My World w/ Jeff Jarrett - Falling Out With Anthem [Show Notes] (Patreon)

Today we’ll be discussing when your time in TNA in 2017 came to an end.

We discussed Slammiversary 2017 back in the archives so be sure to check that out at myworldpod.com…

On June 28th it’s announced that Anthem was in agreement to purchase Global Force Wrestling. Jeff - was this all part of the original plan when you rejoined Impact?

You’re announced as a member of Anthem Wrestling Exhibitions - the parent company of Impact Wrestling - of their board, an equity owner & Chief Creative Officer. What did those job titles mean and what were your responsibilities?

At this point - who did you answer to? Just Ed Nordholm?

From the press release

““We are excited by the progress we have made with IMPACT Wrestling since acquiring the business in January,” said Ed Nordholm, president of Anthem Wrestling Exhibitions. “Jeff and his team have been instrumental in this success and we are pleased that we have reached an agreement on the basis of which we can combine our businesses to continue to grow. Slammiversary XV will be a fitting occasion to bring the promotions together and merge the titles under the new IMPACT combined belts. By combining our resources and talent, we can produce the best product for our global audience.”

So that was the goal at Slammiversary - was there anything that had to be transitioned or was this just the final point of a deal made months before?

You’re still battling the Hardys IP at this point - was this something of an issue that took on a lot of time and energy or was that farther up the Anthem flagpole so to speak?

Was the goal to rename Impact as Global Force Wrestling? Does this make it more ironic now that Impact is going back to TNA?

You’ve talked before how there was no budget. No money, very little revenue. Was this a worse situation than when HealthSouth pulled the funding back in 2002?

The TV you taped as GFW were acquired by Anthem as well correct?

How much of that was an issue?

GFW isn’t exactly floating along with no issues either. Alberto Del Rio is suspended while champion after a public argument with then girlfriend Saraya - and GFW is put into an impossible position of having taped 6 weeks of TV around Del Rio and this news hits TMZ and it’s a major deal…this isn’t the time or the place to get into their issues - but Jeff - how are you handling all this?

Where were you at in your battle with demons at this point?

There’s talk that GFW met with Rey Mysterio & Konnan at the offices - was that a meeting you were a part of? Did you see a path to bringing in Rey in GFW?

You’re also dealing with a ton of politics in Mexico, between AAA and the Crash…how much of that was taking up your time?

Nick Aldis leaves GFW after putting over Alberto Del Rio and it’s reported that he turned down a contract offer. Nick would say this: “There was no release. There was nothing like that. A contract was offered to me, which I declined. Anthem offered me a contract. I read the contract. It’s not something that, I’ll say this in the nicest way that I can, it’s not a contract that anyone with any value, any sense of self-value, or self-worth would sign. There’s no point in signing a contract to make you exclusive to one place if you’re not getting anything in return.” He also said the only person there he really wanted to work with was Alberto, and he had already worked with him. He said he wouldn’t sign but would work on a handshake deal, which he did for a number of shows. At that point, they stopped booking him and he said he had been loyal to Jeff Jarrett for a long time and he didn’t find out from Jarrett that they no longer wanted to keep the arrangement where they would book him without a contract. He said there was a lot of negativity and didn’t want to be associated with it, but he still had dates on his calender with them and he was later told by somebody else that they wouldn’t do something with anyone not under contract”

What do you remember of all this with Nick and how did it all go down?

From the Observer

Apparently most of the new contracts GFW has signed with talent includes the company getting ten percent of all talent independent date money and that talent would not get cut at all into any merchandise sold with their likenesses if sold directly by the company

Do you know that to be true Jeff?

There’s this infamous story about some WWE & GFW guys running into each other at a bar and Braun Strowman tried to big time Karen about meeting Kody. Were you there for that - can you discuss that with us?

Davey Richards would request and get his release from GFW. There’s a lot of talent leaving at this time Jeff - was it all about money?

How much of this was falling on your shoulders?

The decision is made to not tape the “One Night Only” shows and to air the old GFW footage featuring the likes of Chael Sonnen & Bobby Roode that were taped in Las Vegas. We’ll get back to our discussion of GFW at some point next year - but was this a call of yours?

Were you happy they at least were broadcast?

There’s plans to tape 12 weeks of television in 6 days. My goodness Jeff - how exhausting was that?

From the Observer

“GFW announced on 8/14 that they were stripping Alberto El Patron (Jose Alberto Rodriguez, 40) of his GFW championship, and that no decision has been reached when he would be taken off suspension.

The decision, which had been going back-and-forth as late as the weekend as to what to do, was made by Ed Nordholm.”

This was the right decision in the long run wasn’t it? Was it Ed who made the final call here?

Without Alberto and taping 12 weeks of TV to build to Bound for Glory - you had to do something right?

From the Observer

“Tyrus claimed on social media that he wouldn’t be coming for the TV tapings. He posted a video saying that he had been treated like a second-class citizen and wasn’t used the way he should be. He said he’s been playing phone tag with officials all day on 8/15 and if they wanted to treat him that way, he’s not coming to the tapings”

How disjointed was the GFW/TNA office at the time?

Were you doing just too much?

Who was your biggest support system in the company at this point? Scott D’Amore?

You’re scheduled to appear as a part of Team GFW - teaming with Moose & Bobby Lashley for AAA…and also going to be working for Revolucha teaming with MVP & Sam Adonis in September…why were you taking bookings as a wrestler?

GFW announces a streaming service…the Global Wrestling Network. Where was this idea from and how did it come to be?

Did you think this was the biggest step forward for the company and the next step for the library - that at this point was 15 years and a ton of footage of various stars in professional wrestling?

There is a lot that takes place at the tapings. You bring back Jim Cornette to take over for Bruce Prichard. Why Cornette here?

Bruce’s schedule was just too busy at this point with Something to Wrestle wasn’t it?

What did you think of the work Bruce did for GFW?

From the Observer

“Cornette announced that they were going to decide the new champion in the ring and not hand somebody the title, announcing a gauntlet match for the next week’s television. This was taped on 8/17 and will air on 8/24, and it came down to Eli Drake beating Eddie Edwards when they were the last two guys. Drake is a great talker but I don’t think he’s the guy you want as world champion right now when you are trying to rebuild a company.”

Eli Drake - also known as LA Knight. That’s all I’ll say on that…

Low Ki finishes up at the taping after an issue with the booking.

From the Observer

“Low Ki was booked to be part of a multiple person X division match at Bound for Glory and was unhappy about that. From one source, he showed up the first day at TV, where he was supposed to get a shot at the GFW title and Alberto in the main event, but that was canceled. When they laid out the GFW title picture, which involved Eli Drake, Johnny Impact, Matt Sydal and others, but not him, he was unhappy from day one. He worked the tapings and was complaining a lot to management and after being talked with, he wasn’t happy and made the decision to leave and both sides agreed to go their separate ways.”

Why does this seem to always happen with Low Ki?

Dan Lambert comes in and the story at the tapings is that he was looking to end the Jarrett legacy in professional wrestling. How did Dan Lambert come to be for GFW?

What did you think of his work?

It wasn’t a shock when you saw him appear in AEW was it?

On some of the tapings - there are some old TNA show names used for various episodes of TV - including Victory Road. Why was that decision made?

How exhausting are all these tapings and was it a complete mental drain?

Was this the hardest thing you’ve ever done in your time in the business?

GFW makes a deal with Pop TV to continue airing through 2018. Were you a part of these negotiations? What did you think of Pop TV and how different were they from Spike?

At the 25th TripleMania is where it all seems to fall apart Jeff.

At the show there are a ton of issues. Sexy Star defeated Lady Shani, Hamada & GFW wrestler Rosemary. Supposedly Sexy Star cranked on the arm bar for the finish and really hurt Rosemary. Jeff - what do you remember of this?

From the Observer

“There was also an argument with Vampiro backstage that night, since the few people aware ahead of time were talking about it after Ed Nordholm and Jarrett had gotten back from Mexico. There was another incident, although one could argue Jeff was in the right, where he got into a confrontation with Jhonny Gonzalez, the superstar boxer in Mexico who held four world titles and is married to Sexy Star. It was when Jarrett was telling Sexy Star that she was out of line and needed to apologize and Gonzalez, who is not a big guy, a champion at featherweight and bantamweight, got in Jarrett’s face and defended his wife. I’m not sure if Jarrett knew who he was at first, but at one point he did know and they were face-to-face and Jarrett told him he didn’t give a shit who he was, that she was out of line and needed to apologize.”

What were the issues with Vampiro?

Why did you feel the need to stand up for Rosemary?

From the Observer

“There were all kinds of issues regarding AAA and GFW, largely based on the disorganization of the event. The GFW talent was never picked up and brought to a press conference. There were a lot of questions regarding Jeff Jarrett’s performance. However, Jeremy Borash is scheduled to be representing GFW at the next several AAA TV tapings in Mexico, so there is no indication at all that what happened this past week is leading to the relationship between the sides ending. There was talk about Jeff Jarrett’s condition in the completely disorganized Rumble type match. The announcers who did the show noted they had no format. People backstage involved in running and shooting the show noted they had no format.”

The original plan - according to PWInsider - was that the plan was to set up you vs. Alberto at Bound for Glory and the story was going to start at TripleMania. Is that accurate?

From the Observer

“The original version was that Jarrett would be teased against Alberto, trying to build an angle around Alberto’s suspension where he’d blame Jarrett for suspending him. In the original version, it would be a big swerve where everyone would think Jarrett would wrestle, only to have it changed the night of the show to Rey Mysterio Jr. However, that fell through and negotiations with GFW and Mysterio are no longer taking place as he’s heavily involved with The Crash and there had been too many issues between the two sides of late, and some dating back several months. Among those issues was the Crash heavily promoting Bobby Lashley and getting all his papers in order for a show in Tijuana, only to have Impact at the last minute replace him with James Storm. Another of which was that Jarrett had agreed to lose his hair to Mysterio at a big show in Tijuana later this year, and after shooting the angle, the next day, with no warning, Jarrett announced the Impact deal with AAA and ended up working TripleMania.”

Jeff - let’s separate fact from fiction there - what is true and what is not…

Now Jeff - let’s talk about it. What happened in Mexico?

Was this just a culmination of things?

How did it happen?

What was the immediate fall out with GFW?

Did you hear from someone right away? A couple days later?

That show took place on August 26th, 2017 and on September 5th GFW releases a statement that you are taking an indefinite leave of absence. From the Observer: It was clear that the decision was not something he knew about in advance because he sent out a Tweet that morning talking about going back into the office to start a day of work, and that day was scheduled to host a party for the company staff at his home, which ended up being canceled.

How did this all go down Jeff?

The merger of GFW & Impact was not completed at this point is that right?

Did you think you would ever return to GFW?

Do you think you could work with them again?

From the Observer

“The big question, not exactly answered, regards the future of Jeff Jarrett. Jarrett is gone to take care of personal issues, which are generally believed to be alcohol related. Nordholm is talking about the subject, gave the impression that at some point Jarrett would be back. Karen Jarrett on Twitter positioned this as 100 percent a positive for GFW and for Jeff and thanked Ed Nordholm for giving Jeff the time he needs. Obviously Jeff had no idea this was coming, but there were people in the company who were expecting this and pretty much aware of it after TripleMania.”

Was it all sunshine & rainbows as it was positioned publicly for you?

Do you think while you were gone - the company was for sale and that Anthem was ready to sell? Did you ever hear anything about it?

Suddenly - the GFW name isn’t mentioned anymore and now it’s just being called Impact. Was this something you were aware of?

Jim Cornette announces publicly with you not being a part of the company at current time - he wouldn’t be returning. Did you ever discuss this with Jim?

From the Observer

“Jeff Jarrett was in the news over the weekend, but I can also tell you that we first heard Jarrett was gone before this happened. Most felt he wasn’t coming back when they dropped using the GFW name. Jarrett was supposed to work shows in Calgary and Edmonton for Real Canadian Wrestling. Jarrett told people he was held up at customs at the airport for three hours on 10/20 and told that he had to fly back the next morning, which would mean he would be missing Edmonton. When he got to the show the first night, he told the promotion that somebody tipped off customs and they held him. This isn’t that unusual for wrestlers or people affiliated with shows to get held for a while, but usually, it’s about an hour. The first time UFC came to Montreal, Stitch Duran, the famous cut man, and me were both held for about an hour and they went through everything and a ton of people who said they were coming in for UFC was held as there was fear of violence for some reason. But I’m told it is very unusual for someone to be held for three hours. Jarrett showed up in Calgary. The story was that he was drinking Vodka, polishing off a few bottles, and passed out backstage and was in no condition to perform. He woke up and still wrestled on the show. When his music played and he didn’t come out, his opponent actually said Jarrett was upstairs getting drunk. He did the match, which had a ton of stalling, and at one point Jarrett lost his balance on a bodyslam spot. There were some Lance Storm students there so Jarrett got the idea of doing an angle where some heels jumped him and Storm’s students would save him. He cut a promo after about how he and Storm were tight to make sense of it and how he was tight with the Hart family. Storm wasn’t even at the show and the fans didn’t know Storm’s students. Jarrett told the promotion he’d be missing Edmonton and the promotion sent out a release that morning stating it. However, the promotion claims they called customs to discuss what happened and customs told them they had no clue about that story and they claimed Jarrett changed the flights on his own to go home early.”

Jeff - chat me up about Canada. Do you think you were already gone from Impact before this?

The Observer would continue…

“The promoter, Steven Ewaschuk, went on Facebook and said he didn’t know Jarrett was drunk until he came back after his match, but others said that he had to know since Jarrett passed out in the back at one point. The promoter also claimed that Impact offered them Abyss as a make-good for later shows. That would make sense if Impact booked Jarrett, which is possible since this booking was made prior to TripleMania and Jarrett being out, but my impression was Impact had cut all ties with Jarrett a long time back. One close friend of his said that Jarrett was in denial and claimed he was doing fine. Later he came to grips that he had a problem and checked into rehab on 10/25 after Karen Jarrett had worked with WWE officials in setting it up

After the announcement, he was gone and they weren’t using the GFW initials, Jarrett claimed Anthem was out of money. Anthem claimed that wasn’t the case since they are doing the PPV and subsequent tapings. Anthem is trying to heavily cut back on expenses but the promotion is losing a ton of money and that makes it precarious long-term”

Jeff - this all led to your sobriety and where we’re at today - but at the time - what was going on?

How important is all this in your life and how it all went down?

I’m sure you have regrets but in the long run - this saved your life did it not?

Looking back - the way you exited Impact, GFW, whatever you want to call it - professionally at the time wasn’t the best - but this was the kick in the ass you needed to get your life on track was it not?

Any regrets?

Were you sad to finally say goodbye officially to the company you began 15 years earlier?

What is the biggest misconception about the end of your run with Impact that you think has been passed along as fact?