Former NXT Champion Reveals Offers From IMPACT & ROH Prior To WWE Move

WWE

Former NXT Tag Team Champion Danny Burch (now known as Martin Stone) has revealed that his career could have taken multiple different paths prior to signing full-time with WWE in 2018.

Speaking to his former NXT rival Bobby Fish on his Undisputed Podcast, Stone revealed that other options were on the table from top American promotions IMPACT and ROH before receiving a full-time contract offer from WWE.

Stone sated that the offer would come while under a part-time deal with WWE, something he had between 2015-2017, appearing sporadically on NXT over that time.

As a result of his uncertain contract status Stone sent out feelers to IMPACT and ROH, with interest coming from both parties, however, when WWE came in the choice was a clear one.

Stone said:

“And at that point in time (when I was under a part-time deal with WWE), I was able to quit work because it was the first time I’d really been able to be an independent wrestler because of what I was earning so it was a nice break from that so I got to be home a lot more on the weekends.I was at home with my wife and my step-daughter so, it was really great.

“Then that contract was coming up to a head on, I think it was March and I hadn’t heard anything so I was like, they’re just gonna let this run through and they’ll be like, great, thank you for your time. We’ll be in touch. That’s the conversation I thought I was gonna get.

“So anyway, I get a text that morning from — it was a guy called Paul. I can’t remember his last name but I think he was just working with Canyon (Ceman) then he goes, ‘Oh! Congrats on your contract. We’ll be sending all the details to you in like the next day or so.’

“In my head, I thought they’re just gonna renew this one. Because I had started to put the feelers out there to Ring of Honor and IMPACT and there was some interest there.

“So then I was like, oh, well they’re just gonna renew this for another six months. Oh, okay, well whatever, anyway. So then I get a phone call like 20 minutes later and Canyon’s like, ‘I’m so sorry. He’s completely spoiled the surprise. This is Hunter’s call. We wanna bring you back full-time.’

“So I was just like, oh! Sh*t, okay and he was like, yep, blah, blah, blah. ‘We’ll see you WrestleMania weekend in New Orleans,’ which was that weekend. So I got that call on a Monday or a Tuesday. I’m not gonna coat this one but literally, I got off the phone and cried, because I couldn’t believe I’d done it.

“I called my mom at home and she just lost her sh*t. I just couldn’t believe I got back and I couldn’t believe it but I got back at the most exciting time during NXT. This is when it was really NXT.”

Stone would be with WWE until January 2022 when he was released from his contract, just months following his partner Oney Lorcan’s release in November 2021.

Transcript courtesy of POST Wrestling.

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• Danny Burch
• ROH
• IMPACT
• nxt
• wwe

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