Jake Crist made his return to IMPACT Wrestling, for one night at least.
Crist appeared on Thursday’s episode of IMPACT Wrestling as the surprise opponent of X-Division Champion Josh Alexander, ultimately losing the impromptu match. Despite his return on this week’s show, it does not look like Crist will be sticking around, at least not as a contracted talent right now.
According to a report from Fightful Select, Crist is still a free agent and is not under contract with IMPACT “as of the appearance” on Thursday. It was noted that Crist was well-liked by those in the company and praised for his creative mind, but it remains to be seen if he’ll be back on a regular basis.
Crist was released by IMPACT Wrestling in January, after spending more than three years with the promotion. Jake had a single X Division title reign that lasted 93 days, and he also had a GFW/Impact World Tag Team Championship reign that of 164 days.
Related: IMPACT Wrestling Results (9/2/21)
.@Walking_Weapon retained the X-Division Championship against his surprise opponent @TheJakeCrist. #IMPACTonAXSTV pic.twitter.com/2odE04UHNl
— TNA Wrestling (@ThisIsTNA) September 3, 2021
Jake Crist spoke with WrestleZone after he was released by IMPACT Wrestling in January about how he wanted to take his “Modern Man In Black” character forward on the independent scene. Noting other musical interests in his life, Crist explained how Johnny Cash has played an important role in who he is in and out of the ring.
“When I started booking [Rockstar Pro], I based my ‘Artist’ character around Prince, and I really felt like an artist because of what I was creating every week, as far as building a crowd. When I started booking Rockstar, there was 15 people in the crowd, and we built it all the way up to about 450 on a big Friday. It might not sound huge to a lot of people,” Crist said, “but in Dayton, Ohio, an independent wrestling [company] drawing 450 people is huge. We would sell out every iPPV that we’d have on a Friday, and so I really built that character because I felt deep down that I was an artist, and I still do feel like I’m an artist because of what I create in the ring, as far as matches, so on and so forth.
“I started listening to Johnny Cash, and I got into Prince. [Those were] my two biggest influences, and it still is, with the ‘Modern Man In Black’. Like you said, the ‘JC’ logo is based off of the Prince logo, and that’s basically me being a huge fan of Prince, it’s a big nod to him. Like I said, I feel like deep down, I’m an artist, and with Johnny Cash, he’s the first-ever rock star. In my opinion, it’s Johnny Cash. I know he’s [considered] ‘country music’ but to me, Johnny Cash is the first-ever rock star, and what he sings about, what he sings about, the blue-collar, hard-working man, that’s what I am and that’s what I try to do,” Crist said. “I try to provide for my little ones and bring that bread to the table. And to sum it up like I said, in one sentence, I’m a rock star that happens to be a pro wrestler, and nobody can play the three string like I can.”
Check out our full interview with Jake Crist at this link.
