Last night, Abyss joined Sting, Kurt Angle, Team 3D, Jeff Jarrett, Earl Hebner, and Gail Kim in the Impact Hall of fame. The former TNA World Heavyweight champion has been with the company since the beginning in 2002. Abyss still makes sporadic television appearances for the promotion, but his role is mostly backstage now.
Abyss' long-time manager James Mitchell elaborates why him and Abyss were such a perfect match:
"In Abyss, I found the collaborator that I had been looking for my entire career," Mitchell said
. "This man was able to take the words that I spoke into the microphone, he was able to turn them into lyrics. He was able to apply a melody to those lyrics and then create violent songs with what he did in the ring."
When Abyss finally spoke, he thanked Mitchell, along with the fans for being the
"glue that's held this Monster together for the last 17 years." He also gave a shout out to AJ Styles, Eric Young, Bobby Roode, Christopher Daniels, Sonjay Dutt, and Low-Ki, stating that,
“for all of the originals, this is for us."