My World with Jeff Jarrett - Creating TNA III: Huntsville Bound [Show Notes] (Patreon)

We are at the final part of the beginning of TNA before we get to the first show! Jeff no one has ever been able to do this type of deep dive in the beginnings of a wrestling promotion and it’s unlike anything that’s ever been done in wrestling podcast history. You’re still a trailblazer!

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 run up to the debut you did some press and there’s some stuff in there that’s interesting.

“Len Sabal, a partner in K-4 LLC -- a sports and entertainment consulting firm working with JSE - said the series will showcase such grapplers as Jeff Jarrett, Ken Shamrock, Apolo, Harley Race and A.J. Styles.”

Lots to unpack here. Here’s Len Sabal...who we’ve talked about and will talk about more later on...doing the promotion as a partner.

Also you’re promoting yourself, Shamrock, Apolo, Harley Race and AJ Styles. Out of those names why include Apolo & Styles? Did you think they may strike a chord with “Smart” fans?

You give a quote in an interesting press release. “Our show fills a void currently in the marketplace. With its fast paced storylines and Total Nonstop Action, we will give fans, as well as those who might have stopped wrestling in the past year, a new entertainment experience.”

I bring this quote up Jeff because as anyone listening to My World or looks at your Twitter knows you’re a hell of a promotion guy. You’ve been on god knows how many radio shows and done so many interviews promoting the launch of this podcast. Was it similar for you here with the launch of TNA or did you not really hone in on your promoting skills until later on?

Bottom of the press release also is interesting: “Contact: media, Dixie Carter, Public Relations of Trifecta Entertainment.”

Dixie...Carter...this is the earliest involvement I can find in my research of the name being associated with TNA. Did you ever meet with her at this time?

There’s a nationally syndicated story by Scott Sloan that mentions TNA in a blurb about how there’s a new promotion coming out. In the story about how independent wrestlers are feeling the squeeze of WCW & ECW closing and only having one game in town, Dory Funk Jr. is quoted about your venture. “Funk said the new promotion, which features some WCW wrestlers who were not picked up by WWE after the purchase, could mean more jobs for aspiring wrestlers. Most analysts, though, expect the promotion to fail.”

Did you find it hard to get into the mainstream news and publications to do stories...not just promoting you...but talking about the emergence of a new wrestling company?

Did you have to just rely on the internet and word of mouth of wrestling fans at that time?

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?

From the Observer 6/3/02: “The first PPV on 6/19 will feature some sort of a tournament, and the word we've heard the most is a Royal Rumble as opposed to an actual, to decide the NWA title. Dan Severn was conveniently stripped of the belt on 5/28 for not agreeing to work the 6/19 show. Severn was first contacted by NWA Board members Bill Behrens and Richard Arpin about a month ago with the idea of dropping the title on 6/19. He told them he had already made a prior booking (a King of the Cage show in New Mexico) so he wouldn't be available for that date, but since the PPVs are Wednesday and he's almost never booked mid-week, he'd be available for any future date. Last week, Bob Ryder of NWA TNA called him up and asked him if he could appear, and he again mentioned the previous booking. Rather than build up a title match on what would be the third PPV (because the second is a show taped on the first night), the decision was made to strip Severn of the title, likely because they really didn't want to use him as champion in the first place and this gave them a convenient excuse to do whatever it is they planned involving the people they want to involve in it”

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?

There is rumor and innuendo at the time that part of the creative was Ed Ferrera and Mike Tenay feuding in an old school (Tenay) vs new school (Ferrera) idea. Was this ever considered and where do you think that would’ve gone?

Just because it was happening at the time but the WWF’s second season of Tough Enough ends on May 30th with Linda Miles & Jackie Gayda winning. Jake Sokoloff and Kenny King were the other two finalists. Was there thought of bringing them in at that time since they were right off “WWF TV?”

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?

From the Observer…”The NWA title will be up on 6/19 in a Gauntlet for Gold, which will be a Royal Rumble style Battle Royal. They can't use the term Royal Rumble since it's trademarked by WWE. So they will establish themselves as a second rate WWE on their first show, doing a concept so associated with WWE. Names announced so far in it are Shamrock, Jarrett, Apolo, Brian Christopher, Scott Hall (whose WWE release went through this past week) and Bagwell (who WWE turned down when he tried to get back in after that failed stint last year). Of those, the only two with a prayer are Shamrock or Jarrett unless they are foolish, and I'd strongly suspect Shamrock since they'll get knocked for going directly to Jarrett, plus they are going with the belief that since Shamrock has drawn good buy rates in the past (okay, they were seven years ago and it was UFC), that he means something as a PPV draw. The title would have been taken much more seriously had they done a tournament, plus, a 16-man tournament takes you through four TV shows instead of just one”

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?

Do you agree with Dave’s thought process that the title would be taken more seriously with a tournament building to a winner than launching it on the first show?

“Joel Gertner and Mortimer Plumtree will be used as a manager and Ricky Steamboat is being brought in for the debut show as another legend”

Who’s idea was Gertner and Plumtree?

You’ve talked about bridging the gap between the lapsed fan and creating new stars. Where would Ricky Steamboat fit which category? Capturing the lapsed fan?

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?

From the Observer…”Many of the wrestlers involved have only signed single event contracts, for 6/19. It shows that they aren't nearly as committed long-term as they say on the outside. The problem here is that if somebody sneaks through the cracks and gets over, they're in WWE the next week. At least with long-term deals, you can build, knowing you've at least got guys past the first month if they catch on”

Was there fear about signing people to long term deals?

Meltzer sort of runs down your top tier talent at this point:

“The obvious problem by using Hall and Bagwell, is that unless they are using them for a one-show special deal with the idea they'll hook viewers, and use them to immediately create new stars, they become the stars, and ultimately, the death of the company. If they are counted on as being regulars, it shows that the company knows it's dead and everything is simply a "Hail Mary" and that they also never learned any of the lessons from the brutal death of WCW. If they had confidence in their ability to make stars, you don't even want people like that anywhere near your company. And if you don't have that confidence, you're done. At least with Hall, it is not a one-show deal

Were you worried about Hall & Bagwell in trying to help make new stars with their previous attitude issues?

From Meltzer: “The Shamrock situation is this. He was negotiating with WWE and they had agreed to allow him to work a 12-date per month schedule, the same scheduled they allowed Hogan, Nash and Undertaker. However, they wouldn't guarantee him for this year the amount of money he claimed he had on the table for shootfights, so he turned them down to pursue those, wanting to do three big money matches over the next year”

How important was the schedule to Ken in your discussions with him?

Observer: “Advanced tickets for the debut in Huntsville are poor. They still had third row ringside available as of this weekend, which probably means less than 300 tickets in a 7,000-seat building. Little question they'll be forced to heavily paper the week before the show.”

Bert Prentice is put in charge of going to Huntsville to drum up business and ticket sales. Why do you think it wasn’t connecting to get a house for a debut event?

Vince McMahon is asked about the upcoming debut on a Byte This! Internet show on WWF.com:

“He gave no answer when asked about NWA TNA other than he didn't understand how they could promote it properly with no television. He said promoting just to the small audience that watches your PPV is narrowcasting and makes things difficult. He said paying $9.95 to see a two hour show, when they get two hours for free on Mondays and Thursdays sounds difficult unless they are so unique that they deliver something totally different from their shows. He said he had no opinion on the product because he hasn't seen the show.”

You’ve talked about on the night you were Fired on National TV episode that the next time you spoke to Vince was regarding you starting TNA and the possibility of working together. When did you talk to Vince, what was the conversation about, and how did you feel on his answer before you debuted?

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?

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 Meltzer 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.

From the Observer…”Apolo appears to have quit IWA for NWA TNA as he no-showed the weekend.” Who’s pushing for Apolo and what do you think the ceiling would’ve been for him?

What other promotions were you talking with about having talent exchanges and agreements? It’s rumored that Zero-One, who was booking Low-Ki at the time, was part of that conversation and they were possibly interested in Shinya Hashimoto facing Ken Shamrock. Was there anybody else?

There’s rumor and innuendo at the time you were trying to put together a rematch of the Celebrity Boxing match between Joanie Laurer and Joey Buttafuoco. Did that actually happen and how deep into negotiations did you get?

From the Observer…”They have made some changes that are for the better in theory. The idea of doing two shows at every taping has been nixed, as well as the touring. The new plan is to tape two shows on 6/19 in Huntsville, AL, and then starting on 7/3 (and is that a bad night for PPV or what?), running every Wednesday night at the 9,000-seat Nashville Municipal Auditorium. That building lost most of its business to the more modern Gaylord Entertainment Center, so they can get a cush rent deal because the building is empty much of the time. The building may be too big to weekly paper, but they are apparently trying to work with some local businesses to get enough free passes out. The disaster of attempting to sell tickets in Huntsville apparently made them realize the idea of booking a mid-sized building and selling tickets wasn't going to fly.”

Why the change at this point?

“Rick Steiner, Konnan, Steve Corino, Norman Smiley, Devon Storm, Vampire Warrior (David Heath) and K-Krush (Ron Killings, formerly K-Kwik in WWF) have been added to the Battle Royal line-up. The womens Battle Royal will be a lingerie Battle Royal that will be taped 6/19 and air on the 6/26 show. The cruiserweight title will be put up in a six-man one-night tournament that also airs on 6/26 with Jerry Lynn, Low Ki, A.J. Styles, Sonny Siaki, Jorge Estrada and Jimmy Yang.”

We’ve talked in the previous episodes about how the closer to the shows you get the creative makes it easy. Who’s the one reaching out at this point to book talent...or running your “Talent Relations?”

Added to the legends list on the show will be Jackie Fargo (who I'd almost bet would be used again for 7/3 in Nashville since even as late as last year he could still draw a little there).

Was the thought process of booking Jackie Fargo to draw a crowd or just knowing what he can bring to a show?

Mike & Todd Shane will be Richard (get it, Dick) & Rod (get, it Rod) Johnson with Mortimer Plumtree of Steel Domain wrestling as manager. This group got the XWF costume designers to give them a costume with the idea they'll look like giant penises. It's become something of a controversy so they may back off on that by the time 6/19 rolls around, or may go with it with the idea that controversy will equal talk and this is a hail mary project.

Jeff...this ends up happening as we will later go over...but what in the hell?

Shane Douglas was offered a spot, but had made a demand that they not use Francine (falling out in their ECW days). They decided Francine was the more valuable of the two. I guess time will tell if they made the right decision

I mean I don’t blame you there Jeff.

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

We will cover the ACTUAL debut next week so we’ll stop here.