My World w/ Jeff Jarrett - Jeff Returns to TNA in 2017 [Show Notes] (Patreon)

This week’s edition of My World - in 2017 you returned to the company you began - TNA..

As TNA ends 2016 - there’s a lot of controversy…a lot of different creative ideas - and the company is now airing on Pop.

How much are you paying attention to TNA at this time?

You do return to TNA in 2015 for a feud between Global Force and TNA - but the business affairs aspect - missed payments - the change from Spike to Pop…since you have your hands in all aspects of the wrestling business - you knew all that was going on right?

The issues with Panda, Dixie, Billy Corgan, Aroluxe, and eventually Anthem taking over and all the lawsuits - were you sad to see what had become of the company you started in 2002?

Total Deletion takes place in the middle of December 2016 - with the event being unlike anything ever done in professional wrestling - in my opinion - up until that point. Did you see it and what did you think of what the Hardys & Jeremy Borash were able to pull off?

From the Observer:

“Anthem Sports & Entertainment, the parent company of The Fight Network, officially announced the purchase of TNA Wrestling on 1/4, a deal that actually went down in October when Anthem saved the company from likely extinction by funding Bound for Glory and its final sets of television tapings.

Ed Nordholm, the Executive Vice President of Anthem Sports & Entertainment Corporation has been running the company since shortly after the original deal was put together with the title of Managing Director of Impact Ventures.”

When do you have your first conversation with Ed Nordholm?

“The belief is that the former TNA Impact Wrestling, now renamed Anthem Wrestling Exhibitions, LLC, is owned 85 percent by Anthem, with 10 percent ownership by Aroluxe and five percent ownership by Dixie Carter.”

Were you surprised that Dixie retained ownership in this deal?

“The press release stated that Dixie Carter will resign from her position as Chairman of Impact Ventures, but will still be involved as a member of the Advisory Board of Fight Media Group, a face saving position where the press release stated her focus will be on the global growth of all combat sports related brands owned by Anthem.”

Does Impact Ventures reach out to you…or do you reach out to them?

“At press time, John Gaburick still maintained his position as head of creative. We’re told Carter no longer has any decision making power with the company.”

Jeff - not much is known or spoken about regarding “Big” John Gaburick. What did you think of him and his talents?

Did you ever talk with Dixie around this time about the company and the changes that took place?

Do you make the deal about your return with the demand Karen comes back as well? Or was it always a package deal?

Was there ever talk of you returning as just talent?

From the Observer:

“Jeff & Karen Jarrett and Dutch Mantell were back this past week at the tapings. They didn’t appear as characters. Jeff Jarrett was hired by Anthem as a consultant and Mantell is a creative consultant. Even though she has a public title, Dixie Carter is out and wasn’t there. This was the restart week with new owners. There was very little different. They had the same talent in the same positions as it’s seemed they’ve been in for months.”

What was it like returning? Surreal?

Was your role on the first set of tapings just as a consultant?

Were you happy, excited to be back?

What were your feelings on the product when you returned?

You’re taping TV, PPVs, you have about 6 shows being recorded during the week of tapings. How hectic is something like this?

Very quickly it seems that Anthem will be dropping the TNA initials and calling the product Impact Wrestling. What did you think of the change in branding?

Was that something you were for at this point?

The Hardys would challenge the Bucks of Youth at one of the tapings. What was your relationship like with the Hardys at this point in time?

It’s reported in the Observer that there are 3 major deals coming due…Matt & Jeff Hardy and also Drew Galloway. Were you involved in any contract negotiations for them?

How bad was the financial situation for the company? Between buying out various people and funding tapings - let’s be honest…the company isn’t making a whole hell of a lot of money at the time were they?

From the Observer:

“While the Hardys haven’t signed, things look good for them to stay. There are two options on the table, a guaranteed deal where they would have full control of their bookings outside the promotion, or a higher guaranteed deal where TNA would at least have to approve of their outside bookings.”

The Hardys were the biggest stars in the company at the time right…were the contract negotiations a big point of contention for the company?

TNA is also cooperating with ROH…were you aware of this deal?

“The feeling at the tapings is that Jarrett seemed prime for a power position down the line. Anthem brought him in with his job to give them tips on how to make the company profitable.”

Was this the goal? Were you lining up to take power?

“There was a snafu on 1/12 as Fight Network, the station owned by Anthem, in the regular slot, aired the 1/5 episode. The regular episode did air later in a replay slot. What happened is that usually Fight Network gets a tape from TNA several days in advance. In this case, TNA just finished production on Wednesday afternoon or evening, but it takes overnight to download an episode so they couldn’t start working on it until Thursday morning. Then as they were working on it, the file got corrupted and they weren’t finished in time. They were able to finish by 10 p.m. and aired the show then.”

LOLTNA?

The Hardys would appear at a Crash show and the match was filmed for Impact. You were looking to work with everyone and everybody at this point in time were you not?

Did you put the deal together with the Crash company in Mexico? Did you put it together with Konnan?

Eventually you & Karen would be announced for a show in Tijuana on February 25th - were you ready to get back out on the road with the Queen of the Mountain?

Well the next week in the Observer…

“Jeff Jarrett has replaced John Gaburick as the main guy in TNA. This happened about two weeks ago but has been largely kept quiet. Gaburick is still with the company, but Dixie Carter and Serg Salinas are gone. Salinas is completely gone while Carter may still have a title but no longer is working out of the office and essentially is a non-entity. Salinas is listed as having left the company last month to become General Manager of Trifecta Entertainment.

Trifecta Entertainment was the publicity company that Carter ran prior to the family purchasing TNA.”

How did it all come together Jeff? Why did you keep Gaburick? Any issues with Dixie & Serg being gone?

According to Meltzer you jump right in with both feet…

“Jarrett has spoken with people with the idea he’ll be able to make deals soon. Dutch Mantel is back on creative, and Scott D’Amore, who booked TNA when it was doing its best PPV business, is also in, so it is basically the Jarrett regime. The general feeling is that the way things shake out is Jarrett will be in charge and Mantel and D’Amore and Jarrett will run creative

An interesting thing would be announcing, since it was Gaburick who replaced Mike Tenay with Josh Matthews, who he knew from WWE. Matthews didn’t exactly get stellar reviews, but Tenay had a high contract when he was in TNA and they are in a cost-cutting mode.”

Did you have any thoughts on replacing Josh with Tenay?

Tell us why you surround yourself with Dutch & Scott D’Amore?

“Jarrett has been trying to set up a meeting with the people doing ITV World of Sport. World of Sport wants someone to run their wrestling operations as they don’t want to be running a wrestling promotion, have no experience at it, but are interested in a promotion so they can run a weekly television show. The expectation is ITV will be making a decision shortly about wrestling. We’d heard talk of February tapings, and obviously that’s not happening but they are still in touch with people and talking like it’s a go, but this is also the television business where you operate like it’s a go as long as the idea is still alive.”

World of Sport with ITV was a long rumored thing that really pushed the WWE into the UK market probably quicker than they even expected. What did you think of what ITV was doing and did you think it would be successful?

Between Crash, TNA talent is announced for NOAH and you’re attempting to work with ITV…this is kind of like the old days where you had tentacles everywhere with the NWA…was this part of your plan to keep costs down?

Crash has a lot of great talent we see on top today including Rey Mysterio, Penta, Rey Fenix, Ricochet, Brian Cage…but they’re all under contract with Lucha Underground. Did you think you would be able to overcome those obstacles?

“We’re told that things have gotten a little uncomfortable in the TNA & ROH relationship, which at this point is really only the Hardys vs. Young Bucks match in Lakeland, since there are lingering past issues involving the Jarrett led version of the company and ROH from the past.”

Did you see this start to break down after you took over? Was it cash or creative?

“A lot of the top talent in TNA is apprehensive about the changes and there is the thought that if anyone but the top few guys leave, Jarrett has all the GFW guys he was using that can fill the holes, but right now nobody knows exactly how things are going to shake out. Because Anthem has spent so much money between the loans and the Billy Corgan settlement, and there is no way to make money right now, they are looking at cutting costs and there has been talk of cutting pay which has talent unhappy.”

How much are you worried about budget … let alone creative?

Did you have guys coming to you asking what’s going on and what’s the next step?

Are you having pay issues like TNA has had in the past?

“The basic idea is to cut talent pay and not necessarily have a hiring freeze, but not to aggressively pursue outside talent that would cost money unless it’s a unique circumstance. The last taping was really just a continuation of the Gaburick regime, while the next set of tapings in March will play a part in whatever the new direction is, who is being pushed, etc”

Why was talent the first to get their pay cut?

Were you worried about losing certain talent?

In late March the Observer would report that the Hardys & Galloway haven’t re-upped with the company.

A lot of the conversation is about free reign of gimmicks…especially the Hardys. Before they could shoot what they wanted…and it’s reported that with you in charge that has changed. Did you have issues with the Hardys?

Was it their creative philosophy or their just unwillingness to play ball?

Did you think Drew McIntyre could be a top guy at this time and it was about finding the right contract for him?

There’s a plan in place that for the next set of tapings for Impact to move back to the Impact Zone. Were you involved with that deal and how did that come to be?

Did you think it was a mistake for TNA to move out from Universal in 2010 let alone dealing with it 6-7 years later?

Are you disappointed TNA never became sustainable on the road for a long period of time let alone TVs?

The next set of tapings is coming in March and its reported theres no deal in place for the Hardys or Galloway. Were all of them, some of them, or more than others important to what the next step for the company is?

Are you excited to be able to rebuild the company with your vision?

According to the Observer:

“Jeff Jarrett and Ed Nordholm met with ITV in the U.K. on 2/16 in Leicester, UK. We’re told the meeting went well. ITV is looking at launching World of Sport as a regular weekly television show, but they want to work with wrestling people to monetize the brand and get global distribution of the show. Anthem could put the show on The Fight Network and has connections for distribution, such as places that have deals with TNA as well.

I don’t know how all the meetings worked out but ITV was looking at Anthem to put some money in, get some responsibilities, in exchange for owning a percentage of the promotion.”

Did you think you would be able to run World of Sport in the UK?

“Jarrett and Nordholm did a Q&A on Facebook in the U.K. There were mostly generic answers although Jarrett said they would make an announcement about house shows in the next 30 days and also said they should have an announcement soon about a tour of India. Jarrett also seemed to indicate that on this run, he’s not going to be a television performer, saying that right now he’s comfortable in his role as a promoter.”

What made you do this type of promotion?

The Hardys match with Super Crazy & Psicosis from the Clash aired on Impact but there’s a twist in the story…

“The reason ref Marty Elias was digitized in the Hardys match with Super Crazy & Psicosis from Tijuana on Impact was because Lucha Underground threatened them with legal action because the ref had appeared on their show.

The funny part of the legal threat is that AAA was at about the same time trying to cut a deal with TNA to keep them from working with The Crash, even though AAA works with Lucha Underground, and the key guy in charge of both is Dorian Roldan.”

Jeff - how the hell did this be an issue?

“Dorian Roldan had contacted Jeff Jarrett about working together, since word had gotten out that Jarrett was working a date for Konnan later this month. Then, after their talk, TNA got a legal letter from Lucha Underground threatening a lawsuit because Marty Rubalcaba (Elias) who they have under contract and they consider their intellectual property was to appear on the TNA television show. The funny part of this is that TNA wouldn’t have really been that concerned because as one person noted, they get lawsuit threats all the time, but Lucha Underground also sent the letter to The Crash Promotion, Konnan, and Pop TV, and because it went to Pop TV, it became an issue with TNA. So for the first time I can ever recall, the referee had to be digitized out on a pro wrestling show. Needless to say that TNA wasn’t happy about how one day the company wants to work together and the next they threaten a lawsuit over a referee.”

Dealing with Lucha Underground sounds like a headache if the referee is an issue…what was the real reason this all went to shit?

Did they have a legal basis for blurring out a referee?

Between Lucha Underground, the Crash, AAA, let alone CMLL - how much drama was going on in Mexico that you came across?

Was the juice worth the squeeze?

The Hardyz contract expires on February 27th while they’re still tag team champions. What were the issues with having them resign?

There’s a lot of stuff going on with social media and the Hardys and Matt’s wife Reby. She would post that:

Rebecca Hardy wrote on Twitter today: "I've said it many times. TNA was the perfect situation for our family and how grateful I was for professionalism/open communications/respect...Now think about what kinds negative changes and straight f***ery would have to go down for us to leave."

How did it all fall apart?

From the Observer:

“TNA wanted them to sign a short-term deal to put them on television but they wanted to remain free agents and not sign a new deal, since TNA wanted the ability to book them on independent dates. It is not a lock they are WWE bound, but that does seem to be the likely result.”

There is so much to unpack here - between the Hardys claiming ownership of the gimmick - TNA claiming ownership - is this one of those things that takes place and you’re like - what are we doing here?

From the Observer in early March:

“There are a ton of changes going on behind the scenes. A lot of people who worked for the company in the past have been contacted and Jeff Jarrett’s big marketing idea is something along the lines of “Let’s Make TNA Great Again,” which did work in the Presidential election.

The idea is to present the idea of the good old days of TNA when Jarrett was in charge and with the idea that things went off the rails, perhaps not using that term, since he was gone. But on television they are going to bury Dixie Carter’s regime (whether by name or not) and essentially say the product went to hell.’

Was this the plan?

Did you take the promotional line from Trump?

Was this all just a hope to rebrand and make the company stand out?

How much interaction do you have with Anthem? Did you have to clear things with them?

“Bruce Prichard is being brought back for a role where he is to appear at the upcoming tapings as one of those people, and this may be as early as the 3/9 show, being taped on 3/2. Prichard is booked for that show. Right now Prichard is only coming in as a television character, and will continue his podcasts. He essentially got the gig because of how strong his podcast numbers were and Jeff Jarrett hoping that his podcast listeners would start watching TNA.”

So Jeff - the question we’ve all been wondering. Did you bring Bruce back instead of Russo because of our podcast numbers?

When it comes to talent - Matt Morgan is reportedly coming back and Konnan…why are these two guys you’re looking at to return?

“Jeff Jarrett’s idea is to do four days of taping and shoot six episodes of Impact at each taping, so they aren’t as far out of date by the end of the tapings.”

This is just cost saving correct? Does this type of taping schedule wear on talent, production, etc?

“Right now there is a full commitment through August and the key things are to get a paying television outlet in the U.S. and to get a paying television outlet in the U.K. Financially, right now, they can’t work because the only real money coming in is from India, which isn’t nearly enough to run the company. When they had India, U.K. and U.S. money they were having problems and when it was India and U.K. money they were hemorrhaging money to the point they nearly went out of business a few times. I mean, it can go forever if the new ownership is willing to pump money in forever, but at some point there are going to be economic realities and the key to business is paying television contracts more than anything else.”

How important was the TV deal to the survival of the company?

How does it feel to be back running the ship?

Where are you at mentally during this time?

Were there any talents on the roster you were excited to work with?

You begin to integrate GFW right away - with Magnus coming in holding the GFW title…in your mind were you looking to rename everything GFW?

“They also started an announcers feud with Jeremy Borash and Josh Matthews. Both were announcing the shows through the last taping for this set of shows which looks to air on 4/6 or so. It comes down to the main event on that TV show where Team JB of Alberto & Chris Adonis & Matt Morgan & Magnus (holding the GFW heavyweight title belt) beat Team Josh of Lashley & Bram & Eli Drake & Tyrus. The stipulation was that if Team Josh lost, he would lose his announcing job. Not sure if JB’s job was on the line as well. Morgan pinned Bram with an elbow off the top rope to win it.

There was a big celebration after the match and Josh talked about how bad the fans were and how his wife was probably crying her eyes out. I was told that even though that reads badly, that it was entertaining.

Jeff Jarrett’s plan was always to remove Matthews as an announcer but do a storyline rather than just pull him.”

Why the change from Josh? What was it about him that you didn’t like?

“Vince Russo claimed that Jeff Jarrett e-mailed him and asked him what his podcast numbers were. He said after doing so, he hasn’t heard back from Jarrett. I guess Bruce Prichard, whose numbers are far better, got the gig for that reason.”

No wonder Vince hates you Jeff.

It’s reported that you, Ed Nordholm & Borash go to Monterrey for Rey de Reyes show for AAA…is this to calm everything down after the legal issues?

How do you navigate the Mexican politics between AAA & Crash with them hating each other?

“Midway through the show at Arena Jose Sulaiman, Dorian Roldan and Jeff Jarrett came out to announce publicly that the two promotions were working together. The crowd booed heavily, but that was understandable. Roldan has been a heel as a television character and is always booed, and Jarrett has been coming to AAA for years as an evil foreigner who hates Mexico.”

TNA goes out of its way to pull the Hardys from appearing at ROH on pay-per-view - how heavy was the heat and the cease & desists at this time?

Were you surprised when they appeared at WrestleMania?

There’s a press release announcing an Alliance…

“Anthem’s goal is to become the alternate in wrestling to WWE and is willing to work with anyone to achieve that goal. They want their Fight Network to air every major league group aside from WWE and the companies WWE has a strong working relationship with.”

“It is unique because it appears Impact will be booking talent to warring promotions, and will use talent from warring promotions. AAA needed TNA for the World Cup, since NOAH is affiliated with The Crash and ROH with CMLL, and TNA, ROH and NOAH along with Japanese women’s groups were the key companies worked with in the previous tournaments which were some of AAA’s biggest events of the past few years.

No specifics were announced for the deal although one would expect Impact talent to start appearing on AAA major shows like TripleMania. It’s tricky, because would that mean the same people could be sent to AAA and Crash shows, or would Impact send certain talent only to AAA and others only to Crash?”

Jeff - you really were the first Switzerland guy when it came to put all this alliance together.

There’s also issues with Konnan…as he is a major part of Impact and a character…and now…

“Sources with knowledge of the situation say that they believe Konnan was put in a bad position because he’s now a key character on Impact, but that they double-crossed him in working a deal with his enemy while still working with his company.

In addition, there is the question of the legalities because those with knowledge of Factory Made contracts with AAA have them as not just holding an exclusive for the Lucha Underground contracted performers on U.S. television, but with all AAA characters.

Impact stated the alliance will include talent exchanges between the promotions and “other opportunities to collaborate with each other in their respective markets.”

How messy is all this? How much of this is a balancing act?

Another big announcement takes place…

“The company officially announced the World of Sport tapings for 5/25 and 5/26 at the Guild Hall in Preston. Impact will be handling the wrestling end of things and produce a ten episode series, and from what I understand, most likely the decision

regarding making it a full-time series will be made about three weeks in, dependent upon

ratings and reaction to the first two or three shows. As noted before, the show will air at 5 p.m. local time on Saturday, the same time slot as it did in the show’s heyday.

The working idea if everything falls into place would be for Jarrett and Anthem to be in charge of Impact in the U.S., the India television show on Sony Six, the WOS TV show on ITV, and an English language AAA television show for the U.S. market, which would be tricky because most of the top AAA guys couldn’t even appear on the show due to the Lucha Underground deal. The AAA show is the only deal that hasn’t been announced yet.”

Jeff - you go from not doing much of anything at the end of 2016 to almost becoming Vince McMahon of the independent world. How did you accomplish all this?

“Obviously the issues with the Hardys and Anthem are far from settled. The Hardys cut a video, completely in their broken character, holding the TNA tag team title belts (so they cut this before giving them back to Shane Helms before the last tapings which means they held off posting the video for weeks) and throwing them in the lake of reincarnation and then pulled out the ROH belts with the idea that they are bigger than the brand and that the TNA belts are meaningless now.”

The personal heat is really starting to bleed into TV heat is it not?

“Jeff Jarrett went to Mexico for the TripleMania press conference on 4/18. Jarrett went to Mexico this week for the TripleMania press conference, and he, Karen Jarrett and EC 3 are going to also be going to the U.K. to promote the launch of Impact at Spike U.K., which debuts on 4/22. “

Jeff - how big and heavy was the stress of doing all this?

“It was announced that AAA talent would be appearing on the 7/2 Slammiversary PPV in Orlando and that Impact talent, including Bobby Lashley, Moose, Eddie Edwards and Davey Richards would be appearing at TripleMania on 8/26 in Mexico City at Arena Ciudad.

What’s even more interesting as they announced a combination live show tour in the fall, stating they would work together in North America (this is interesting because Lucha Underground had blocked any AAA talent working for any North American television promotion but things are changing regarding Lucha Underground with no future dates announced and them no longer being as hardcore about their contracted wrestlers only working for them on television in the U.S. market). They also talked about doing joint shows in Japan and Colombia.”

How were you looking to navigate the legalities of Lucha Underground?

“There was a big backstage argument at the tapings on 4/23. It started with Karen Jarrett and Bob Ryder, and then escalated to Jeff Jarrett and Bob Ryder. The first argument was over Ryder forgetting to book a hotel room. Jeff and Ryder’s argument was apparently very heated and it appeared at the time that Jarrett was going to fire him. Jeff told him to leave the tapings, which he did in the middle of the show. But after the tapings were over, both were back at the office in Nashville working like nothing had happened.”

Jeff - how did this ever happen?

We will continue with part 2 of your time in TNA in 2017 - from letting people go, the change in the company, GFW and the acquisition, and your eventual exit - later on this year!