On a recent edition of his “My World” podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Jeff Jarrett addressed the criticism of TNA overbooking match finishes and more.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On getting NFL great Brian Urlacher to toss Johnny Fairplay out of a TNA ring: “Oh boy, and I was looking at it, reading the research. When I thought about Toby [Keith] — obviously, the suplex and that — look, in Toby’s world, it got massive play. And that’s in the country music world, and that’s no small world. In the NASCAR world, Sterling Marlin and Hermie Sadler — that just didn’t get one hit. That kind of got multiple hits. Hermie — not just a friend of the show and a friend of the family, but I mean, he knew how to navigate all that PR. And it got, in that world, a ton of press. Neither of those worlds aren’t in Keller or Meltzer– it’s not in the wrestling world. It’s completely out of lanes, all that. So you know, they weren’t aware of how much it generated. Look, did it generate a boatload of revenue? Probably not. But awareness? Yes, they were both well done.
“When it got to our locker, correct. A buddy of Eric Watt’s, in that spot — if you can go on the app and check this episode out. But Urlacher in his prime, hitting the ropes 100 miles an hour, like a Bron Breakker. I mean, just — and I’m just like, ‘Ooh, he doesn’t quite know how to do this, slow down in there.’ But Connie, the amount of behind-the-scenes maneuvering? The Bears were livid. And somebody from Dallas — I don’t think it was Bob [Ryder] — called and basically said, ‘Now didn’t y’all learned y’alls lesson after the TNA situation?’ Because that got the offensive line, Frank Wycheck, and Zack and others, they got called on the carpet and had to talk to not just the coach, but the general manager, the attorney, and the Titan management. They were upset about it. Later, Pac-Man — that it got an ugly situation. But Urlacher and the Bears, they were livid. And they put a clause in his contract at this time that he could not do — I mean, a number of things, and had to get approval for just about anything other than playing football. But yes. It got quite a bit of news locally in Chicago. It got some national, but a lot in Chicago. And Nashville, of course. But yeah, my man wasn’t worried about reporting back to his Bears coaches that, like, ‘I’ll handle it. Don’t worry about it.’ Because we did ask him about it. I’m kind of forgetting that part. We’re like, ‘Hey, man, are you approved to do this?’ ‘Oh, yeah. It’s all good.’ Well, he wasn’t.”
On TNA being criticized for overbooking finishes: “And I’m — kind of a flashback on my flights home this morning, looking at social media, and me and you have have already talked about the [Will] Osprey [AEW Revolution match]. There were people in the mentions of that match on one of the things, that were knocking it saying, ‘There’s no story.’ And I’m just thinking, people will find — and that’s cool. Because that is — when I say it’s cool, that is what makes wrestling go around. That no matter what — I mean, there’s no such thing as 100% like. Nobody in the wrestling industry is always going to say, not everybody’s gonna say, ‘That was great.’ I mean, there’s some overwhelmingly positive, but you’re always going to find the naysayers. In this era, no social media. You had a couple of guys — Meltzer, Keller, Powell, Mike Johnson, Dave Scherer — you had the group that had their different opinions. But you know, we’ve talked about this before. If my dad didn’t like something, most of the time I think Keller would kind of be negative. And I think Dave had his guys that were reporting back to him…. the bellyaching kind of comes with the territory is what I’m trying to say.”
In a recent episode of his podcast, “My World,” WWE Hall of Famer Jeff Jarrett addressed some of the criticism that TNA (Total Nonstop Action) Wrestling has faced over the years. One of the topics he discussed was the overbooking of match finishes.
Jarrett began by talking about an incident involving NFL great Brian Urlacher and reality TV star Johnny Fairplay. He mentioned that in Toby Keith’s world, the suplex performed by Urlacher received massive attention and generated a lot of press. However, Jarrett acknowledged that this kind of attention did not necessarily translate into significant revenue for TNA. Nevertheless, it helped raise awareness for the promotion.
Jarrett also mentioned another incident involving Urlacher and the Chicago Bears. The Bears were reportedly upset with Urlacher’s involvement in TNA and put a clause in his contract to prevent him from participating in similar activities without approval. This incident generated a lot of news locally in Chicago and in Nashville, where TNA was based at the time.
Moving on to the criticism of TNA for overbooking match finishes, Jarrett acknowledged that not everyone will always be pleased with the storytelling in wrestling. He mentioned a recent match between Will Ospreay and an opponent at AEW Revolution that received some negative comments on social media. Jarrett emphasized that in the wrestling industry, there will always be naysayers, and it is impossible to please everyone.
Jarrett also reflected on the era before social media, where wrestling critics like Dave Meltzer, Wade Keller, and Mike Johnson had their own opinions. He noted that even within his own family, his father sometimes had negative opinions about certain aspects of wrestling. Jarrett concluded that criticism and bellyaching are part of the territory in the wrestling industry.
Overall, Jeff Jarrett’s podcast episode shed light on some of the criticism faced by TNA Wrestling, including overbooking match finishes. He acknowledged that while certain incidents may generate attention and press, they may not always translate into significant revenue. Jarrett also emphasized that criticism is inevitable in the wrestling industry and that it is impossible to please everyone.