My World w/ Jeff Jarrett - Ring Ka King [Show Notes] (Patreon)

Today we’re discussing Ring Ka King…the Indian offshoot program that you were in charge of for TNA…I mean that’s the rumor and innuendo. Was that in fact the plan here?

How did this all come together?

Who’s idea was it - and what did you think of the idea?

Why was it important to get into the Indian market?

Was this all funded by TNA - and what was Endemol’s role in the money?

The wheels are put into motion in May it feels like - does that sound right to you?

Who was your first calls to? Who was important for you to put on your staff?

The end of June is when it seems things get put into motion in India. How long was the negotiation - and how was it setup to get things done in India? Did you have someone there to speak to?

What was All Wheels Wrestling? That was supposed to be separate from Ring Ka King is that right?

It’s reported in early October in the Observer that the show will be produced for the Indian market and that Sonjay Dutt & BG James have gone to India to scout potential talent for the show. Was there ever a consideration on filming it in the United States to air in India or was it always supposed to be in India?

Why Sonjay & BG?

Sonjay & BG supposedly found 250-300 guys who came out for it over 3-4 cities and they had to narrow it down. How was that process?

You would add David Lagana as the director of creative writing a few weeks later. Why Lagana?

He never actually made it to India did he?

In the Observer it’s reported that BG James is hired by the WWE. Was that a shot to you and the project this early on?

It’s also reported in the Observer that no TNA wrestling talent would be involved and that you would be the one finding most of the talent. Were there contract issues with trying to have TNA wrestlers brought to Ring Ka King?

How was it named?

Now you’re written off television in 2011 - was that always the plan when the project started?

Let’s be honest Jeff - was this your attempt to show TNA you should be back in charge and running the company - since that was no longer your role in the company anymore…

There are various people brought in to help including Savio Vega & Nick Dinsmore to help train wrestlers that needed it - who made those decisions?

They were in India the whole time right?

How active was Dixie or other members of TNA in the planning and actual formation of this group?

What was different about starting this promotion than TNA?

It’s also reported that Dutch Mantel is being brought back specifically for Ring Ka King - did TNA pay these people or was it a separate entity?

In the middle of December it’s officially announced:

“Colors and Endemol were promoting Ring Ka King in movie theaters alongside DON 2, a mega blockbuster Bollywood movie starring the biggest star in the history of Indian cinema. So they were targeting some major eyeballs

Colors at that point was the third biggest channel in terms of TRPs hosting a number of reality TV shows including India's version of Big Brother, which was called Bigg Boss.”

But at the same time you’re written out of TNA by losing at Final Resolution in a steel cage match to Jeff Hardy - at that point in time did you think that would be the last time you would appear for TNA?

Chris Masters is also brought in to be talent - was there anyone you contacted that you really wanted to come in that didn’t happen?

How was the structure? You would be running the promotion - Dutch & Lagana as creative - Savio and some of the wrestlers as agents - and then the talents?

How was the deal put together for the building?

Who had a ring?

Who was in charge of figuring all that out? Was it difficult?

How much time did you spend in India?

How much communication did you have from America to India? Who was the person you relied on the most there?

By late December more and more news is coming out about talent coming in including TNA roster members Scott Steiner, Magnus, Abyss among others. Why was the decision made to include TNA roster members and why those guys?

It is said to be a 13-week commitment from Colours in India with 2 episodes a week airing, Saturday & Sunday so 26 episodes in all…how was that agreed upon?

Be honest Jeff - how much money was in this deal for TNA…and for you?

The plan is to tape the first half of shows in December and then the other half in January is that correct?

The production and building are really impressive…and some would say better than what was in the Impact Zone at the time…how important was the presentation to you?

Was there ever hope of airing this in any other countries or because it was so Indian based it wouldn’t have made sense to do so?

From the Observer: “The only early reports we got is that the crowds were super hot. Most had never seen live wrestling before. It was a completely different reaction than from the WWE guys in India years back when that was almost universally considered the worst overseas excursion ever, with many of the wrestlers getting sick (and William Regal nearly losing his career) due to unsanitary conditions, not to mention when they got back, because the gates were so bad and expenses were so high, the pay was awful. We’ve heard this tour has been great, as the local promoters have earmarked a huge budget for production and the guys feel they are on the ground floor of something big. I was told the plans were to do simple, old school booking. There were also positive remarks about working in a Bischoff free zone since unless you are a top guy, there is a lot of negativity toward Bischoff, which is exactly the same as it was in the WCW days.”

William Regal almost died from being on that Indian tour with the WWE and as Meltzer said the WWE hadn’t run the market much because of that and the lackluster gates. What was so different about Ring Ka King and do you think that break for the market with live events helped?

Who were the local promoters?

Did the guys feel that this could be something more than just one season as Meltzer speculated?

Were the TNA talent happy to be out of the Bischoff free zone as Meltzer would suggest?

Was there issues with you having people at the TNA office working on this project that weren’t TNA employees? Was there any jealousy?

Do you think Ring Ka King outshined the TNA sets?

Finally all the news comes out - ironically from a tweet by Matt Morgan who tells the world that it’s called Ring Ka King. Was that something you were upset about?

From the Observer 1/2/12:

“The promotion in India is called Ring Ka King: Wrestling Ka Mahayuddh, which means King of the Ring: Wrestling’s Megabattle. They taped at the Belwadi Sports Complex in Pune, India, not far from Mumbai, in a 1,500-seat building that was packed with people being turned away.

A lot of the fans were people hired by the promoters to be spectators, so the idea of having easy crowds and great reactions by people who are hired extras isn’t necessarily that telling. Most TV shows of this type produced in India that have studio crowds have the crowds consist of basically extras hired so they make the right reactions, but there was also regular fans there and because virtually none had ever seen wrestling live, it was really easy to get a reaction from them.”

This mindset of having hired fans compared to actual fans - was that the practice that took place in India? Was that something that was important to you or the local promoters?

Did you need to check in or report to Dixie while all this was going on or was there another faith in you that you could handle it?

Let’s run through some of the talent and the plans behind them…

Matt Morgan is the top babyface in the beginning as he wins a tournament to be the first champion. Why was Matt the first champion?

Magnus has his name changed to Sir Brutus Magnus - acting like an English heel.

There is also Bulldog Smith - Harry Smith - but it’s also in reports that he was called Brakkus as well. Was he ever called Brakkus?

Also Chavo Guerrero came over as well before he started in TNA. Chavo & Harry Smith are the winners of the tag team title tournament to be the first tag team champions - they’re both fresh out of the WWE at this point in time - was that the reason for them to be champions?

Trevor Murdoch is renamed Roscoe Jackson, Nick Dinsmore is turned into a Doctor and Chris Masters is coined American Adonis. Who was coming up with this Jeff?

There are a bunch of Indian wrestlers also making their debut on TV - but they had worked for a group from South Africa that had run there before called “100% De Dhana Dhan.” Was this the talent Sonjay & BG scouted?

Did you see anyone coming out of that group as being names or had any hope for?

Was the plan all along to make an Indian star and you needed to build someone to be fed to them first?

From the Observer:

“The show will air on both Saturday and Sunday nights on Colours, one of the three major network stations in India, and given the population there, that means the actual television audience is likely to be gigantic. There are no plans to tour and the company producing this is Endomol, which spent a fortune bringing in a huge crew of wrestlers, flying them there, putting them up in five star hotels and on production of the show. The question immediately was how to monetize this, because television stations in India are notoriously poor in paying because the economy there is so bad and WWE found out when they went there that no matter how big your ratings are, touring is almost impossible because the people have no money for tickets. WWE and TNA have been very popular on television in India and the population is enormous, but neither company has ever garnered any kind of significant revenue out of the market, even when it comes to merchandise royalties. The show will also be available in both the U.S. and U.K. since Colors airs on some cable systems including Dish in the U.S…..”

Well how were the hotels and the catering?

Were you worried about the money being generated or made so it would stay a thing or was that something out of your control and you were just focusing on the best product possible?

Also from the Observer:

“Shawn Daivari and brother Arya Daivari are a tag team called The Snakes and have an alliance with Raisha Saeed (Melissa Anderson doing her old TNA gimmick). Mickie James is her babyface counterpart who teams with the Indian natives. Abyss is there as a top heel to feud with Morgan. Scott Steiner is also a top heel who has gotten tremendous heat riling up fans…..”

Man the Daivari’s have been everyone haven’t they?

Tell us about Scott Steiner and the heat he would get…

“The big native star of the television show is Harbhanjan Singh, who is one of the stars on the national cricket team. Cricket in India would be equivalent in popularity to the NFL in the U.S.”

Info on Harbhanjan Singh:

Shoutout to Bharat Sund

Harbhajan Singh was in many ways a heel character in world cricket even if he was beloved in his own country.

He'd once been suspended for having slapped an opponent on the ground at the end of the match in the Indian Premier League because he felt insulted by him. This opponent turned out to be a fellow Indian cricketer and quite a high-profile one.

Harbhajan always rubbed the Australians the wrong way and was referred to as an "obnoxious little weed" by some of the Aussies

It’s said that Endemol was very keen on roping in a cricketer to get more eyeballs while promoting Ring ka King, Harbhajan with his reputation and credentials was the perfect choice.

When are you presented about this and did you have any issues on Singh coming in?

Was he easy to work with?

“Incidentally, Harbhajan was still centrally contracted by the Indian cricket board when he was roped in for Ring ka King. And there is a clause in these central contracts that disallows cricketers from partaking in any "adventurous or risky" activities. Be it bungee jumping or skydiving or jet-skiing" so definitely getting into the ring with Abyss or Jeff Jarrett was out of question in terms of there being any physicality.”

When you learned about that did that put a damper on the ideas and thoughts of having him involved?

How hard is it to equate how massive he was?

The stars of cricket are really like - as described to us - “Tom Brady and Brad Pitt rolled into one and then multiplied a few times in terms of celebrity status”

Is that a fair assessment?

Was the Great Khali’s exposure and his push in the WWE really something that connected with India that you know of?

What was different about the shows and the crowd?

Well the promotion launches and the Observer has this to say:

“The Ring Ka King promotion in India that filmed this past week is now called "Tata Prima Presents Ring Ka King." The issue with the show right now is that it was super expensive to bring in a crew of talent for the week and film shows. The Colors network, the third biggest in India, made a commitment for a 13-week series (26 episodes, airing on Saturday night and Sunday nights at 8 p.m.), and while ratings are important, the real issue is if they can get sponsors. Because of the cost, ad rates for the show are high. They have been promoting the show heavily, as there has been a ton of media, as well as ads during movie previews and billboards in 70 markets. Usually in India when it comes to new programming they start promoting it 7-10 days out, but they have done a five week promotional campaign for this show. There is hope of doing live events and doing merchandise if it works out. The network has toned down violence on the show. Colors had tried pro wrestling before, using a promotion from South Africa and another from Argentina, but both did not do well in the ratings. The difference is that American wrestling is more advanced and they spent time training Indians. They have a 30-man roster consisting of 14 Indian wrestlers (some of who are based in North America) and 16 non-Indian wrestlers.”

It’s weird to see the 3rd biggest television station in a country get behind a professional wrestling show but man did they in a big way?

Did you get any warnings or standards & practices on what you could and couldn’t do?

Was there talk of doing live events & merchandise? Who would’ve been in charge of that or did you never even get to that level of conversation?

“Colors is promoting it as a reality show, not a sports or entertainment show, calling it the biggest reality show on the network, saying it's a sports reality show. The names pushed by the network as the stars are Jeff Jarrett, Matt Morgan, Scott Steiner and Abyss on the foreign side (interestingly, both heavyweight champion Sir Brutus Magnus and tag champs Chavo Guerrero & Harry Smith were not being promoted) and natives Jwala, Mahabali Veera, Romeo Rapta, Zoravar and Deadly Danda. The show is built around Harbhajan Singh, a cricket star who is one of the most famous athletes in the country.”

Why do you think the champions weren’t being promoted?

Two of those names from the Indian side made it to the US - Mahabali Veera - who had his most exposure with Impact while having a cup of coffee in NXT - and Deadly Danda now known as Sanga in NXT as the bodyguard of Grayson Waller.

Are you surprised just those two made it to the US? Was there any talks about ever bringing any of the others over?

Observer:

“The first two shows taped last month aired on TV in India on Colors (which also airs in the U.K., Canada and the U.S. on some systems that carry that network). The look and production of the show was awesome. Mika Singh, an Indian pop star and movie star came out with dancers singing with the crowd going crazy and this stuff made Raw during its good years look minor league. I get a kick out of Sir Brutus Magnus, who is apparently doing the gimmick he did while on U.K Gladiators, but that Dr. Nicholas Dinsmore gimmick made me think I was watching Los Colosso Del Ring from Peru or wherever it was so beyond goofy. And I mean that in a bad way. Dinsmore and Savio Vega trained a lot of the Indian wrestlers for only a few weeks so there was no way around them being super green. Given those limitations, the wrestling involving those guys was as good as it had any right to be, but it isn’t good, but for mainstream India, that’s hardly going to make a difference as the audience it is aimed for has never seen wrestling so every angle or any level of wrestling is new to them. There are hardcore fans of pro wrestling in the country that know WWE and TNA, but those groups have never had this kind of exposure on a major network in prime time.”

Was the wrestling that important here or was it the production?

Having Mika Singh on the debut episode doing his hit song - Mera Hero - that’s so big culturally isn’t it? It laid out that you guys were a real deal and part of the mainstream is that right?

“One guy, Mahabali Veela, got over because he looks like Batista and tries to wrestle like him as well. Plus, he was in with Dinsmore, his trainer. He was the Indian pushed as a main character as the first show ended with Matt Morgan (lead babyface) & Veela squaring off with Scott Steiner and Sonjay Dutt (a top heel). Shawn & Arya Daivari are Sheikh Abdul Bashir and Sheikh Mustafa, a brother tag team who are heels. On the second TV show they already did a gimmick where if the Sheikhs lost, they would be fired. Thankfully they won. Maxx B is an Indian who does a boxer/MMA fighter gimmick but isn’t very big, and got killed by Scott Steiner. The footage of fans running away from Steiner as he goes through the crowd like the 80s Japanese footage of people like Brody, Hansen, Sheik and Abdullah looked good. The wrestling on the first show was bad, but it improved in the second show with a Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Dutt main event. Chris Masters as American Adonis wears his same Chris Masters tights with the “M” on them. The Masterlock challenge is now the Adonislock challenge.”

How much of this is a work in progress? Who did the editing - yourself, Keith Mitchell - or Colors?

2/13/12:

Ring Ka King's debut on 1/28 did a 2.2 rating, which is very good, not great for Saturday night programming on that network. That would be about 14 million viewers. The show went 67 minutes and the last seven minute overrun did a 2.9 and 18 million viewers. It got tremendous publicity because of Harbhanjan Singh and was the second highest rated show on Colors for the week (Colors is not one of the top rated networks), behind only their version of "Dancing With The Stars." They also aired an 11 p.m. replay that did a 1.1 rating, which I believe was six million viewers (getting exact numbers out of India is not easy and they often contradict), was considered a huge success because that was a last minute decision and wasn't advertised.

Because of the success, Colors has now added shows on Monday through Thursday for the show from 5-5:30 p.m. What they are doing is the first half hour of the Saturday show airs on Monday, the second half hour on Tuesday, the first half hour of the Sunday show on Wednesday and the second half hour of the Sunday show on Thursday. The idea is to get more kids to sample the show and build the audience. They are re-voicing the shows, because of continuity issues since shows three and four aired this weekend before the replay of one and two air during the week. The number of viewers Ring Ka King gets in India would be more than the number of viewers Raw gets all over the world combined.”

My goodness Jeff is that just over saturating the market right away? Were you happy with the results and were they accurate? Was it tough to get that information?

—--------------END OF EPISODE ONE-----------------

“The show that aired 2/5 saw the first women's match in the promotion as Mickie James pinned Alissa Flash (Cheerleader Melissa Anderson) in a good match.”

Were there any issues or concerns having women wrestle in India?

“Chavo Guerrero introduced his tag team partner for the upcoming tournament. Even though Harry Smith went at Brackus at the taping, they have changed his name here to Bulldog Hart, likely because Bret Hart at one time in the 90s was very popular in India. Chavo & Hart beat The Sheikhs. During this match, a mini that did the Adonislock challenge hit the ring and was running around and killed the momentum of the match. So they are going to have their own Hornswoggle.”

I mean if there’s anything you don’t need…it’s a Hornswoggle right?

Why the rename of Harry to Bulldog Hart? Because of Bret?

He got sick during his time there and it changed your whole set of plans for the second set of tapings it that right?

2/20/12:

Ring Ka King on 1/29 and 2/4 both did 1.7 ratings, down from the 2.2 open on 1/28. The 1/29 show went against a major awards show that destroyed everyone. The 2/4 show went against a Bollywood Oscars preview show. They air on both Saturday and Sunday against a Bollywood Dance show which is an established hit in the culture. The decline from the first week wasn't a surprise in the sense there was tons of publicity built toward show one. They are also bucking awards shows in upcoming weeks and then Cricket season, which is the India equivalent of trying bucking NFL games, in the sense the rating will likely be determined much based on rating of the game and how much it hurts wrestling. A 1.7 is still fine for Colors in that time slot if that's where it settles in, but a continued drop from that level would not be fine. This is a very expensive show to produce as you can tell by looking at it, not to mention the costs of bringing a crew of wrestlers from the U.S. and housing them for a week. There are at this point no plans to do touring events in the country, and there are no dates for future tapings, and it all depends on ratings holding up. But it's still considered a positive at this point.

How do you get the ratings and the news? Are you in contact with the sponsor or television station?

We’re not going to cover each episode week by week but highlight some of the fun stuff we found. Like this: “There was a funny promo where Scott Steiner wanted all the Indians destroyed, while his stablemate, the No. 1 Indian wrestler, Sonjay Dutt (also a heel) was standing there.”

Are you booking this differently than you would in America for example/

“They were also pushing an Isaiah Cash (Luke Gallows doing an Undertaker-lite gimmick) vs. Roscoe Jackson (Trevor Murdoch) match for the next challenger for Morgan's title.”

I was told this story and I have to tell you…it’s just classic wrestling…Luke Gallows is doing an Undertaker-lite gimmick…so he’s called about doing the role and if he can ride a motorcycle. He says of course and then when it comes time…well he doesn’t know how to ride it and that of course he said he did…that’s what you do in wrestling…

The Bollywood Boys really got over during this run and made a mark for themselves didn’t they?

There was an Indian talent that sadly made it to the first set of tapings but had passed away before the second with the name of Chotu…how did you learn he had passed away?

“2/27/12:

Regarding Ring Ka King, the Monday through Thursday afternoon replays of previous episodes did well above Colors projections. The key numbers on Saturday/Sunday prime time were still at the 1.7 level this past week. What has been the trend is that the first 30 minutes do well and the last 30 minutes get killed when the awards and dance shows on the big Indian networks start at 9 p.m. There are a lot of discussions about how to make this work. In two weeks, they go head-to-head with India's version of the Oscars and they expect to get killed. The decision about whether the show continues or not is likely to be decided upon based on March ratings. The show is skewing heavily male and they want more women viewers, but from the 8th week on, they added some kind of a live story angle that they hope will bring women in.”

Is that how you remember it Jeff?

More on the roster you would bring in people like Jimmy Rave who sadly is no longer with us and even Little Guido Maritano. Was it important to bring in good workers to help the less experienced Indian wrestlers?

“Harbhajan Singh announced a 12 man Battle Royal coming with the winner being top contender to Matt Morgan’s title. Magnus & Dutt & Steiner beat Chavo Guerrero Jr. & Bulldog Hart & Morgan in the main event. This was the footage people have been talking about for months where Steiner was attacking fans and having to be pulled off, all the stuff that gets you sued these days that used to be part of the act of guys like Bruiser Brody, Stan Hansen, Tiger Jeet Singh and others in Japan. Steiner had great heat and scared the crowd every time he threatened to hop the rail. Magnus pinned Hart after a low blow. Magnus & Dutt & Steiner were beating down Guerrero Jr. & Hart after the match until Morgan made a comeback and cleaned house. Morgan had set Magnus up for a choke slam when the lights went out. When they came on, “It” had arrived in the person of The Monster Abyss, who choke slammed Morgan and gave Guerrero Jr. & Hart each Back hole slams.”

So Abyss coming in is going to lead to you being an on-screen character but the Steiner riot is something is it not Jeff?

Were you happy to have Chris Park there in the old Monster Abyss gimmick? Did you feel bad for all the things he had gone through in the evolution of that character?

“The 2/26 show was built around Abyss’ arrival and he’s looking to take the title from Morgan. The announcers said they found out Abyss being sent to India was because of a rich, influential American businessman (who will be played by Jeff Jarrett when he arrives as a character).”

Couldn’t help yourself there could you Jeff?

“Jazzy Lahoria, the commissioner comes out and reveals there is an American investor (Jarrett) trying to buy out.

Steiner, Dutt, Magnus and Abyss (The Fearsome Foursome, the Ring Ka King version of the Horsemen) came out and said they only have one week to accept the buyout.”

What can you tell us about Jazzy Lahoria?

By the way…great Horsemen faction that you’re going to make yourself be a part of…

“3/12/12 Observer:

Regarding Ring Ka King, the 2/25 show only did a 0.85 rating going against India’s version of the Oscars. That wasn’t a surprise since we were told ahead of time they’d be getting killed. I believe that’s the last week the awards show oppose wrestling and the future of the promotion was also considered based on how the show did in March, when it would have had enough lead to garner a following and the heavy competition was over. Colors is starting a new promotional campaign for the show heavily based on Harbhajan Singh, as he is going to be featured more in storyline form as Jeff Jarrett is about to be introduced as the American businessman trying to steal Ring Ka King and bring it back to the U.S., leading to the climactic match at the end of the season.”

Just old school booking is it not?

3/19/12 Observer:

“Harbhaan Singh and Jazzy Lahoria were waiting for the arrival of Jeff Jarrett. Jarrett’s heel group is called RDX and also includes Magnus, Scott Steiner, Abyss, Sonjay Dutt and Deadly Danda. They did essentially arguments over whether Jarrett should become new commissioner or Indian Jazzy Lahoria should keep his job. Lahoria said if he is given control, he’ll make sure everything in Ring Ka King is fair and square and nothing illegal will happen. He said that if Jarrett was put in charge, it would be complete chaos and disorder. Jarrett and his team all started laughing. Jarrett showed that his group has all the titles and the people with the gold have all the leverage. He said that if Lahoria stays as commissioner, the entire stable would leave Ring Ka King and they’d have no champions. No champions means no championship matches. No championship matches means people won’t watch and the promotion will die. Yes, they are doing a storyline based on killing the promotion. This led to an in-ring. Singh said that if Lahoria is commissioner, RDX would leave the company and kill the company. But if Jarrett was made commissioner, there would be no order. So he said he’s decided that instead of making a decision, there will be a match for control, inside a cage. Jarrett freaked out and then turned on his Indian lawyer and gave him a DDT.”

It’s a hostile takeover…wait it’s the nWo…no it’s the Bullet Club…it’s all about power and stables isn’t it Jeff?

“4/2/12 Observer:

The 3/24 Ring Ka King show was mostly a build to what they called the Ring Ka King World Cup, a ten man cage match (think War Games with one ring) between Jazzy Lahoria’s face team and Jeff Jarrett’s heel team, that was to air the next day.”

Who the hell had a salad steel cage in India?

“They had a best of three arm wrestling series with Lahoria and Jarrett, where the team that won would get the man advantage instead of the traditional heels winning the coin flip. Each side chose two men, and if they split matches, then Lahoria and Jarrett would arm wrestle. Scott Steiner of the heel team overpowered Bulldog Hart. Then Mahabali Veera of Lahoria’s team beat Sir Brutus Magnus. Jarrett did all the heel stalling arm wrestling stuff, and was about to lose to Lahoria when Steiner distracted the ref and Sonjay Dutt poured water in Jarrett’s mouth and he spit it in Lahoria’s eyes and put his arm down.”

What a chickenshit heel you are aren’t you?

“The World Cup match saw the heel group called RDX of Dutt & Steiner & Magnus & Deadly Danda & Abyss beat the face team of Chavo Guerrero Jr. & Bulldog Hart & Matt Morgan & Mahabali Veera & Jwala. Good match. Jarrett tried to bribe Jwala to switch sides but he decked Jarrett. The finish saw Jarrett throw handcuffs into the cage and the heels locked Guerrero, Hart, Morgan and Veera to the cage. Then all the heels were beating on Jwala. Jarrett threw Lahoria’s cane into the ring and they all nailed Jwala with it and Danda got the pin. So next week, Jarrett and RDX are in control of Ring Ka King and they announced a street fight with Isaiah Cash (Luke Gallows) vs. Roscoe Jackson (Trevor Murdoch). One of the better shows of the series to date.”

Were you happy with the shows and the reaction you were getting? Did you think it was better than TNA at the time?

“4/16/12 Observer:

Ring Ka King ratings for the weekend of 3/31 got destroyed going against an India vs. Pakistan cricket game, which killed everything on 3/31. RDX (the heel group headed by Jeff Jarrett) was now in power after winning the World Cup (War Games) match over Jazzy Lahoria’s faces.”

Really airing against Cricket is why AEW & WWE do not run against the NFL right?

Of course you’re now the heel with all the power and you’re going to make life miserable for all the babyfaces. Look…hindsight and all that…did you book this thinking you’d have a second season or did you think you had to get as much as you could story wise done just in case it was only one season?

“Jarrett did an interview saying there are changes in Ring Ka King with him in charge. Jarrett also challenged Harbhajan Singh to a match saying he’d fight him blindfolded. Jarrett told Indian faces Barood, Rapta and Zoravar that he could fire them, but instead, was letting them stay but told Barood he had to sweep the closets of the arena, Rapta had to clean the toilets and Zoravar (Indian Hornswoggle) had to kiss his feet. Instead, Zoravar bit Jarrett’s feet and Steiner, Magnus and Abyss all attacked him. The show ended with the giant sumo Yamamotoyama coming out and all the heels were stunned. They played it like he was this guy they all knew.”

Now you got sumo wrestlers? Where did this come from?

“Dutt said he was going to face the greatest high flyer in Ring Ka King, and it turned out to be Zoravar (Indian Hornswoggle) in a ladder match. Mostly comedy but Dutt won. Yamamotoyama came out and sat on the couch for the rest of the show. The guy is 580 pounds legit so you can’t expect him to stand.”

“Jarrett was warming up for his match while wearing a blindfold. Jarrett’s lawyer came in and since Jarrett was blindfolded while warming up, he punched the lawyer in the nose, breaking it. The lawyer tried to hand Jarrett the guitar, but Jarrett was shadow boxing and punched the guitar and sold like he hurt his hand. Apparently this was pretty funny. Jarrett came out for a promo for the match with Singh. But a lawyer for the babyfaces came out and said Singh wouldn’t be in the match. Instead, Jazzy Lahoria, the former babyface authority guy, came out and wanted the match and Jarrett agreed to face him. Jarrett, with a blindfold on, was getting beaten on by Lahoria until Jarrett’s attorney distracted the ref, and Jarrett got the blindfold off, hit the ref and used the stroke for the pin. Jarrett then hit Lahoria with a guitar after the match.”

You’re just enjoying this aren’t you?

You’re teasing a match every week between you & Singh…was this just like the Pacman situation in 2007?

“4/8 saw the heels come out with shirts making fun of “Bhaji” (Harbhajan Singh‘s nickname). They had a photo of Singh with a garbage can. Jarrett said he’s learned Singh was a coward and a liar while Dutt translated for him. Jarrett was wearing an “I hate Bhaji” t-shirt. He then told Abyss to destroy the photo of Singh and put it in a garbage can. He had a contract for a match with Singh where he would agree to be blindfolded. After Abyss threw the photo in the garbage can, Abyss poured lighter fluid into the garbage can and set it on fire.”

Later on Singh would agree to the match and sign the contract…but not first before you guys…RUN A WEDDING ANGLE!

“Romeo Rapta and Zoravar were both hitting on Angelina Love. Love beat Raisha Saeed. The Rapta gave Love some roses and asked her to marry him. That’s moving a little fast. She was considering it. Then Zoravar came out with a bouquet , told her that he loved her and proposed to her. Love left all confused and Rapta and Zoravar started yelling at each other over blowing it for them.  Love was interviewed and said she was flattered by both guys and she did want to get married, as she’s always dreamed of having an Indian-style wedding, but hadn’t decided which one to marry. She said she would decide soon and wanted the wedding in the ring on the Ring Ka King show. Weddings equal ratings, or they used to, and India is virgin territory for angles.”

You couldn’t help yourself here could you?

The Bollywood Boyz would defeat Scott Steiner & Abyss to win the Ring Ka King tag team titles. They were a big part of GFW when you first got it started and they also were with Jinder Mahal a lot for his World Title run - the sky is the limit for these guys is it not?

“They announced that Angelina Love would get married next week, but didn’t say who she would marry. Zoravar (Hornswoggle) came out for a promo and said nobody loved her as much as he did, and that she shouldn’t focus on his lack of height, but look at his heart which has the love of ten men. Later in the show, Romeo Rapta gave her a rose and told her he loved her. Zoravar came back and sang to her.”

“Main event was Singh vs. Jarrett in a no DQ match with Jarrett blindfolded and Yamamotoyama at ringside. Before Singh touched him, Veera attacked the blindfolded Jarrett and gave him a spinebuster and Singh pinned Jarrett.”

Perfect way to get out of it and help make Veera right?

Sadly…it comes to an end…

4/30/12 Observer:

Ring Ka King finished up its run over the weekend and Colours in India. There is no word on the future of the group, but the fact that the season is over with no announcement regarding new tapings I don’t see as a positive.

The 4/21 show opened with an Indian wedding. But Angelina Love had not said which of her two suitors she would be marrying. The music played and Ram Menon asked Love who she was marrying. She said Zoravar (Hornswoggle). Romeo Rapta was upset and sat there. Dr. Nicholas Dinsmore and Barood threw flower petals at Love & Zoravar. Nothing actually happened as far as an angle. They just did the wedding and Dinsmore and Barood tried to comfort Rapta for being duped.”

Any pushback at all for any of this?

I have a note from someone heavily involved in this project I want to read to you,

“The way Indian weddings work, it was the perfect set up and deal. Three way love triangle, Angel needs to pick one. Indian weddings have two chairs sitting for ceremony. So, now the hook is, who will sit in the other chair next to Angel. I felt that sort of thing was what I was there to help in, Indian culture and how that can blend into the show to keep it India-centric. From a personal standpoint, that time period was groundbreaking for me. I learned exactly how TV, booking, creative, and working in the office was all about. First time I was an agent, so that was great too. I learned how to format/time tv, so put together episodic TV and that was when I knew that this was my ticket to longevity in wrestling. Learn everything you possibly can and thats what I did. At the end of the day, that was all because Jeff saw potential in me and I can never thank him enough for giving me this experience. That’s the reason I am where I am today and it’s the reason I took the path I did. Ring Ka King was some of the most fun I have ever had, and I can’t put into words how much I learned.”

That is from Sonjay Dutt - your current running buddy in AEW. How’s that make you feel Jeff?

“Earlier in the show, Jeff Jarrett grabbed Jazzy Lahoria by the throat but Yamamotoyama made the save and handcuffed Jarrett. Later in the show, Jarrett was backstage in handcuffs while Yamamotoyama was eating tons of food. Jarrett was complaining about being kept a prisoner and he deserved to be able to see Magnus defend his title against Mahabali Veera. Harbhajan Singh came in and said that he agreed with Jarrett and told Yamamotoyama to bring Jarrett to the ring. Veera won the title over Magnus in a decent match. There was a ref bump and Magnus went to hit Veera with the belt, but Singh reached from outside the ring and grabbed the belt. When Magnus turned around, he got power bombed for the pin. Singh & Veera celebrated together after the match.”

Listen…a lot of this is paint by the numbers booking…but it worked did it not? Sometimes the kiss theory makes sense…keep it simple stupid.

“The final episode aired on 4/22, which could be the final show of the promotion. They opened with the face team of Roscoe Jackson (Trevor Murdoch) & Pagal Parinda & Chavo Guerrero Jr. & Matt Morgan & Veera beating RDX (think NWO) of Deadly Danda (Indian Big Bossman) & Magnus & Abyss & Scott Steiner & Sonjay Dutt. Veera pinned Danda after a power bomb after ducking a baton shot. Guerrero did a big plancha before the finish. The final episode was Jarrett vs. Singh. Jarrett wore an “I Hate Bhaji” (Singh’s nickname) shirt and a guitar while Singh had a cricket stump. Jarrett kept running away but Yamamotoyama came out and blocked the exit and threw him back into the ring. All the heels came out but Yamamotoyama stopped them from doing anything. Then the heels returned and a bunch of faces came out. Jarrett hit Veera with a guitar shot. Singh hit all the heels except Danda with his cricket stump. Isaiah Cash (Luke Gallows) came out with a tag team title belt and gave it to RDX when Jarrett paid him off. All the heels left in an 18-wheeler and the faces stood tall.”

The 18-wheeler was a big part of the season because it was from a sponsor called Tata Motors and you guys worked with them all season. How important was integrating the sponsors?

Are you happy with that first season?

When are you told it wasn’t going to be renewed? What was the reason?

Are you disappointed it couldn’t keep going?

What were your favorite moments and least favorite moments?

What was the reaction from TNA to everything?

Anything you would change?