive vice president Don Callis on a conference call with media this afternoon, of couse he was asked if Impact would be open to working with Amore now. His answer may not please some fans, but it’s a response which reflects the reality of the wrestling business and further establishes Impact as a talent-friendly operation:
“Never say never. You evaluate talent based on need and what you’re looking to do. We have a long term plan for how we engage with talent in terms of who’s gonna be on the roster, what roster spots we need filled, etcetera. It’s not as much of a random thing. So you know… as with any other talent, I think time will tell.”
Speaking in absolutes is usually a way to have your words come back on you, and especially in wrestling where it’s a fairly regular things for once-bitter enemies to end up working with each other when the money’s right, ruling anything out categorically seems foolish.
Callis’ answer also puts the onus on Enzo to prove to Impact and others he’s worth hiring, not in terms of working on his moveset or coming up with fresh material - although neither would be a bad idea - but by demonstrating he can lay low, stay out of trouble and not aggravate people for a while.
Plus, this paints Impact under Callis and Scott D’Amore as doing some long-term planning, something which is good for their reputation with talent and fans.
All told, I think it’s about as good an answer as an executive could give when posed with the Enzo question at this time.
Which means it will probably only piss off a lot of people instead of most people.