Jeff Jarrett says he’s always had an eye for scouting talent, and that’s something he continues to remain proud of in 2023.
The AEW Director of Business Development discussed this topic during the latest edition of The Wrestling Perspective podcast, where he details scouting talent for the early days of TNA and how much more difficult it was since the internet hadn’t developed to its full potential just yet. Highlights from the interview can be found below.
How he’s always had an eye for scouting talent:
I feel lucky, grateful, blessed all the above. It’s kind of the culture, also, that I was born and raised in the Tennessee territory. [With] the socioeconomic, we couldn’t compete with Charlotte [North Carolina] or the WWE/F just [because] of their dollars and cents. Texas was a lot bigger. So, my father and Jerry Lawler, and obviously their predecessors, were always looking for new talent and developing new talent. That whole learning tree was that you have to have a turnover talent. It was Lawler, [Bill] Dundee, and maybe Dutch [Mantel]. Talent came through Road Warriors, Hogan, Savage, you name it, they all came through Tennessee. But, the mindset of cultivating talent was in my DNA, and it still is today in ways. That would probably surprise you, but it’s part of who I am as a businessman, cultivating talent.
When TNA came around the internet hadn’t exploded fully yet so scouting talent was still done the old fashioned way:
Then if you fast forward to 2002, June 19th, we launched TNA, and we were the alternative at that time. As Lars pointed out, there weren’t cellphones, Youtube, it was pre-social media, pre all that kind of instantaneous information. So, the internet was just getting its legs under it in a big way So we were the alternative, and so the culture that we created with that early, early TNA Crew was small, and then we grew, and then as you know with Team Canada, Samoa Joe, AJ Styles and Beer Money. Just the development of talent through the years was part of. It always will be part of my D. N. A, and I just think as we progress, I think the opportunities in 2023 to develop talent is more than ever.
Gives a shout out to indie star Effy:
I mean, when I look back at my 2022 year and I said a year ago, Effie is a really good talent. He took an ass-kicking from “The Last Outlaw”. There is so much talent on the market right now, that is, I’ll say quote unquote undiscovered. They’re just looking for their opportunity. The opportunities are there because of the ability to monetize content nowadays.
(H/T and transcribed by Fightful)