Who Should Sign Johnny Impact?

John Hennigan is a man without a country.

The 17-year veteran has just finished up his latest contract with Impact Wrestling, according to PWInsider. Having done about all he can do in his two-year run there, he now ponders his next move. John Corrigan mentioned to me offline that Ring of Honor should make a play for him, but it’s hard to say how much ROH has left to offer after going on a spending spree that netted them free agents such as PCO, Rush and Brody King.

If you take ROH out of the equation, it leaves the former Johnny Impact with two reasonable options: All Elite Wrestling or WWE?

The problems with WWE are well documented. The creative is bad, the show is too long and it has devolved into becoming a poorly run company. What WWE lacks in competence; however, it more than makes up for in money, and can easily price out any other wrestling promotion looking to secure Hennigan’s services.

Therefore, Hennigan needs to strike a deal with AEW.

WWE can offer a laundry list of material things to free agents. “More money? No problem. Reduced dates? You got it! No developmental? Wait… you’re saying you WANT to go to developmental?” One thing WWE will not renege on is creative freedom, something that has made AEW a practical destination for literally every wrestler who has had their contract come up in recent months. Nowadays, wrestlers can live or die on their own merits and not have to worry about being tied down to a restrictive deal with pay being the only real upside.

For Hennigan, though, creative freedom might not even be the most attractive draw to AEW. The most enticing factor for the network television superstar might be the prospect of being able to work with new opponents. He originally left WWE for more control over his time, and is just another example of a wrestler who has elevated his stock since leaving, to the point where this current version of him may have been what many inside and outside WWE envisioned for him all along as a main event talent. The same can be said for other AEW talents like Jon Moxley and Cody.

Granted, Cody worked with Hennigan towards the end of the latter’s WWE run, but it would be interesting to see what kind of work they can do now. Meanwhile, Moxley entered WWE just as Morrison was leaving, so those two have never worked together. On top of that, you have Kenny Omega, Adam Page, MJF, Joey Janela and many more compelling opponents Hennigan has never worked a program with. Control over the order in which his character encounters these opponents only serves as an added bonus. In WWE, Hennigan would either be paid to sit on the bench, or if he IS brought in as a top guy, be forced to go the way of Bobby Lashley, using up all of his marquee opponents over the course of the first month.

You’d also have to think AEW would be easier for Hennigan to get his wife Taya Valkyrie into, as opposed to WWE. AEW’s women’s division has talent, but lacks established stars. Valkyrie would be a good fit if she has the desire to follow her husband. She is believed to be signed with Impact through the end of the year, PWInsider reported.

From AEW’s end, there is a need for one more established veteran presence at the top of the card. Many will disagree, citing AEW’s heavy investment in youth. Those same fans need to accept the fact that some of those guys may be a year or two off from becoming drawing members. The potential in guys like Jungle Boy, Luchasaurus and Darby Allin is evident (three very unique talents), but AEW is not in a position to have to force these guys to sink or swim just yet. Hennigan, another familiar face to the casual fan, represents another guy who can keep people locked into the show when channel surfing over TNT. Plus, his experience in working with different companies around the world will prove to be a valuable education for some of the younger wrestlers.

The older TNA has often been criticized for its willingness to sign any ‘ole “WWE reject,” as the internet wrestling community likes to say. But when we’re thinking about wrestlers AEW might want to target, we need to think of it more like how Tony Khan thinks of it: like a professional sports team.

One way many teams get themselves into trouble is by handing out fat contracts to mediocre players, strapping themselves for the foreseeable future due to the binding nature of the contracts. However, a general rule of thumb is that when a top free agent hits the market and your organization has the cash to pay him what he’s worth, you make the deal! We just saw it with the NBA free agency frenzy. Kawhi Leonard and Kevin Durant got max contracts and will make $30 million per year over the next three or four years. The narrative with those elite players is never “I can’t believe they paid him that,” but rather, “by how many wins does this increase the Clippers’ or Nets’ win totals?”

This is how AEW needs to approach signing John Hennigan. If he ends up re-upping with Impact or signing with WWE, it’ll be well deserved and I’ll be happy for him either way. If the crew over at AEW don’t see him as a fit for their show, that’s fine, too. Nevertheless, there is a tremendous opportunity for the fledgling promotion to add another Impact player before debuting on TNT this fall.

Pun intended.