At IMPACT Wrestling’s Hard To Kill, a true wrestling rarity took place as the World Champions from two different promotions clashed inside the squared circle for the first time in decades. While that match would be a Six-Man Tag Team Match, Rich Swann is pushing for a rematch in singles competition!
The IMPACT World Champion told Inside The Ropes‘ Lead Writer Gary Cassidy that he’s lobbying for a singles match with the Best Bout Machine “harder than anybody” – claiming the one-on-one encounter would be a masterpiece.
“I am lobbying for a singles match harder than anybody because, the loss at Hard To Kill, it definitely it was like a stake straight to the heart, you know what I’m saying? And it’s something that I definitely want to avenge. It’s something that I know that if we were in the ring, head-to-head, one-on-one, singles, no Good Brothers, no Moose, no Chris Sabin, just Kenny Omega and Rich Swann head-to-head, world champion versus world champion, we’re going to see a masterpiece.”
Speaking of their first encounter though, Swann would detail his journey to that match, and how he went from almost having his career ended one year previous to being the World Champion at arguably the most critical point in IMPACT Wrestling’s history.
“It was definitely a fire lit underneath me, you know what I’m saying? INSIDE OF ME! Because that, right there, is very special. It’s not very, very, very, very common that you get two world champions from two different promotions, on two different television stations, it ain’t timing – that just doesn’t happen. You could go back to maybe the old school NWA territory days when things like that could have happened, but never on a television scale.”
“To be put right in the midst of that, it makes me want to step up my game and makes me want to be on top of my game, and it makes me want to go out there and prove that Kenny Omega, with all the adulation and all of the championships, the Best Bout Machine, all the nicknames and everything, The Cleaner, that I can go out there and be on that same level and have IMPACT be just as much and mean just as much, and that world championship be just as important as the one that Kenny Omega holds right now.”
With regards to a potential appearance at AEW Revolution, Swann wouldn’t rule out anything – saying the Forbidden Door won’t be closing any time soon.
“Hey, you never know! You never know! The thing is, the Forbidden Door. It’s… It seems to be… Not cracked open. It’s not just popped open, it’s BUSTED WIDE OPEN! That door is off the hinges! So expect anything when it comes to this partnership. That’s all I’m saying.”
Kenny Omega isn’t the only star outside of IMPACT that Rich Swann has his sights set on, though, picking out Lio Rush as a dream opponent.
“I would love to get into the ring with Lio Rush. Lio Rush is one of the finest athletes that I’ve ever seen. He comes from the Baltimore, DC, Virginia area. I remember when him and Patrick Clark were both starting, they were called the Sudden Impact and they were in Maryland Championship Wrestling, my stomping grounds, and I remember seeing them and then seeing the stars that they became. Especially Lio, who is charismatic, he is a high-flyer that can do things that I can’t do! His quickness. His style is just crazy, you know what I’m saying? I think that if me and Lio Rush got into the ring, it would be a great match.”
As far as AEW, Kenny Omega might be the World Champion, but Rich Swann also revealed how a match with TNT Champion Darby Allin is high on his agenda, and believes that encounter would bring out a very different side of himself.
“The person from AEW I would love to step into the ring with, other than Kenny Omega, obviously, would be Darby Allin, who I think he has the style of… You can compare him to like a Jeff Hardy or a Raven – or somebody that can just captivate you just by the look that he gives, and just to see his story and see him bloom into the superstar that he is is amazing. I remember seeing him when he first started and the professional wrestling game, you know what I mean? And to see what he’s become and what he’s turned himself into is amazing. And I think that Darby and I, we kind of share the same type of philosophies and thoughts when it comes to the in-ring action. I’d love to show a different side of myself with the shock value and I think we’d explode the wrestling world.”
You can check out our full interview with Rich Swann here.
Thanks so much to Rich Swann for taking the time, and to IMPACT UK & Ireland for facilitating the interview. Fans in the UK & Ireland can catch IMPACT! every Wednesday on IMPACT Plus and on Facebook & YouTube, with the show repeated on 5Star on Friday evenings, and catch all IMPACT PPVs via IMPACT Plus and Fite TV worldwide.