Bret Hart is one of Canada’s favorite sons, but Scott D’Amore found out that there was ultimately more than one man for the job.
IMPACT’s Tom Hannifan recently spoke with Scott D’Amore to promote the Slammiversary pay-per-view and the pair reflected on the company’s 20 years of memories. D’Amore spoke about how his role as leader of Team Canada lined up with his own in-ring career winding down and he not only shared how he got the job himself, but shared the reaction to his initial pitch of asking Bret Hart to do it.
“I was really kinda happy to have my performing career over. And I remember getting a phone call, I remember exactly where I was, I was going over these railway tracks in a town near Windsor. Got a phone call, it was the office number for TNA Entertainment, and answered the phone, it was Jeff [Jarrett] and Dutch [Mantell]. They were in that conference room that we ended up spending so many hundreds of hours in, and they called, and at the time, we had had a Team AAA, like a Team Mexico, Team AAA, and Jeff was saying we’d done the first America’s Cup, and they wanted to do a second one. And he’s like we’re thinking of doing a Team Canada. I go that’s awesome, I kinda pitched the idea, I didn’t think it’d really take. And Jeff was [like], no we’re gonna do it, we’re gonna go full boar, we’re gonna do this show with Team Canada coming in to challenge for the cup. Awesome.”
Scott D’Amore said that names like Bobby Roode, Eric Young and Jack Evans came up during those discussions, and Jarrett said the group would need a figurehead as well. D’Amore originally pitched the biggest name in wrestling to come from Canada, but Jarrett said that they had a different idea in mind.
“Jeff goes, ‘well you know, Team Mexico, Team AAA has Antonio Peña’, who was the owner of AAA as kind of their figurehead. He says, ‘well we think Team Canada should have figurehead.’ I said that’s a cool idea. He goes you got anybody in mind? I go yeah, there’s only one guy that could do that job. And Jeff’s like, ‘that’s what me and the Dutchman were thinking.’ And I go, ‘yeah, Bret Hart.’ There is dead silence, and Jeff goes, ‘well Scotty D, we were thinking of going in a little different direction.’ And I go who the hell else would you get? He goes well, what would you say if I said we were thinking about you?”
#6 Team Canada
Multiple world tag team titles and was a staple in the World X-Cup. Lasted through several incarnations and is most known for their trio of Petey Williams, Bobby Roode and Eric Young; all icons in wrestling.
Scott D'Amore later became IMPACT President. pic.twitter.com/kpwMZsC8Kn— NerdCorp (@NerdCorp) May 23, 2022
D’Amore said he initially didn’t want the role, noting that his time as an on-air performer was over. D’Amore eventually reconsidered after Jarrett said it would be a short-term role, but he ended up doing it much longer than that and made the most of it.
“[Jeff] goes, ‘Oh. Let me think. How about if I rephrase this… this ain’t no JJ asking his boy Scotty D if he wants to do this. This is the Executive Vice President of TNA telling a contracted individual what the hell we expect from him.’ [laughs] He goes, ‘What you say then?’ I was like, ‘Well… what should I wear?’ You know? And he’s like, we laughed and I was like yeah, obviously whatever we need. His words to me were Scotty D, don’t worry, it’s two weeks long. That’s it. Two weeks.
“And I was like alright, but I’m gonna tell you something, Jeff. I’m not gonna be some buffoon. I’m gonna wear suits, I’m gonna be clean-shaven. I’m gonna be articulate, well-spoken and serious. And Jeff goes no problem. And if you watch my very first interview as the President of TNA Canada, which was a rib on Carl Martin, the old WWF Canada president. And after that interview, I start waving a flag and a hockey stick. I start barking at the camera. I start, whenever I get mad, I have a French accent even though I don’t speak French and I’m Italian. I’d jump up and touch my toes and shadow box and all the stupid that I ended up doing. So I guess I’m just really not a real serious actor.”
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