Dr. Joey or Mr. Joseph? Joey Ryan wanted to be like the wrestlers that made him fall in love with wrestling in the 80s, a character. But comedy time, with lollipops, sleazy attitude and baby oil, is not in Joseph Ryan’s repertoire, a more polished, classic, “normal” version of Joey. No more “Touch my dick,” that time is over. Since his comeback on Impact Wrestling last year, the fans may have been extremely happy to see it, but Joey Ryan’s detractors have become more and more violent on social media.
I’ve never hidden in my reviews or previous interviews how much a fan of Joey Ryan I am. We are of the same age, we grew up and liked the same wrestlers, and we both think this era of characters in wrestling is the one that made us love wrestling but also sharpened our love of it. Even Joseph is the opposite of Joey, he remains the only wrestler to have a special section in the weekly IMPACT reviews.
SteelChair Mag had the chance to have a one-on-one conversation with Joey Ryan about his new character of Joseph P. Ryan, Cancel Culture, and what the future holds for him on Impact Wrestling.
Joey Ryan is now Joseph P. Ryan. What made you change the character that has been your signature?
“I just thought it was time for a change. Things were getting a little out of hand. So I thought I’d clean it up a little bit.”
But this change is quite drastic.
“The best way to make an impact, no pun intended, is to make everyone notice. The more different you can be, the more people will pay attention.”
How would you describe the character of Joseph and the concept of Cancel Culture?
“The idea of Cancel Culture is just to make sure that people stay respectable, people give respect to what’s due, and not try to tarnish the good name of professional wrestling. Someone needs to monitor that. A lot of people get out of control, and a lot of people need to stay in line, so I think the Cancel Culture characters are the people who are going to make sure that things don’t get too out of hand.”
This week’s episode saw the addition of Jake Crist to Cancel Culture. What do you expect from him?
“Jake Crist is awesome, he’s been very underutilized for many years, and we’re going to showcase him in this group. He’s going to get to not only show what he can do in the ring but be given the opportunity to speak about what’s on his mind.”
I also asked myself if the reactions you have on Twitter, like RVD and Katie Forbes could have, were a reason for you to change and shut everybody up with this character. That’s how the storyline was developed.
“Yes, it’s a way to let everyone know that we’ve noticed the trends of Twitter and social media, and we’ve had enough of it. We’re done with it. We’re fed up with it.”
Was it your absolute decision or is it something that you worked with Impact Wrestling Creatives?
“It’s a kind of a dual idea. I kind of had a basic idea of it, and then Creatives came up with a more detailed version, that’s their job to write for the characters, so I kind of just suggested what I thought about the character and let them run with it.”
Does it mean that Joey Ryan will never come back to Impact Wrestling?
“I can’t tell the future and what’s going on. Things can change every day, so there’s really no way to know, for sure.”
Last year, almost at the same time, you were teasing about your future and you announced you decided to stay in the indies. Then, a few months after, at Bound For Glory, you made your Impact Wrestling comeback and announced you signed with the company.
“They offered me a contract that was non-exclusive, meaning that I could still work independent wrestling and can still run Bar Wrestling (his own wrestling promotion). That made it, that was a game-changer as far as me deciding to find anywhere. Also, they wanted me to be me.”
You’ve had the chance to work with a bunch of “Legends” of the business in the ring on IMPACT, Ken Shamrock or Rob Van Dam, who are part of the history of the business?
“I find a lot of support from the veterans and the legends of wrestling because a lot of them who have spent most of their lives in wrestling understand how hard it is to get a character over, and then maintain a thing over for any significant length of time. A lot of them respect the fact that I’ve gotten something so over, and it’s been consistent for the last five years or so. They appreciate that, and they want to work with me, and they’re supportive of what I do.”
You made your comeback at Bound For Glory more or less eight months ago and ever since, with you and also everybody on the roster, IMPACT has become a way better show. How do you feel as a part of this roster and of this company?
“I love what Impact Wrestling’s doing. I think Impact, week in and week out, is maybe the best wrestling television show on that’s being aired, and it’s starting to gain that momentum back that it once had. It’s a long journey because it’s been a while since it’s been on top, but I think the direction is correct and that people are starting to take notice.”
Since you are on IMPACT, we haven’t seen you do any intergender matches, something you are used to doing and is also a signature of yours.
“When I made my debut at Bound For Glory, the Gauntlet match was an intergender rumble. Yes, I haven’t had any intergender singles matches yet, but Impact Wrestling is open to that, obviously with Tessa (Blanchard) being the World Champion. If it’s called upon, I’m more than willing to do it.”
Which wrestlers, male or female, from the current roster, are you looking forward to competing against?
“Right now, in Cancel Culture, we are looking to take care of mentally unwell Stephen, Crazzy Steve as it’s known for the main audience. We’ve taken issue with his name, so we’re looking forward to dealing with that problem. We’ve dealt with the toxic masculinity of the Deaners. We’re just looking to right the wrongs of Impact Wrestling.”
No one from the roster you would consider as a “dream match?”
“There’s a lot of people on the Impact Wrestling roster that I would like to have a match with. It’s a very deep roster, full of talent, there’s a lot to choose from, I don’t know if I can narrow it down to just one or two. As the weeks progress, we’ll see which wrestlers I take aim with for future wrestling matches.”
Are you missing the crowd and the reactions of the crowds, right now that the episodes are taped?
“It’s always better to have the fans there because the fans are why we do this, but we understand that. A lot of the fans also want to see it on television, and we still need to produce television and, the way the world is right now, we can’t do that in front of an audience. We still want to entertain as long as we can do it safely and Impact Wrestling has devised a way for us to do that safely, and I’m happy that we can still come to everyone’s homes. Then eventually, we’ll get the audience back into the live shows, but for right now, we’re doing all we can.”
When it comes to Bar Wrestling, your own promotion in California, you completely stopped the shows?
“We’re taking a hiatus right now until we can. Those shows are not televised, and there’s really no reason to do them without an audience. We wait until we can bring an audience back.”
Do you think of coming back to the UK when the situation will be better? Maybe with Impact Wrestling?
“Yes, I usually go to the UK at least two or three times every year, so I’m looking forward to going back there once we’re able to travel overseas internationally and when audiences are able to come to shows.”
What are your expectations for Impact Wrestling in the future? What do you think you can do, you can bring to help make the company something huge in the future?
“Impact Wrestling is the right path right now. They’re gaining momentum, they’re trending a lot of heads, they’re getting a lot of eyes on the product, so I expect big things for the company. We have a lot of word-of-mouth from our fans, they tell other fans to watch, and I think we’re going to see Impact Wrestling grow.”
Follow Joey/Joseph Ryan on @JoeyRyan. Fight Network dedicated a special episode of Diary to Joey Ryan when he debuted with Impact Wrestling, you can watch it here.
IMPACT Wrestling is airing on Tuesday at 8/7c on AXS TV in the USA. The show is available to view in the UK from 2 am Wednesdays on the IMPACT Plus app. It airs at 9 pm Wednesdays on Fight Network UK (Sky 192/Freesat 161) and repeated at 9 pm on Sundays.
All pics, screencaps and videos courtesy of Impact Wrestling, AXS TV and Basil Mahmud