Scott D’Amore has recalled his heartbreak after suffering memory loss following a string of devastating concussions.
The TNA/IMPACT president, who recently announced the influential company will officially return to its roots and branding in 2024, started a storied in-ring career of his own in 1991 but had to cut back after injuries forced his hand in the early 2000s.
He exclusively told Metro.co.uk: ‘I remember 2000, 2001 when I couldn’t bounce back from the concussions and stuff, I just couldn’t get clear headed and I was somebody who, you know – I’ll never say I was the most talented wrestler, but I was far from the worst.
‘And I made a living for a decade almost at that point! But when I couldn’t get clear headed in the ring, it was just so embarrassing. And I remember one night we’re actually in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and I just, I couldn’t remember anything in the ring.
‘It was at the point where I was calling stuff and then messing it up. And just sitting there and having to look at a locker room full of people that just looked at me like… honestly, like, I remember one of my friends asking me if I was on drugs.
‘And I was like, “I swear to God, I’ve never done them”. I just, I couldn’t, I had no short term memory at that point at all. And it was just frustrating, embarrassing.’
It was difficult mentally for the , who took pride in his strengths in the ring.
‘I always prided myself on being pretty strong on that side of the game, right? Knowing what needed to be done, and like having a good memory, and it just abandoned me,’ he said.
He was left wondering ‘what the hell’ he was going to do, and he ended up moving behind the scenes with some smaller promotions, including a spell with World Wrestling All Stars touring the UK, which had a profound impact (no pun intended) in a number of ways.
‘I wasn’t in a great place physically, I’d been concussed and never really bounced back from it,’ he acknowledged, while being part of the UK’s holiday camp wrestling circuit in the mid-1990s had already helped him hone his craft.
His roles behind the scenes led to him meeting Jeff Jarrett, and then joining TNA Wrestling in 2003, while D’Amore remained a huge part of the company until his exit seven years later.
He would return in 2017, initially taking over the creative reigns and moving up the ranks to being named president earlier this year.
‘I got pretty darn lucky and started getting to get little opportunities at smaller companies to work behind the scenes,’ he recalled. ‘I guess in a weird way, there’s a argument to be made that if I don’t get concussed, I maybe don’t end up being the President of TNA Wrestling.’
He was ‘happy being a wrestler’, and despite those concussions 20 years ago he’s still kept active with a handful of matches in the years that followed, but he had to figure out a plan in case it wasn’t an option.
He pondered: ‘Once you’ve been in that spot where you just don’t feel good every day, physically or clear headed, once you get out the other side, and you get into a decent spot, you just appreciate so much that a healthy day that maybe’s not the greatest day is not a bad day, as long as as long as you’re healthy.’
Of course, wrestling does have its risks, and the 49-year-old star admitted even after decades in the game his own mother ‘gets so angry’ and has even been ‘reduced to tears’ when he gets physical in the ring.
He confessed: ‘I always go back and forth. Do I tell her beforehand? She’s gonna stress for weeks and weeks, or do I do I wait till after it’s done and then like, “Okay, look, I’m fine. So now that you know I’m fine, I did this.” ‘
It’s not just his physical exploits though, as D’Amore admitted he ended up in the dog house after not telling his own mother about the plans to bring back the TNA initials.
Sharing a phone call with her during the company’s , he laughed: ‘As I’m asking her how she’s doing, she goes, “Hey, why the EFF didn’t you tell me that TNA is back? Why do I have to find out from somebody else?!” ‘
He added: ‘I don’t know what to say. Sorry mom!’
The rebrand is huge for the company and its chief, who has worked hard to do right by the loyal fanbase and regain some trust after years of bad decisions in previous regimes.
The fact that we get to stand there proudly puff our chest out and say we’re TNA wrestling has me super excited,’ he beamed. ‘Let’s all just agree. We’re TNA Wrestling. We’re back so chant it, cheer it. Let’s effing go!’
TNA Wrestling Hard To Kill airs on January 13, 2024. For more information, head to.
