Jeff Jarrett gave his thoughts on various topics on his latest My World with Jeff Jarrett.
During it, the WWE Hall Of Famer talked about booking himself as a top star in TNA Wrestling and more. Here are the highlights:
On Booker T’s royalty gimmick:
“The accent. I never could, like, connect the dots on it. Let me just say this. I was a huge fan of not just Harlem Heat, but when Booker spun out as a single. Yes. At the end of WCW when, you know, look, I was in the ring with him when he became the world heavyweight champion. But then when he went to WWE, WWF and five times, you know, the Spinaroonie that Booker, I loved. And then he changed his accent and there was no kind of vignette. He wasn’t hit on the top of the head. I would always say, I’m missing something. How did this come about? But if you just took it for what it’s worth, and he played, you know, the Royal King Booker. It’s a different side of Booker that was entertaining as hell because you just go, Where the hell does he come up with this stuff? But he really got into it and it, you know, the backstage stuff, it was entertaining. I mean, old, old book when he wants to, he’ll entertain you in a comedic kind of way. And you just don’t really expect that from him.”
On concern of backlash to booking himself as a top star and World Champion:
“Before day one. And the reason is I had a model to look at when Jerry “The King” Lawler was the king of Memphis. He was a part owner of the town. And we could go through story after story in the Territory system. I mean, Fritze. Owner of the Territory. Robert Fuller. Bob Armstrong. Owners of the territories. I mean. I mean, you know, I could go to Vergogna. I mean, you know what I mean. There is Inoki. Baba. That entire wrestling dream was a tribute to Inoki, and wow, how cool was that? Conrad To see Inoki’s grandsons there. But in the history of the business, it’s always had owner-promoter talent in the mix. Crusher, Dick, the Bruiser, I mean, on and on and on. So before I launched TNA, I had witnessed that being a part of it, the business. I certainly wasn’t the first, so I never liked that step that Cody put on himself. I thought it was super counterproductive and it brought a light to a situation that I didn’t think needed to bring a light to. You kind of look at the, you know, we’ll call it the group that was there from the beginning, the Bucks Omega, Cody, Jericho. Well, the Bucks are a team. Those other three guys are singles wrestlers. Sure. They are in tags. Why take that off the table for. I take it off the table for you consumers. You’re almost judging your consumers before, and I get it. Avoid the criticism and all that. I just felt it was the wrong reason. So, Conrad, I mean, obviously, hindsight is 2020. When you look at it now and know that from the day we signed Kurt, I was never in the world title picture, never before that and especially in the days of not being able to afford long-term contracts. We’ve talked about it ad nauseam, safety valves and thought processes and the heel, you know, that’s another thing when you look at the ebbs and flows of the business on all the companies out there. I’m talking about not just WWE and RW, but the impacts And just in Triple-A, I got caught up on that a couple of weeks ago when you look at the ebbs and flows of is it going to be a babyface territory or a heel territory? And I used to love hearing those discussions from old-timers and their thoughts. And I don’t think there’s a right or wrong. I think it’s much more of a timing basis when you’re starting a company and building things. I think you almost have to go with the heel champion and look, you got to switch it off and on. But I just think there’s more money in the chase. I think there always has been. And I think you kind of look at the bloodline story. How long has it been since Roman got beat? Over a thousand days. Years? Yeah, I mean, you know, where I’m. As far as the centerpiece. It’s the chase. It’s the chase. There’s always more money in that. So. Yes. Conrad, I gave you a long-winded question, but I was aware of it from day one. But to steal a phrase from someone, always do what’s best for business.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article, please credit My World with Jeff Jarrett with an h/t to Wrestling Headlines for the transcription.