Scott D’Amore and Josh Matthews on Controversial WWE Hell in a Cell Finish, D’Amore on Trying Not to Insult Fans’ Intelligence

– Forbes recently interviewed Impact Wrestling VP Scott D’Amore and announcer Josh Mathews ahead of Impact’s recent debut on AXS TV. During the interview, they talked about the controversial finish for WWE at Hell in a Cell 2019, WWE being disorganized, and more. Below are some highlights.

Scott D’Amore on not insulting fan’s intelligence and the finish at WWE Hell in a Cell: “You’ve gotta know when to lead and when to follow as that goes, and just try to do things that don’t insult the fan’s intelligence. I think [Impact], unfortunately in regime’s past, had a tendency to do that and it is easy to sort of fall off the track as you saw [at Hell in a Cell]. You know, it’s easy to have an old man that’s out of touch go ‘Yeah, yeah it’ll be fine. it’ll be fine…’ because it’s always fine. That’s how it works there. It’s like, ‘It’ll be fine—yeah, they complain, but they’ll never stop watching.'”

D’Amore on what Impact Wrestling has to do: “It’s literally going to the movies for 2 hours. You suspend disbelief in what we do, put on a product that they want to watch and enjoy, I mean as long as we can continue the in-depth storytelling in conjunction with the great athletes that we have in the ring, I think that combination is a winning one and it’s one that will draw in the casual fan.”

Josh Mathews on WWE being disorganized: “It’s just not fair to just change the rules completely, right? Like, that used to happen to me on a nightly basis during the show. Sometimes things happen and sometimes they don’t. It’s like watching this football game and if they get to the five-yard line the referee said that’s a touchdown.”