David Penzer is happy with the respectful sendoff he got from TNA Wrestling.
Penzer spoke with WrestleZone while promoting his new book, Sitting Ringside: Volume 1. The long-time WCW ring announcer’s tenure in TNA spanned ten years across three stints, from 2006–2010, again in 2017 and from 2020-2023. His latest run ended in December 2023 at the Final Resolution tapings, as he “passed the torch” to new ring announcer Jade Chung.
Penzer shared more insight on his departure while speaking with WrestleZone Managing Editor Bill Pritchard, explaining that it was not his decision to leave. Penzer said he had plenty of notice about the move, but didn’t know the switch was linked to the then-unannounced plans to rebrand IMPACT Wrestling as TNA Wrestling.
David Penzer on his departure from IMPACT Wrestling
“It wasn’t my decision. About six months before, probably mid-summer, Scott came to me and said, ‘before we talk about it in the production meeting…’ Well, first he called me over, even though I’ve known him for 30 years and we are friends. He hardly ever waves his finger like, ‘Come over here.’ So it’s like, ‘Oh here we go…’ And he goes, ‘No, nothing to worry about. But I do want to tell you before we talk about it in the production meeting that Jen Alexander, Jade Chung is going to do [announcing for] the Before the Impact matches’ —the two kind of pre-show matches we do so to speak, ‘at every taping.’ And I said, ‘Oh okay.’
“And I thought, ‘Hey maybe that was it for me.’ He goes, ‘Well, you can’t do this forever.’ I said, ‘Well, I understand that.’ He said, ‘Well there might be a time coming up here, that it might come to an end for now.’ And I said, ‘Could you give an estimation [of when you might make that move to replace me] because I don’t have to worry about it.’ He goes, ‘You’re good through at least end of the year.’ What I didn’t know that he knew and he couldn’t tell me is, he was bringing TNA back and he wanted a new look, which made a lot of sense. But he made it clear that I was passing the mic to Jen. So I took that as a great deal of source of pride. Gary Capetta passed the mic to me. I wanted to take it as an [opportunity to] help her out as much as I can.”
“That’s the way the company is. It’s a family.”
Penzer said Jade is a natural in the role, but still helped her with things like communicating with the production truck. What Penzer was not expecting, however, was the sendoff that TNA gave him at the Final Resolution event in Toronto. Penzer couldn’t believe the company flew him out for that show, and shared how much the gesture meant to him.
“They brought me up to Toronto for that Final Resolution show, and I’m thinking to myself, ‘Who does this?’ My replacement is there. I mean, who flies you up to a one-off show, pay-per-view, from Florida, pays you, puts you up in a hotel room? I just thought that was incredibly classy of Scott to do. And then what was supposed to happen at the end of the show, because this was the last IMPACT Show. They were going to continue at Hard to Kill in January with TNA. And what was said on the format was that the IMPACT talent comes out and says goodbye to IMPACT. Sort of ceremonial goodbye to IMPACT,” Penzer explained.
It will always mean a lot to me
“What I had no freaking clue [about] and [I’m still] blown away by is that Scott had arranged for them to all come out and say goodbye to me. He gave me a plaque,” Penzer continued, “and really put me over. And the crowd and the talent were chanting, ‘Thank you Penzer.’ And that means so much to me. It didn’t have to be done. They are a small company. They could have used that money somewhere else. But they did it for me. And that really means a lot. That send-off was special and will always mean a lot to me.”
Penzer said it was a shame that Scott D’Amore’s tenure in TNA didn’t last much longer, as he was released on February 7. However, he praised the family atmosphere in the locker room, especially with how they dealt with the situation, and said the TNA roster “will always have a special place in my heart.”
Sitting Ringside: Volume 1 is available now on GuyEvansBooks.com, DavidPenzerBook.com, or online retailers like Amazon.
Watch our full interview with David Penzer below:
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