Big Kon Signs New Deal With Impact Wrestling

On Wednesday, news broke that someone who's become an Impact Wrestling regular in the past couple months has signed with the company. PWTorch.com's Zack Heydorn reported that Big Kon, real name Ryan Parmeter, has signed a multi-year deal with Impact, although further terms of the deal were not revealed. The former Konnor of The Ascension in WWE started as a regular in Impact in November, joining The Design, the stable that Deaner took over from Eric Young. 

"Impact Wrestling has rejuvenated me," Parmeter told PWTorch. "It helped me find that passion again." Noting that he met his wife, Krissy Vaine, by way of them both being pro wrestlers, he added: "It has given me so much. So, I feel like I owe it back to this profession that I love so much."

Best-known as Ryan O'Reilly before he went to WWE, Parmeter first entered the company's developmental program in 2005, reporting to Deep South Wrestling in the Atlanta area. It was there that he met his future wife in 2006. In late 2007, they made headlines by asking for releases from their contracts, telling Slam! Wrestling that October that illnesses in both of their families led to an epiphany about their priorities.

Ryan re-signed with WWE in 2010, reporting to Deep South's replacement, Tampa-based Florida Championship Wrestling, and adopting the name Conor O'Brian. After participating in the early game show-style seasons of "NXT," he was repackaged as part of the gothic-themed Ascension stable, where he was renamed Konnor. In September 2014, The Ascension, by this point consisting of Konnor and the former Rick Victor as Viktor, was brought to the main roster as Road Warriors knockoffs. The Ascension never got a sustained push, but they lasted under contract until being cut in December 2019.