My World with Jeff Jarrett - Creating TNA II: Here Comes the Money [Show Notes] (Patreon)

Your father reaches out to Warrior. Did you ever have any conversations with Warrior and were you thinking Warrior was someone you envisioned as being part of the roster?

Who’s idea was to use the National Wrestling Alliance? Did they come to you or did you go to them?

Was the plan to use them just for the title and some of the roster? I know Bill Behrens at the time was running NWA Wildside which was really the most “put together” NWA affiliate at the time...and with him being close in proximity it made sense. Was it important to bring him aboard?

At the time the independent wrestling scene consisted of promotions spread out all over the country. Ring of Honor also recently formed. Between ROH & Jersey All Pro Wrestling in the Northeast, were you looking into talent elsewhere? Who did you discover from watching Ring of Honor & JAPW?

Without full investors how are you able to put together budgets for the show? What were you expecting to spend compared to what you were expecting to make?

From the Observer…”Being very conservative with bare-budget production and satellite uplink, break-even would probably be $125,000 per week.”

Does that sound about right to you?

The long talked about issue with doing pay-per-views and was evidenced in ECW’s closing is the delay in getting the pay-per-view money from the pay-per-view companies...how worried were you about that?

Jason Hervey, of Eric Bischoff & The Wonder Years fame, has always been rumored to be interested in pro wrestling. Did you ever have any talks with him?

Halfway through April you have the bones of a roster and you need to start filling the holes. One of them is an announce team. Don West is brought in to be a color commentator along with Ed Ferrera and Mike Tenay. Why take the risk on West and who’s idea was it?

Was Mike Tenay always going to be the play-by-play guy? Reportedly there were talks also with Scott Hudson.

Why Ed Ferrara - was it the Russo connection?

From the Observer…

“To show how little McMahon regards the threat of Jarrett opening up on PPV, Jerry Jarrett had asked Victor Quinones and Savio Vega of IWA to do spanish language announcing for their shows. They have a working agreement with WWF although it doesn't amount to much anymore (no WWF talent is in Puerto Rico nor does WWF send talent there to big shows anymore). They asked McMahon if he would regard that as a problem and McMahon said he saw no problem in it”

Did you ever hear this and have it come back to you? Do you really think Vince wasn’t worried about you?

A deal is made for TNA to become a NWA member. Why the NWA and who were you really able to make the deal with considering there wasn’t much of a NWA at the time?

Bert Prentice, a long time Memphis manager who now runs a Tennessee promotion called USA Wrestling is giving talent ideas and looking to be a part. What was Bert’s role at this time?

You return to WWAS in Australia in the beginning of April and drop the WWAS title to Nathan Jones in a 4-way with Scott Steiner & Brian Christopher. Couple things here Jeff - what was the match like and how hard is it to be putting together a company while in Australia?

Did you and Andrew have any discussions while down there regarding your plans moving forward?

In late April Jeff, you’re making all these moves and deals...but you haven’t announced a venue, you don’t have financing, you kind of have a deal with InDemand. Did you think you were actually going to pull this off?

You have a meeting with Toby Keith in Evansville in April. What was this meeting about?

Richard Scrushy reaches out to you in April regarding a business deal. Who is Scrushy as you mentioned him in our Hold Up Vince McMahon episode?

Your dad brings up some names in his book from around this time and I want your thoughts on them:

-Ray Maddux
-Kirk Webster
-Bob Lankford

-Earl Bentz

What was the hold up in signing the deal with InDemand?

Scrushy sounds like he’s all in to invest and then goes quiet. A press release goes out announcing the project and the idea behind it. It’s all moving. Jeff...YOU HAVE NO FINANCIAL BACKING. How crazy is all this?

From the Observer…”Jerry Jarrett is said to not want Vince Russo as the writer, but Jeff is adamant that he be in that position”

How difficult is this discussion and conversation over the creative force behind the company?

Also from the Observer…”Road Dogg is under house arrest for six months, but both Jarrett and WWA plan on using him again when he's available.”

How much does Brian’s legal issues set you back in your mind?

Scott Hall is released by the WWF due to his behavior. Does he immediately land on your radar and who reaches out first?

Is Scott someone you think can help jumpstart publicity?

Ken Shamrock and Dan Severn supposedly have nuclear heat and Shamrock doesn’t want to work with him. The plan is to use the NWA World Title and Severn is the champion. What was the original idea of using the NWA Title and Dan Severn. Ever any thoughts of doing a UFC superfight rematch for the NWA Title between Ken & Dan?

How is the Von Braun Center in HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA decided upon to be the first venue? Was there any consideration to using the Mid South Coliseum?

What did the Monterey Peninsula have to do with anything?

In the building up of this company does the name Dixie Carter ever come up or the Carter family?

Dave Meltzer gives an update on May 20th regarding your promotion.

“The Jarretts have had meetings with some big corporations, or at least one, when it came to funding, but don't know how they've done as well as attempting to get corporate sponsorships to defray some costs, although at press time none of those deals has been inked. Almost nobody that I've spoken with, including people involved in the venture, sees any way the concept can work. Ryder's selling point to the wrestlers is that without the expense of doing television, the costs are down. Problem is, without television, you're an indie. According to company sources, they need between 40,000 to 50,000 buys per week to break even. The idea they can do that for a taped show is ridiculous after the first month, unless they put out a product so blowaway that it becomes the new in thing and create a super drawing card. But if they somehow can do that, WWE is going to take them anyway, as of the names talked about for the promotion, only a few have signed contracts, and none are longer than 26 shows.

The other problem is payment. Even if, early on, they do get the buys, when are they going to get their money? In Demand is terribly slow in paying, and if you've got expenses of $250,000 per week running a company with no money coming in for three to six months, that adds up very quickly. A.J. Styles, Road Dogg, Disco Inferno, The Harris Twins, Brian Christopher, Shane Douglas and Konnan look to be the biggest names with plans on Styles getting a big push, as well as Jeff Jarrett, who would almost surely wind up with the NWA title, and Ken Shamrock (who signed a 26-show contract with the idea that he would also work for UFC or another MMA group, something WWE would not allow him to do).”

Is this all something you knew at the time regarding the break even?

Why AJ Styles?

Ticket sales are slow in the beginning for Huntsville. Why do you think that is?

Dusty Rhodes at the time is running Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling and you’re in talks with him to come in and work some shows in the beginning stages. How did those negotiations go?

How did you gain control over both the NWA Heavyweight & Tag Team Titles? Was it as easy as it should seem?

Monty Brown is in talks to come aboard. How do you get put into contact with Monty Brown and what were the negotiations like?

You do a radio show with Meltzer and had this to say: “when asked about Russo, praised his creativity and simply said that he can't work for them right now (because of the lawsuit) and left it at that”

The legal issues with Vince and Time Warner and Hulk Hogan...why was that preventing you from bringing him in or was that just the cover story?

An announcement is made promoting 3 people for the first show...Ken Shamrock...PUPPET AND TEO. Jeff...why Puppet and Teo? Did you think they were going to be draws?

There are last minute talks with talent such as Lex Luger in bringing them in for the debut show. At this point are you reaching out to talent or is talent reaching out to you looking for spots and paydays?

The 6-sixed ring became synonymous with TNA later on...was there any thoughts to having it at this time?

Dale Oliver, who we know later on would produce...you know every TNA theme song...gets put into contact with you. How does this come to be and how receptive was Oliver to coming aboard?

Another announcement is made pushing more talent which include Jerry Lynn, Francine & Electra of ECW, Alicia Webb (Ryan Shamrock) among others but Lynn is the only male talent announced. Why was it important to promote the women at this point in the venture?

From the Observer…”Jeff Jarrett had talked with Bret Hart about doing a Team Canada gimmick. I don't think Hart would be involved, but there has been talk of using T.J. Wilson (a teenager from a bad home who grew up with Stu's grandchildren, in particular the late Matthew Annis, and for a time at Stu's house) and has trained with them in the ring for many years), Harry Smith and maybe Ted Hart as a young Team Canada.”

What might’ve been Jeff. What were the conversations with Bret like and how open and receptive to it was he?

Ed Ferrera and Jim Cornette have a legitimate physical altercation at a wrestling show about Ed’s parody of Jim Ross as Oklahoma in WCW. Any worries about using Ferrera at that point?

Was there ever a thought of not putting the NWA Title on Ken and putting it on yourself or do you think it would’ve sent the wrong signal that on the first show you’ve made yourself champion?

From the Observer…”After much of the front office crew saw James Storm and Chris Harris tear down the house at the 6/1 show in Nashville, they were talked with about coming in. We haven't got confirmation either will be on the first show or have agreed to terms”

Were you at this show and what do you remember hearing about it afterwards?

You’re one week away from the first show. Jim Barnett is offered a job by your father to come aboard but Barnett lets him know he’s accepted a job with the WWE. How shocked were you when this happened?

Also on top of the fact you’re one week away from the first show...what is your money situation like? Is it all just you & your dad?

In the middle of all this...VINCE RUSSO TAKES A JOB WITH THE WWE. Yup they bring him back to be part of a writing team. When and how does Vince tell you about this and what were your thoughts?

Supposedly he only lasts two weeks...did that surprise you?

Was there a talent that you were good friends with that you thought were a lock to come into work that just totally took advantage of the situation? Did you ask anyone to come in as a “buddy rate” or did you attempt to avoid that?

As we get to the first show let’s run through some names of people that were of importance:

-Stanley Shanker

-Bobby Randall

The X division...why do you think this was an important division for you?
Who came up with the X division and what was the original idea behind it?

Jeff talk to us about girls in cages...and why?

Any last minute talent changes in the run up to the show?

From the Observer two days away from your debut show…”To say that Jarrett Sports Entertainment's new NWA TNA promotion is bucking long odds, is putting things mildly.

The show debuts on 6/19 on PPV in the United States, although not all cable systems are carrying the show. They don't have deals with either Cablevision or the Dish Networks in the U.S., but do have DirecTV. This should cut their universe down to 35 to 40 million homes from the nearly 50 million homes that have PPV access. That knocks 20% to 30% off their revenue while not saving anything in costs. In addition, the main Canadian distributor, Viewers Choice Canada, at press time has decided to pass on the show and Bell Vu, Canada's leading satellite company has only committed for the first week. Generally speaking, buy rates are higher in Canada than the U.S. for wrestling, although they probably wouldn't have been for this product.”

Not getting clearance for Canada is a big deal. Why the issues there?

Do you agree with Melzter that you were looking to buck the long odds?

You come to an agreement with Dish Network right before the show. How frustrating is it to be doing deals like this right before airtime?

From the Observer…”Disco Inferno apparently turned down appearing because they wanted to change his name to Ad Man, where they would sell ads on him like a lot of the boxers do these days. Actually it was more like race drivers, and they were going to do a gimmick where he'd have all these ads, but every week when he lost a match, one of his sponsors would pull out until he had almost no sponsors left. Basically the gimmick is he'd lose every match, which is why he turned it down”

Tell me this is real Jeff. Please tell me this is real.

It’s the day before the first show...what’s running through your mind?

We will cover the ACTUAL debut in two weeks so we’ll stop here.