In a recent episode of his podcast “My World,” wrestling icon Jeff Jarrett delved into the underlying reasons TNA Wrestling never pursued discussions with wrestling superstars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, or Shawn Michaels.
Highlights from the podcast are captured below:
Regarding any plans of prolonging his rivalry with Elias in WWE: “I stumbled upon this on X, and was about to say, ‘Were there plans for more WWE fights for you after Elias?’. The question becomes who, because Elias and I had a series of discussions. There were indeed conversations — Michael Hayes once suggested, ‘Hey, let’s take that out on live shows.’ The creative team considered it from various angles, of extending it. There were definitely talks, but they never went past the discussion stage.”
On TNA not engaging with The Rock, Steve Austin or Shawn Michaels: “Given the realities of our budget, I don’t think those guys were ever seriously contemplated. Their strong ties were mainly with Vince around then, which was quite evident. Even when Dixie had lunch with Goldberg, I knew that was not a feasible possibility. As consideration for different talents and signings came down, I can share a bit of our thought process. I used to visit Bob Carter’s ranch for a few dove hunts in the early days. As time moved on and I had more talks with people in Dallas, I did my best to say, ‘Just because they are a huge WWE star doesn’t mean they’ll align with our brand and that their stardom will carry over.’
“Often, star power doesn’t simply transfer. For instance, look at the Yankees and Dodgers. Both teams’ managers have done a great job in positioning players to succeed. It’s the core idea behind the Jim Collins book – ‘having the right people in the right places, on the right journey, guarantees success. However, you also need to kick the wrong people off the bus, or the team’s chemistry will be off. This applies to building a wrestling roster or any other organization too.”