Former WWE Cruiserweight Champion Rich Swann made his debut with Impact Wrestling on June 28th, after it was announced that he would be appearing for the company a month prior. Now, it looks like we can expect Swann to be around for a lot longer.
Today, Impact Wrestling announced via their official Twitter that performer Rich Swann has signed a new long-term contract with the company for an undisclosed amount of time.
Swann’s debut with Impact was met with generally favorable reviews, including one by yours truly, and the crowd seemingly immediately took to Swann’s famous acrobatic style.
Swann was even immediately booked as a part of a fatal four-way match at Impact’s Slammiversary event, which he of course did not go on to take part in on account of a reported head injury at a Major League Wrestling event.
We are absolutely delighted to announce that @GottaGetSwann has signed a long-term contract with IMPACT Wrestling. pic.twitter.com/0tCi9VxOkD
— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) July 30, 2018
So what can we expect this long-term deal to look like for Swann?
If you’re at all familiar with the controversy surrounding Swann that lead to his release from WWE (if not, you can read more about it here), you may be thinking or expecting his long-term story with Impact to ultimately be one of vindication.
It wouldn’t be the worst move Impact could make, but if I were them I’d be weary to address any of those issues head on. Swann has spoken out about how he would be eager to work with his wife, current Knockout’s Champion Su Yung, on Impact programming, so maybe a soft-spoken on-air camaraderie would be the best way for Impact to unite Swann and Su without having to address the elephant in the room.
This is not to excuse the elephant in the room, but the best course of action for Impact to take on this issue would ideally be not to force any narrative in this very real story.
Outside of that, Swann’s body of work is proof in and of itself that he has great potential with the company. I had a theory that his match at Slammiversary against Johnny Impact, Rey Fenix, and Taiji Ishimori would have stolen the show with the amount of athleticism packed in between the four performers. The crowd again is already behind him, so hopefully Impact makes calculated decisions with his character in order for the most optimal storyline/reality ratio (if any at all) to be in play.