On the latest episode of My World, Jeff Jarrett discussed at length conversations and debates surrounding re-signing Sting whenever his contract was due in TNA.
Jarrett delved into how he and Dixie Carter looked at the situation, the creative team’s perception, and finally what led to TNA always keeping Sting around despite the chronic financial uncertainties and vows that afflicted the company. Here are the highlights:
Jeff Jarrett on Dixie Carter’s and his own perception; differing in nature but similar bottom-line wise:
“I don’t know that we’ve got into this part of it because of the timing of this, because we went through the Sting renegotiations multiple times. But I believe in this particular year Conrad, this is when we were going from one hour to two hours on Spike. We’ll call it the licensing fee double because that’s how they dole out money, by the hour. So our talent budget was a huge topic of discussion and we’ll call it, Dallas was ‘Well no, we don’t need to double the talent budget.’ And I’m like, ‘The only thing that makes this show go is, is our talent.’ Yes, we’ve got to market it. And yes, we’ve got to be better at creative. And you know, we’re going to take pay-per-views on the road and there’s a bunch of everything that goes into it. But investing in our talent is the number one set of circumstances. And they’re like, ‘Well,’ so we didn’t always see eye to eye on that. And as it was coming up and then the million dollar question that came around about every time this year, ‘What are we doing with Sting?’ And I’m like, ‘If we’re not going up in budget and I’m having, or I’m responsible for doubling the number of segments we’re writing, how in the world are we supposed to,’ you know what I’m saying? If we’re not adding more talent and guys that have been with us are going to get, ‘Hey, I know this guy’s going to want a bump and this guy’s going to want a bump.’ And just all the optics of it and the growth of the company.”
Double J on the creative team’s consensus:
“At times, it drove not just me, but internally the creative team, crazy. If you want to re-sign him, there’s no question. Everybody on the creative team, and I mean that everybody, was ‘Yes, we want him.’ But we need to tell, ‘Can you let us know what our options are and how much talent does that prevent us [from using].’ Or disgruntlement like, where does that kind of fall into this talent budget?”
Jarrett on the discussion inevitably coming back to the financial aspect; economic uncertainties in TNA:
“And Conrad, that was one of those things that — just, the growing pains of dealing with investors who made their money in energy and not in the entertainment business. It’s just difficult conversations. Many, many times, no resolution. You know, we just referenced the India situation that added revenue. But not getting a clear answer it was very, very frustrating at times. Because we made it clear, ‘Yes, we want him. But at what cost?’ And you couldn’t get a clear answer back because they didn’t know. That’s the real frustrating part about it. So it was a head-scratcher at times, but we always ended up somehow resigning him. Most of the time, talent-wise, we would kind of ease into it. But I’ll never forget having those multiple conversations around the time we went from one to two hours and I’m like, ‘You’ve got to increase your talent.’ But of course, the investor wanted as much money back or ROI on it as they could get. So wasn’t easy, Connie. Wasn’t easy.”
In summary, Jeff Jarrett’s insights shed light on the complexities of retaining valuable talent in the world of professional wrestling.
(h/t 411mania)
