Jeff Jarrett Discusses The Significance Of International Revenue For TNA
On the latest episode of his “My World” podcast, Jeff Jarrett discussed the significance of international revenue for TNA Wrestling. Jarrett emphasized that it was a valuable source of income for TNA, contributing more than just supplemental revenue from Mailbox Bunny. He said,
“I don’t wanna say keep it going, but it was some nice gravy. Some nice, it was more than Mailbox Bunny, I’ll say that. And look at this point, our live event schedule, non-televised live events, had not cranked up. It was beginning, but Conrad, when we had our group of stars that were seen on Spike TV every week. New Japan — and you know, Kurt went over for them several times — so from New Japan to independent wrestling across the country, which we really couldn’t monetize. But when you got outside and sent three or four or five matches to Spain or Portugal or the UK — because we were making money off our international distribution selling Impact and Xplosion. And the pay-per-view was called premium content into all these markets. That revenue just kept going up and kept going up, which was great.
“But also, we had talent that Bob Ryder was running point. And that line item of basically being a booking agent. And that was kind of the vision that I had from the very, very beginning, that it’s hard to get up and run in a full– look at AEW right now. It’s challenging ‘because you have all kinds of different internal priorities. And I get it, you know. Collision came along, and that kind of flipped the house rules, initial vision. And now we’re pivoting and looking at getting back on track and running on Fridays and Sundays.”
With their stars appearing on Spike TV and engaging with New Japan and other international markets, TNA capitalized on the opportunity to book talent for international shows, acting as a booking agency and earning a 10% commission. The success in markets like Spain, Portugal, and other countries fueled interest from independent promoters, establishing TNA as a formidable presence in the global wrestling scene. Jarrett stated,
“But in the early days of TNA we’d certainly had a vision to, ‘Guys, you’re on TV together across the globe. Let’s all go make some money together. We’ll get you booked out at your rate. We’ll get our 10% on top of that as a booking agency, which is done every day, all day, in the music business.’ And there were some lucrative deals. At the time, Spain, Portugal, there was another third country that I couldn’t think of, they were red hot. And that’s what happens in these international markets. All of a sudden, a programmer will take a Raw or a Dynamite or an Impact, and all of a sudden be given a great time slot. And then it just takes off. And then the ratings come like it always happens with wrestling, and it gets traction. And then all of a sudden, you see the independent promoters that may promote music or Disney or whatever and say, ‘Hey, I’d like to get a wrestling show in here.’ And then boom, they book a wrestling show, and it sells a lot of tickets real quick. And then that’s how businesses are started internationally.”
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