Those working at Impact Wrestling gave a touching tribute to the late Don West at last night’s Impact Hard to Kill Pay-Per-View.
West joined Impact (then NWA:TNA Wrestling) in 2002 and was the voice of the promotion for years.
On December 30, 2022, West died from lymphoma of the brain at the age of 59.
During last night’s show, Impact’s first Pay-Per-View since Don’s passing, the roster gathered on the entrance ramp and a ten-bell salute was given in West’s memory.
Don West
Before coming to wrestling, West made his name on the Shop at Home Network, joining the channel as a knife salesman in 1991.
In 1993, West would be promoted to Sports Collectibles, a position he had applied for years earlier, but had been rejected due to his “scrabbly voice.”
West won over viewers with his passionate, often frantic sales pitches, which were parodied by the likes of Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan on Saturday Night Live.
After turning down an offer to join WCW in early 2001 (wisely seeing that the promotion’s days were numbered) West joined Impact a year later, after Vince Russo introduced him to Jeff Jarrett.
West debuted for Impact on the June 19, inaugural Pay-Per-View, and would later host the YouTube series ‘TNA Today.’
Using his Shop at Home Network skills, West would promote new TNA merch as part of his ‘Don West Brown Bag Specials’ and would be made Head of Merchandise development in 2009.
In May 2012, West parted ways with TNA, having accepted a role as director of sales and marketing for the Wenatchee Wild ice hockey team.
In 2017, West returned to Impact as part of the merchandise team and would commentate one last time at Slammiversary XV that July.
