Sami Callihan defends himself over Eddie Edwards incident ahead of 'I Quit' match

Sami Callihan has sought pro wrestling notoriety since choosing to pursue his dream career a dozen years ago. It nearly took a tragedy for him to achieve it.

Now Callihan, 30, is defending himself from accusations of recklessness and tastelessness for his role in a controversial incident with fellow wrestler Eddie Edwards that aired on Impact Wrestling’s internationally televised weekly program last month.

“People do not understand what, exactly, went down. There’s a lot of variables to this situation,” Callihan told Newsday. “No one can truly know what happened except me and Eddie.”

As Edwards explained to TMZ Sports, the planned spot called for Edwards to lie prone in the ring with a steel chair on top of him and Callihan to hit the chair with a bat to “add impact.” But the chair moved out of position just as Callihan came down with the bat, smashing Edwards, full force, in the face.

Edwards immediately retreated backstage, and was later hospitalized with a broken orbital bone and broken nose.

The incident, which has been viewed more than a half-million times on Impact’s YouTube channel, has garnered considerable interest for Callihan and for Impact, which has seen a steady increase in its TV viewership in recent weeks.

Both Impact and Callihan have sought to cash in. Impact is promoting an “I Quit” match between Edwards and Callihan as part of WrestleCon in New Orleans over WrestleMania weekend. And Callihan has begun selling T-shirts making light of the incident, including one that reads “I broke Eddie’s face.”

Despite being criticized for exploiting the incident, Callihan has defended his reaction.

“How is this in bad taste when, for years upon years upon years in professional wrestling, people have been capitalizing on accident?” Callihan said. “How is this any different? . . . If this is professional wrestling, I’m doing nothing wrong.”

Callihan said he did speak to Edwards backstage immediately after the incident, and has made it clear that “I didn’t do it on purpose.”

As evidence that the attention garnered by the mishap has only helped, Callihan says his wrestling calendar is more full than ever before. At the same time, Callihan acknowledges that the incident may have earned him a reputation in some circles for being dangerous.

“Maybe I’m a crazy maniac that doesn’t know what I’m doing. Or maybe I’m a genius,” Callihan said. “That’s what makes me special . . . I am unpredictable. You do not know what I’m going to do next. You do not know who I’m going to do it to. Professional wrestling is lacking that at the moment.”