Long Story Investment

Retracing history programming started turning in the right direction was first making the move to give the book to Scott D'Amore and Don Callis. The next best move they could make was shifting to more of a long term booking approach as a way to form a foundation. One name that the company built around was Eddie Edwards and building his long term story from start to finish. Seeing his evolution from week to week was something that fans got invested in this way they saw everything from start to finish. The shocking start to his feud with Sami Callihan and then including Tommy Dreamer in the blood feud made for an interesting twist as Eddie went insane. 

It was also during Eddie's journey that we saw the start of Ace Austin's development as a future star in Impact. Austin would help push Eddie's decent into madness with Ace pushing the envelop of friendship with Eddie's wife. Much like with the development of Eddie as a top star Impact didn't rush moving Ace into an upper position before he was ready for it. Impact knew they didn't need to rush, because they took that approach it allowed Ace to develop with fellow X-Divison star Trey Miguel bringing the feud up the card with them as well. 

These two are just a small sample size of the strides in the right direction that Impact has made in recent years as they started to right the ship. Without the addition of Don Callis I don't see the working agreement with All Elite Wrestling coming to fruition like it has in recent months. In a period of time where instant gratification takes center stage I think that Impact proves fans still want to be able to invest in the ascension of talent over the long haul. I have enjoyed watching these stories come together as I have always been a major supporter for long term booking.