In a recent interview with AdFreeShows, Frankie Kazarian revealed to have pitched an Ultimate X match for Sunday’s Impact x NJPW Multiverse United 2 pay-per-view event.
It would have been twenty years to the day of the first Ultimate X match, but the idea didn’t materialize. Kazarian said,
“So a couple of months ago, I knew the 20-year anniversary was coming up. So I looked into when the actual date was. Then I was on my schedule, and I saw that’s Multiverse United. I did go up to a couple of creative minds in IMPACT, and I went up to Scott [D’Amore] himself and just said — not for nothing, maybe I’ve got one more Ultimate X Match in me, but I said, ‘I can’t think of a better day to maybe do one than on August 20, twenty years to the day.’ They were kind of like, ‘Wow, that’s a really good idea. It was all kind of tongue-in-cheek. Maybe if this were an IMPACT Standalone show, that might have been something that was feasible. Even sometimes, Ultimate X matches can only work in certain buildings. I don’t know the logistics of that. The one they did at Slammiversary, that was an incredible match. I think my only criticism is,early on, we started doing too many of them. That kind of takes the lore away, but in the last several years, they’ve been very, very good about making that match mean something and making it special, because it should be.”
In a recent interview with Sportskeeda, Impact Wrestling World Champion Alex Shelley discussed his upcoming title defense against Hiroshi Tanahashi at Multiverse United 2. Shelley said,
“I think it’s a big match because he just means so much to me. Not to sound weird or corny, but you mentioned it. You said it, he resurrected New Japan Pro-Wrestling. I was there, I saw it happen. I was there in 2009 when he beat Mutoh. That was our New Japan debut. I came back a few years later when he was rebuilding the company, when he made a star out of Okada, when his feud with Shinsuke was kind of on top, and they were just leading the league. When Shibata came back, all these things. I said this before, but I just saw how he acted in the ring, but also outside it. He was a champion in every sense of the word. I don’t have enough time to sit here and list all the things I’ve seen him do, but he cared for everybody in that company to some extent. I was on the apron, I teamed with Tana-san so many times that I was able to watch greatness in front of me, and he led by example. Not just his wrestling, although his wrestling, yes, I learned so much just watching him and teaming with him. I never touched him. Not in New Japan, at least. I did wrestle him in TNA in 2008. But I saw what he did outside the ring that made him a champion, like what he had to do to maintain that spot, too.”
He’s actually somebody who I’ve thought of a lot more, like the past three months, four months. When I knew I had my championship match coming up, I thought, ‘Well, if I win this, then what does a champion do? How is this gonna be different? He was the first person that jumped into my mind. Then after I won it, I found myself thinking so many times, ‘What would Tana do in this situation?’ Because he’s a sure fire Hall of Famer, and I think he’s somebody who absolutely changed pro wrestling. He definitely changed it for me on a personal level, too. So yeah, it’s a dream match in a sense, like, ‘Okay, you have two guys who kind of make up the identities of their companies.’ But for me personally, it’s like how often do you get to wrestle somebody who was a mentor to you? How often do you get to wrestle somebody who again re-invented Japanese pro wrestling? I’m in there with somebody who’s, I’ll say this, he’s actively better than me. He’s been in this situation more than I have. What can I learn from this? I’m looking forward to it on a sense like, I’m going in there, and I’m the underdog. I was against Aldis, I was against Maclin, I am here too. He could easily beat me, he could easily take this belt back to New Japan. IMPACT and New Japan have a working agreement. This is not impossible. So it’s such just a sublime match. There’s no other way I can put it. It at least means I’ve probably earned Tanahashi’s respect. Which I think is probably the most important victory here. Holding onto the belt is very, very important. But to make sure that Tana gets in the ring with me and just thinks, ‘Okay, he’s really great. He’s a champion.’ That to me is as important as a championship.”
