My World w/ Jeff Jarrett - CM Punk Fights Teddy Hart [Show Notes] (Patreon)

Today we’re looking back at 20 years ago and there’s a LOT going on in TNA…

Heading into February & March 2004, TNA is about 2 years old at this time. How did you feel that TNA was going? Do you feel it's where you thought it should be and wanted it to be?

From the Observer:

“From a financial standpoint, if the company can maintain the current level of buys for the taped shows, the savings by doing one taped show a month based on numbers we’ve been given would cut the losses back very significantly. The way everything is structured is if they can maintain the current level of buys and save a lot of the roughly $100,000 per week in fixed costs, most of which are expenses of doing the live shoot, they’ll be close to break-even.”

Is that what it was costing you at this point in time?

“I think at break-even, the company wouldn’t be in much danger of going under imminently, which is a constant worry of many of those working here who recognize they’ve lost tens of thousands per week ever since the start and that the PPV numbers aren’t growing. The negative is that the general feeling is the shows have been declining in quality and interest of late, and based on our response, buy rates look to be down in the past month or two. There is also the question of if a taped PPV will do a lot worse than the live shows”

Did you see a difference between taped & live?

From the Observer

“Jarrett held a meeting with the wrestlers before the show, both telling them about the 4/4 PPV and telling them they are cutting back to running three live events per month and one taped show. It’s weird with them clearly spending money and negotiating with people like Nash and Hogan, that they are doing one taped show per month to save money. As of last word, Nash & Hall had not agreed to terms with Jarrett. They were told they have gotten a TV deal in Korea. B.G. James asked if they were going to start running house shows, but Jarrett said no. There is a lot of talk among the wrestlers now regarding pay. The locker room was pretty happy with guys mostly making $250 to $500 per shot, but then they see the company spend so much money on Fairplay, negotiating with Nash, and then nobody has been able to get even a $50 or $100 raise, and the regulars, who aren’t making much to begin with, are now being cut back 25% in income with the elimination of a live show each month”

Is it tough to be negotiation with these guys that are looking for a lot of money - at the same time the roster feels like you’re cutting shows back to save money?

“Add Joanie Laurer to the crew here. She debuts on the 2/18 show and looks to be doing a program with woman-hater Jonny Fairplay. The original plan was for Roddy Piper to confront Fairplay on that show to lead to a match on 4/4, but Piper evidently wasn’t as up for doing a program with Fairplay as they figured he’d be. Fort Campbell, KY,  also as a location, is still not a done deal.

Memories of attempting to bring Joanie Laurer to TNA at this time and were there any long term plans for her?”

“Randy Savage’s people, since his name got out, noted that Savage has not agreed to any deal at this point (as noted here, this was just a main event they’ve proposed and started talking about). Savage, 51, who hasn’t wrestled in several years, pulled out of his last high profile appearance just days before it was to happen. That was the WWA PPV in Las Vegas two years ago. Like Hogan, unless there is a signed contract, something can go wrong. It also should be noted that show was built around Savage, and it did no business on PPV, so Savage by himself is no savior.”

Talk about your negotiations with Randy to come in

Having Russo in TNA & talking things over with Randy Savage - you knew the chance of having Hulk Hogan come back at this point was very little, right?

There was talk still this past week of using Scott Hall & Kevin Nash on the 4/4 show as well, but that’s also not believed to be a done deal.

Was there serious interest and conversations here with you guys?

“Don Callis gave his notice this past week. Callis, who recently earned his MBA, is getting a regular weekday job in Winnipeg. The latest plan we’ve heard is that Jarrett will be keeping Callis and his character as head of TNA alive, as far as talking about him, because he may be brought back to work on 4/4, since it’s a weekend date.”

Talk to me about Don Callis leaving and were you surprised about it?

With Don leaving there’s an attempt to shoot a really big angle that got you into some hot water…

From the Observer

“Ever since its debut show, when the company hired country music superstar Toby Keith and NASCAR drivers Hermie Sadler and Sterling Marlin, NWA TNA has been trying to do anything to get some mainstream pub. Keith got a brief mention in USA Today and some Country TV clips when he suplexed Jeff Jarrett. Marlin, a huge star in his world, and Sadler, another well-known almost mainstream name, got almost no publicity. The company’s next attempt at publicity backfired, when several media were interested in the story of Zach Gowen, the one-legged wrestler. But Gowen walked out and signed with WWE, which ended up getting little publicity because it went from a heartwarming story to an ugly exploitive story because of how Vince McMahon used Gowen to get himself over.

The biggest attempt was signing Jon Dalton to a one-year contract, and ultimately, as a publicity stunt, that was a total flop. Ironically, Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher, a good friend of Erik Watts’, was able to be talked into doing something physical, and TNA got more publicity than they bargained for when it turned into a Chicago controversy about a guy with a $56,650,000, nine-year contract risking injury by doing an angle.

Urlacher’s role in the 1/28 PPV was being attacked by Kevin Northcutt and Joe Legend, doing the duck a double clothesline and coming off the ropes (which he nearly fell through instead of bouncing off) with the clothesline on both spot. He then pressed Jonny Fairplay over his head and threw him over the top rope onto Northcutt and Legend.”

Jeff - this got a TON of publicity. Was it just because Urlacher was under contract to the Bears?

Did you feel any heat from the Bears and the NFL?

Was this successful in your mind of promoting TNA as a global brand to get on SportsCenter and the like?

What was Urlacher like? Nice guy?

Do you wish you could’ve done more with him?

“The good news is that the 2/11 show, which hadn’t aired at press time, but was pre-taped, was said to be very good.

The show drew 1,200 fans, largely again due to the ICP contingent. A lot of them paid this time, as we had estimates from the lines that it looked like 40-45% paid this week, which is a much higher ratio than usual.

Terry Funk also debuted on the show, but it was sadly uneventful. Funk should have done a month’s worth of promos building to his debut, and in a major program. Instead, he was Sandman’s partner of the week, as Julio Dinero & C.M. Punk won in 5:04, although Sandman was pinned. That was, at least for now, considered the end of Sandman, as he hadn’t looked good at all on this run.”

Jeff - chat me up about ICP, Terry Funk, & the Sandman!

What was the plan for Terry Funk at this time and in hindsight would you of handled his debut differently?

Speaking of the Sandman…

Torch notes:

“Sandman was knocked out cold for a few seconds when he was struck by a chair at ringside during his tag match with Terry Funk against C.M. Punk & Julio Dinero. Sandman was dazed after the match and was sporting a golf ball size lump next to one of his eyes. Sandman couldn’t remember how he was knocked out; he asked Punk and Dinero if either one of them had hit him with a chairshot during the match. When both wrestlers denied hitting him with a chair, Sandman stressed that he wasn’t mad, but simply wanted to figure out why he blacked out. Both wrestlers still denied throwing a chair at him.

It turns out that Punk actually threw the chair that struck Sandman. Several wrestlers who overheard the conversation recalled watching Punk throw the chair at Sandman, but didn’t want to get involved. Although there was some heat on Punk for not coming clean, one wrestler is giving him the benefit of the doubt. This wrestler says it’s at least possible that Punk simply forgot he threw the chair, since it wouldn’t make much sense for him to lie about something Sandman would eventually find out about.”

Punk - was about to make more enemies as we’ll get to later - but what do you chalk this up to?

“There was some tension between Shane Douglas and Terry Funk prior to the show. As all of the wrestlers were getting their instructions for the show opening segment, Funk approached Douglas and apparently asked if they could let bygones be bygones. Those watching from a distance say Douglas made it clear that he didn’t want anything to do with Funk and basically blew him off. The heat between the two stems from an incident that took place while the two of them were working a match for Xtreme Pro Wrestling (Rob Black’s promotion) and Funk was cut by a bottle, which he blamed Douglas for.”

Did you know of anything about this - and was this an issue?

“After the 2/4 PPV ended, they taped the last match for 2/11, which was reported to us as one of the five best matches in the history of the promotion. It was an eight-man elimination match which would determine which promotion won the America’s Cup. The order of elimination was Dutt, Negro, Garza, Skipper, Sabin and Aguila, leaving Guerrera pinning Lynn in the finals. Lynn was banged up a little from Guerrera’s new 911 Juvi-driver finisher, as he landed bad on his shoulder.”

This was one of the most amazing matches - that at the time really showcased what TNA could do wasn’t it?

“The 2/11 show ended with Jeff Jarrett demanding that Mike Tenay tell him who the new NWA Director of Authority is, but Tenay refused, and the show ends with Tenay being fired, following in a storyline as on 2/4, they fired timekeeper Tiny, ticket taker Sara Lee and ring announcer Jeremy Borash.”

This was a lot going on at the time wasn’t it Jeff…were you having trouble finding the right role for you or were you enjoying this character?

“They taped an angle backstage for Mexico at the show where Jarrett laid out Guerrera after he won the tournament. This was asked for by Antonio Pena, and not Jarrett coming up with it on his own, as Pena wants to get Jarrett hot when he brings him in.”

How important was it for you to get over in Mexico and why was Pena pushing for it so heavily?

“Dustin Rhodes debuted as the mystery surprise getting an NWA title shot at Jeff Jarrett. It was a poor title match and Rhodes didn’t get over at all when it was over. Really, he was barely recognizable at first.

They spent the first 4:30 brawling out of the ring. When they got in the ring, it ended up with eight wrestlers involved and two ref bumps before it ended in just 7:06. The Naturals, Andy Douglas & Chase Stevens, threw powder in Rhodes’ eyes and hit him with a chair causing his getting pinned.”

This wasn’t Dustin at his best was it?

“Thomas T. Stennenbaum, who plays the role of Jarrett’s hotshot lawyer, debuted in person on the 2/4 show. He was old Memphis manager Ernest Angel, who caused a lot of controversy more than ten years ago when he did an evangelist gimmick on the circuit and used a loaded bible as his foreign object of choice. He was pretty good then, but that was a lot because in real life, he was an evangelist so he understood the gimmick. He looked to be super nervous playing a lawyer and didn’t come off well.”

Jeff - chat me up about Thomas T. Stennenbaum…

From the Observer

“inDemand had a listing for the “Bound for Glory” PPV on 4/4, and lists Randy Savage and Chynna (new spelling) as the big stars on the show, which speaks volumes about its own belief in its own stars. It is now official that there won’t be a PPV on that date and there is no new date scheduled. This makes the third date they’ve proposed to the cable industry for a major show that they’ve canceled

on, which has to be doing wonders for company credibility.”

Was this an issue with the cable companies? Were they worried about booking these shows?

What is the process of putting a date on a calendar for pay-per-view like this?

“In addition, Fort Campbell officially turned down the 4/4 show. Bill Behrens was running around trying to find them a new building, and we have heard the Georgia Mountain Center in Gainesville, GA was contacted about possibly housing the show”

Was this just shot in the ass right from the get go?

“It’s funny, because over the past week, I saw two cable commercials for the Wednesday shows. One was a promo by Hogan, which at this point by still running it (and they ran in during the preview show as late as this past week), they are misleading people into thinking Hogan is still with them. The other was a commercial for the Wednesday shows saying TNA is the only place to see Sting, implying Sting is wrestling on the shows every Wednesday. It’s really sad. Plus the worst part, is that anyone who buys a show based on those commercials is going to be mad, even if the show is good, because they’ll think they’ve been swerved and have a bad taste in their mouths.”

Was there a worry about false advertising two major stars?

“Jeff Jarrett has been in the middle of some controversy regarding indie bookings. The first stems from the 1/25 Ocala, FL, match against Dory Funk. Funk made the deal through Bob Ryder, who he has worked with as a writer on Ryder’s web site for years. The two had an arrangement where Funk would write columns on the site in exchange for Ryder’s 1wrestling.com site promoting Funk’s wrestling school and promotion.

Funk and Ryder reached a deal for Jarrett to defend the NWA title against Funk, for $2,000. Jarrett’s wife was due to deliver that week and wasn’t that hot about leaving her for a booking. The Funk side claimed they believed that TNA would

promote the event on its web site, television show and PPVs. I believe there were were mentions on the web site in some of the columnsthat Jarrett would be going there.”

This sounds like a mess Jeff - was it a Bob Ryder issue - Dory Funk - where did it all go wrong?

“Funk was said to have wanted a 30 minute match when he got there. Jarrett wanted to go home at 13:00, but they compromised at 18:00 when, as booked, Adam Windsor turned heel on Funk and cost him the match.

However, the show only drew 190 fans and $1,800, not even enough to pay Jarrett. Funk stopped payment on the check to Jarrett claiming his side didn’t promote the show enough, as well as stopped payment of a check to Ryder for about $550 in travel expenses. Jerry Jarrett, who has a business relationship with Funk dating back 30 years or more, claimed it wasn’t a TNA business deal but a business deal between Ryder, Jeff and Funk, when asked about the lack of promotion on their end. This led to Ryder dropping Funk from his web site after his bank called about the check, and apparently dropping Funk from some sort of a trading card deal he’d put together with former wrestling legends.”

My goodness Jeff. What a disaster.

“Spanky and Kanyon have both been talked with, but the WWE is forcing both to wait out the 90-day non-compete time period in their contracts before they can start here.”

What a sad story Kanyon ended up being in professional wrestling - why do you think that was?

From the Observer

When Jonny Fairplay was ripping on Joanie Laurer endlessly on the 2/18 show, it sounded like they were shooting an angle, but instead they did an extended burial. The story he said about her demanding first class tickets for herself and her agent to the show over the weekend was true. She told friends that she had never signed a deal, but tried to confirm a flight and a deal and was not called back. While you never say never in wrestling, there are said to be no plans to use her.

Torch notes:

Last week Joanie Laurer did not appear on the TNA PPV as advertised. The company knew in advance that she wouldn’t be on the show and posted a graphic on their preview show noting that she would not be appearing. A source reports that TNA officials gave Laurer the choice of flying on Northwest or Southwest Airlines. The company claims she chose Southwest, so they purchased her a ticket. When Laurer received the ticket, she called the office to complain that it was not a first class ticket.

Who was talking to her during this? Did you handle this or ever speak to her about this?

“Vince Russo has been making it clear to those who approach him with booking concerns that he is not booking the shows. Russo has confided in some that he offers suggestions, but claims that most are shot down by Jeff Jarrett and Dutch Mantel. Russo’s most visible role at the pay-per-views continues to be producing promos.”

Was that his role at this time?

From the Torch:

A number of wrestlers were mocking the finish of the Jeff Jarrett vs. Chris Harris match while watching the show on a backstage monitor. The common theme of the backstage complaints about the finish was that if the wrestlers couldn’t understand what was going on, how could the company expect the fans to understand...

Here’s the finish

“Jarrett sends Harris into the corner and for some reason Harris spears the referee in an odd spot. The referee was not in the right position for that. Jarrett has a chair, but Harris has gotten on as well and whacks the chair away leading to another near fall. Jarrett has the NWA World Championship and decks Harris with it. Jarrett has the cover, but Harris powers out at two. Harris blocks a title shot and plants Jarrett with the Catatonic for another near fall. Harris tries for a sharpshooter, but Jarrett kicks Harris into the referee. Jarrett hits the Stroke, but there’s no referee. Jarrett has the cover, but Harris kicks out at two. James Storm returns to the ring and superkicks Jarrett leading to a near fall for Harris as Raven pulled the referee out! Raven screams for Russo hearing him now. Jarrett whacks Harris with the guitar over the head. Jarrett has the cover and pins Harris to retain the title.”

What say you to the people backstage telling Wade that?

“Mike Tenay has earned the respect of several people in the locker room by making it clear that he does not agree with the way he is booked as the lead voice against Jeff Jarrett’s heel antics. Tenay has told friends that he thinks that role should be given to a wrestler who could actually gain something from it…”

Were you having issues with Mike at this time? Was he reluctant to work in this type of role?

This all leads to Vince Russo becoming the new Director of Authority as he’s a babyface - why turn Vince babyface?

From the Observer

“Russo did a long promo to try and make himself a face that backfired incredibly. Russo was near tears, which apparently turned some folks off, and then talked about how everything he had done in wrestling was wrong and he really was the Anti-Christ. People were chanting “bullshit” and “boring” until Jarrett came out, and they actually cheered Jarrett. Russo’s speech saw him talk about how he did everything for ratings in wrestling, promoted violence and nudity (people cheered that, and booed when he said it was wrong), and that he had made more than $500,000 in his best year (that’s a real number of what WCW paid him to jump in 1999, which will make a good subject for somebody’s book). Jarrett threw him down and slapped him, but Russo wouldn’t hit him back and walked away. Jarrett acted all confused the rest of the show”

What was the idea of the payoff with you & Russo?

The girls in cages dancing finally comes to an end - why was that?

From the Observer:

They are giving Punk more promo time and he’s been very good at it.

What did you see in Punk at this point? Did you see superstardom?

Well here comes a fun transition about Punk…

From the Observer

“The return of Teddy Hart on 2/25 brought its share of news and speculation, as he got into a fight before the show, and then had a knee injury during the show, both of which, given his reputation, have

been questioned. During the afternoon, Punk was eating at the White Trash (real name) Café, which is near the Fairgrounds in Nashville and allows the wrestlers to eat free. Hart came in and, according to one eye-witness, asked Punk if he had a problem with him, since Hart and Punk have ripped on each other on the internet since the 11/1

explosion at ROH. In fact, two weeks earlier, when the rumors got out that TNA was going to bring Hart back, Punk told people that he was going to slap him when he walked through the doors of the Asylum.”

Jeff - were you aware of these issues ahead of time?

“Those close to Punk say he hates Hart with a passion, and probably does even more now. Hart was wearing his headphones (which many think he doesn’t even have on) and was smirking before Punk bumped him, and Punk made a comment and Hart either couldn’t hear it because of his headphones, or others believe pretended not to hear it.

When Punk repeated it, they ended up outside the café. The two were talking, with neither shouting at the other. Eye witnesses did see Hart take off his headphones, and then Punk slapped him very hard. Punk probably figured that would be it, but didn’t realize Hart has trained in boxing, and responded with an overhand right that decked Punk. Hart got in two more shots on the ground, as Punk had a black eye and a goose egg before Sabu jumped in.”

Jeff - how do you hear about this?

These things happen in wrestling - but what did you think of this whole situation?

The OBserver would continue…

Since Hart came in with the skepticism, the only reason he wasn’t fired is because there were many eye witnesses who all, including those who hate Hart, said that Punk started it and the only thing Hart could possibly be faulted for was smirking, making the trouble worse, and retaliating after the slap instead of walking away. It was understood had he done that, people would have called him a pussy so he was in a no-win situation.

Both were brought in to talk with Don Harris, who told both of them they were brought in to be professionals, and if there is another incident with either of them, they’ll be fired.

Why Don Harris?

Did you ever talk with either of these guys about this?

Does this sound like an accurate representation of it?

From the Torch:

“TNA wrestlers also sounded off on C.M. Punk, who appears to be taking the bulk of the office heat for the fight. Some wrestlers have been down on Punk for “whining” about his push and lack of promo time. The wrestlers say Punk has rubbed some of the locker room veterans the wrong way because they don’t think he has paid enough dues to be complaining about his situation when so many of them are stuck in similar situations. Meanwhile, some wrestlers were down on Punk for talking trash about Hart prior to his TNA return.

“You don’t tell everyone you’re going to kick someone’s ass,” said one wrestler. “You just do it. Teddy may be immature, but Punk is a mark and Steve Corino (who has also had problems with Hart) is no better for bitching about their issues on the internet. Teddy is crazy and has a lot of issues, but Punk should have known better than this.” There was a lot of talk backstage that Punk will be punished more severely by TNA officials because he was the one who started the fight.

Wrestlers say it was no coincidence that Punk did a clean job in The Gathering’s match vs. Raven & Sabu.

Was that a directive to punish Punk coming off this fight?

Was there any thought to not bring Punk back?

There’s also controversy in the America’s Cup as well…from the Observer:

“Before the show there was a little controversy, as the plan was for Guerrera to be eliminated early, with the story of the match being that Team AAA is wrestling without their captain and biggest star, but they come back to win. Scott D’Amore gave the Mexicans the finish and Guerrera started complaining, saying he was the most well-known guy on the team so he should be there at the end. When Guerrera asked who came up with the idea, D’Amore said Jarrett, and Guerrera quickly quieted down. But before he did so, and he said this in front of the other three guys on his team, that if they beat him and eliminate him, people will start leaving because they don’t know the other guys. People aren’t sure if he said it in English thinking the other three wouldn’t have understood it (Garza and Aguila both worked for several years in the U.S. for WCW and WWF and knew the language well enough that they understood), or just didn’t realize how the other three would view that statement. The idea was to beat Guerrera as a surprise and reward Garza, who they thought did well the last time he was in. Guerrera even shot back before finding out it was Jarrett’s idea, saying that if he was eliminated, nobody would care about the match, which made him really popular with the rest of his teammates.”

Juvi just had a lot of issues didn’t he?

This also came up in the Observer Jeff:

“The black eye was that all week they were advertising Abyss, who won both tag belts with Lex Luger’s help, defending with his new championship partner (strongly teased as Luger but never outright said, so I sensed that as a near bait-and-switch, and they don’t seem to even realize that nobody cares about Luger in the first place and you only piss your fan base off when you do this crap) against Styles and a mystery partner. Whomever it was supposed to be fell through in both cases, so when the show started, they announced that Russo had stripped Abyss of the belts because of Luger’s interference. Luger got $2,500 for his brief run-in, as opposed to the $5,000 he was getting for doing a match, so that may have something to do with it. If he doesn’t lose a singles match or clean in a tag to Styles in the right away, then it makes him being there make no sense. However, they said Russo hadn’t decided what to do about the tag titles, and they made Abyss vs. Styles into a singles match. Styles went all out, taking crazy bumps and even doing a flip dive off the balcony. They ended up with three ref bumps in the same match. With no refs left, Don Harris came out. Both guys punched him so it was ruled a DDQ. They are building toward a ladder match on 3/17”

Lex Luger coming in at this time - was great for Lex but didn’t help anybody in the long run did it?

From the Observer

“TNA has started a new marketing campaign called “Wrestling Reinvented,” which was announced by TNA president Dixie Carter at the CTAM conference in Los Angeles on 3/10. “The contest of wrestling has gotten out of hand,” she said. “In an effort to shock the viewer, storylines in our industry that were once considered obscene are now unfortunately common place. For a period of time now, Total Nonstop Action has made a conscious shift in the content of our shows and will continue to do so. We have distinguished our product from our competitor and provided the PPV buyer with a true alternative. Wrestling Reinvented is moving forward to the past. Our programming will be clean but also innovative, cutting edge with the high-risk, high-flying athleticism TNA is known for.” Part of this change is to make the TV deal with Fox Sports Net, which is insisting on a clean product. At this point, there is no deal. What they are talking about is a try-out, which would be on Sunday nights. This would be similar to the two-week try-out FSN gave UFC, that didn’t lead to a deal even though ratings were strong, partially because sponsors shied away. The shows would be taped on Thursdays in Orlando, and if the deal comes through, they will likely have a regular 40-man roster”

Chat me up about Wrestling Reinvented Jeff!

“ICP and their entourage are done. That’s been tradition with every promotion they’ve been through, from WWF, WCW, ECW and everywhere in between. They’ve made so much money in music that they don’t have to wrestle, and they also aren’t very good at it. The one thing here is this was the first place where their appearances made a significant difference, at least at the live shows. They left over booking differences”

Was ICP worth the increase in live attendance?

Why did the relationship end?

“TNA is opening its wrestling school on 3/29 with Terry Taylor and Scott D’Amore as head trainers. They’ve been talking about this since the promotion opened. It costs $300 to try out for the school. If you pass the try-out, the cost is $4,000 for six months of training (which would be 52 days of training, which is a far higher cost than just about any school I’ve heard of).”

Was this important to you to get accomplished?

Why Terry & Scott?

What was your relationship like with both at this time?

“Although there is no word as to whether Dustin Rhodes is scheduled to make more TNA appearances, more than one wrestler has said they are not surprised he hasn’t been used much since making his debut. These wrestlers don’t think Dustin got over during his two appearances, and say that his locker room behavior was suspect... ”

Were there issues with Dustin when he came in?

“TNA has a working relationship with World Wrestling Council promoter Carlos Colon. TNA officials were hopeful of doing business with the IWA promotion, which Dutch Mantel booked until joining TNA last year. However, TNA officials moved on because they felt IWA booker Savio Vega was too difficult to deal with. The word backstage on Wednesday is that Carlos Colon’s son, Eddie, will be debuting in TNA soon..”

Was Savio tough to deal with?

Were you hoping to have more talent coming in?

It was reported that a possible IWA vs. TNA show could be taped and marketed - but it never took place. Why was that?

“Sting was in Nashville for a week working on a Christian movie about his life. It was kind of disappointing as they pushed, at the last minute, Sting appearing on the 3/24 show. All he did was an interview, which Mike Tenay carried, and he didn’t say much of anything other than put

over that the NWA title was the most important title in pro wrestling. He didn’t arrive in the building until 30 minutes after the show started, so he and Tenay did little preparation (they did talk before the show via phone).”

We touched on Sting obviously a lot last week - but this is always a big deal is it not?

From the Observer

“Jeff Jarrett had a meeting with talent and told the guys they needed to dress and look like stars. Jarrett and Dutch Mantel were told by the intermediaries of the hoped for Fox Sports Net deal that if the guys on the show look like they should be fans in the crowd, that they won’t last past two weeks, and Jarrett and Mantel took that to heart. Jarrett told them they are working on a TV deal, it isn’t done, and that they weren’t going to talk about it until it was. Raven then got up and basically reiterated what Jarrett said, since he’s constantly pushed guys to develop unique characters and change their looks. When he was done, B.G. James said, something like “Thanks for your input,” in a very sarcastic way which made some people laugh. While everyone knows there is truth too what they are saying, the complaint is that Raven and Jarrett are probably the highest paid guys not working for WWE right now so it’s easy for them to say spend a lot of money on your costuming”

Fox Sports net was a big deal - and everything had to look like a big deal did it not?

“Jerry Jarrett is still trying to do something with Hogan, Hall & Nash, even coming in together, although they couldn’t use the NWO name. Jarrett talked with them and said the company doesn’t have the money they once had (when Hall was offered and originally got $7,000 per week when the promotion first started and Sean Waltman was offered a similar price although by the time he was let go by WWE he ended up coming in at $2,000) but would cut them good deals on merchandising. The feeling watching the tapes were that all three felt it didn’t look major league. Nobody ever expected Hogan to set foot in the Asylum, and even though the company did, it never happened. Hall & Nash really don’t have a lot of options, although they are apparently still in talks with Pride, even though they didn’t come to terms for 3/7”

How important were these 3 men to building a bigger brand - especially with a TV deal looming?

We’ll end this here from the Observer: While some in TNA are trying to claim that Jarrett and Mantel are writing the TV, and Russo is in his role because Mantel thinks he’s a great TV character and is writing the role for him, the truth is that Russo writes the TV (as you can tell by all the insider terminology and constant babyface complaining about being held back, politics and WWF references). Jarrett and Mantel get his script and then change things, and often change a hell of a lot.

Is that what the creative process was back then?

Now the topic that was hot & heavy 20 years ago - Ring of Honor and Rob Feinstein. There was an incident online - you can look it up - but as the owner of Ring of Honor it got the company and wrestling in general in a lot of hot water. Jeff - walk us through when you heard about the incident and the potential impact on TNA?

Now ROH was using a lot of TNA talent at the time - and this was written up in the Observer:

“Jarrett was also unhappy with A.J. Styles, C.M. Punk and Christopher Daniels for all three coming out publicly supporting the ROH promotion. There is jealousy right now because TNA pushes its product to hard on the internet, and its audience is probably heavy internet skewed (ironically, its live audience consists of people, according to those who are in the stands and ask, who never visit wrestling web sites), but ROH gets so much praise while TNA is largely ignored or criticized. TNA has yet to order its talent not to appear, but when everyone signed contracts, I figured there would come day when ROH using TNA contract guys was going to come to a head.”

What was your relationship with ROH up until this point - and was this the first sign of trouble between the two companies?

Just the next week…the news explodes:

“TNA had started pressuring A.J. Styles and Christopher Daniels not to take any more future ROH dates. There were reports that said they used the reason they were afraid it would botch up their Fox Sports Net potential deal, but those in TNA denied Fox Sports Net had anything to do with it and it was because they were to disassociate themselves from Rob Feinstein. WWE had also suggested strongly to Jim Cornette it would be best if he stayed clear of ROH at this point. Neither Styles, nor Daniels, who only get three dates per month from TNA, were thrilled about it being suggested on 3/24 by Jeff Jarrett to not work there at least until this blows over. I don’t believe anyone has been directly approached, since Chris Sabin is injured and TNA hasn’t used C.M. Punk in several weeks. After that, ROH fans, which TNA believed was led by Bob Magee, started an e-mail campaign against TNA for shutting its workers out of ROH. This led to TNA officials and Gabe Sapolsky talking on 3/26 and both sides agreed to try and hammer out some sort of an understanding this week in exchange for Sapolsky telling ROH fans not to send harassing e-mails to the company and Fox Sports Net”

What a whole mess Jeff - what can you tell us about all this - and the issues with the guys and not wanting them to wrestle for ROH?

Next week Jeff we’ll be talking all things Destination X 2009! Sting is in the main event defending his TNA title against Kurt Angle - the battle of the Main Event Mafia - with you as the special guest referee and Mick Foley as special guest enforcer! Plus an Ultimate X match, Team 3D & Beer Money in a No DQ match, AJ Styles challenges Booker T for the Legends title and a 10,000 tack match between Matt Morgan & Abyss!