In a recent episode of My World, Jeff Jarrett delved into several intriguing topics from the early 2000s.. Among those topics, Jarrett discussed TNA signing several big-name former WWE Superstars, sharing the logic behind the move.
He explained that TNA aimed to elevate its status by signing renowned wrestling stars like Sting, Booker T, Kevin Nash, and Mick Foley, with the hope of boosting TV ratings. Simultaneously, the promotion recognized that a diverse roster offered opportunities for licensing and international sales, paving the way for merchandise and branding ventures. Jarrett said,
“I’ll say we had Sting, and we began to add others. Yes, we had hopes. I’d be sitting here lying if I didn’t tell you that. Yeah, we had hopes that so and so, that Booker, Kevin Nash, that Sting would pop a number. Okay, now we’re getting Mick. But Mick in a non-wrestling role. I mean he came in — we all had realistic expectations, including the network because they had a relation to it. But what it did do was, you know, when you’re looking at our international sales deck and our licensing. And the licensing program is much more than yes, video games and action figures and we dove right into that as well. But it’s a full-on license program. When you kind of end up having a depth of a roster of four, five, six established stars, maybe more than that. And then you have your up-and-comers and homegrown, and guys that now have two years under their belt of Spike TV, you really begin to just have more depth across the board. So that was kind of the mindset. Yes, we wanted to pop ratings, but you got to remember and I don’t — especially doing the podcast, don’t ever lose sight of this, Conrad. We were not a top ten, not even a top 20 network. Spike was 22, and 23, so a top 25 network. And on Thursday nights and a lot of times during the week we were — you know, CSI popped numbers, but that was kind of bought programming that wasn’t original. We were their highest original program week in and week out. We knew the value we had for those guys, and they were heavily invested.”
By 2008, TNA had shifted from late-night Saturdays to Thursday prime time and expanded from a one-hour to a two-hour slot, demonstrating the network’s increasing confidence in their potential and long-term commitment. On that subject, Jarrett remarked,
“This is the other thing that I thought about. We’re in October of 2008, prime time doing whatever it was, 1.2, 1.4 million viewers. But we went from a a Saturday night, the late-night time slot to a Thursday night, the late-night time slot. To a one-hour prime time, to a two-hour prime time. So when you kind of pump the brakes and look over the last 24 months, we’re doing okay ratings and they’re happy with us.”
During the same podcast, Jarrett also discussed the attempt to sign fellow WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley to TNA back in 2004. You can read about that here
.(h/t 411mania)