Jeff Jarrett On Creating TNA, Being Fired From WWE, Chyna, AEW, Taylor Swift Babysitting His Kids

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Insight with Chris Van Vliet 1h 37m 4 speakers 6 chapters transcribed 2 months ago
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Chris Van Vliet 0:00
Chris VanVleet!
Jeff Jarrett 0:19
Jeff Jarrett, great to see you. How about it, my man? We're doing it. As I was making my way over here to our studio here, I brought back memories. I don't remember what year that was, but it was Baltimore at a convention, and we ended up right beside each other.
Chris Van Vliet 0:36
Yes. You remember that? Of course I remember that. That was probably five or six years ago. Yeah, yeah. MCW, I think.
Jeff Jarrett 0:42
Yes, yep. And I was like... This guy's good. And I have. I've respected your work. No BS. But I was thinking, that's probably the first time we really officially or formally met. So congrats to all your success. Oh, thank you. That's very kind coming from you. No, all kidding aside, it's a dog-eat-dog world, and it's a grind. And I'm sure you are well aware of the wrestling industry. It's not easy. You know, personalities all over the place. So, kid, you've done well for yourself.
Chris Van Vliet 1:14
Well, thank you. And I'm glad we finally got to sit down in person for this. How about that? And do it. This Dark Side of the Ring season seven is coming out on July 7th. There's three episodes about you and TNA and everything around that. And it's crazy because I feel like they're just scratching the surface too.
Jeff Jarrett 1:33
What's bizarre is, and you know, Evan Husney, I have been a fan of the show, but I wasn't out of the gate because look, being a third generation guy, it was, you know, it has told stories that don't reflect maybe the best light on the industry. But as you kind of dig in season after season, I remember Dutch Mantel, Enlighten Me, and then, of course, the Owen episode and just different episodes, and I've done a few, in that it's done in an in-depth, very respectful way. And so it's... When they approached me, Chris, it was like, oh, wow. I'm being approached about a dark side of the ring, and I've watched plenty of episodes, and a lot of folks candidly don't get the opportunity to maybe talk about the light side.
Jeff Jarrett 2:26
There's a dark side, but my story, as it sits today, it went through some dark components, but man, coming out of it, I'm very grateful. When they approached me, I thought it was... really interesting. And, and, you know, we're going to do, you know, I just assume one episode and we got into, Hey, we may end up doing two episodes and then, Hey, we may end up doing three episodes. And, you know, I, I first thought it was, it was all me. And then when you hear, I'll call it the other part of the story, the backstory or whatever it may be, that kind of came to light is that, evident plan to kind of do a TNA story and then maybe a Jeff story. And then as they got into it, the network was like, hey man, this is the story.
Chris Van Vliet 3:24
Well, you can't tell the story of TNA without telling the story of Jeff Jarrett. And even say it in Dark Side of the Ring, TNA was built out of desperation. Because at that point in time, you'd just been fired from WWE. There was nowhere else for you to go at this point.
Jeff Jarrett 3:39
Well, it's funny how even, you know, we were talking before the cameras rolling about being misunderstood. Being fired, and I've, you know, I've been let go fired numerous times. But the reality was Vince did, quote, unquote, fire me on TV. But, you know, I was still going to have a contract for the next seven or eight, nine months. So... That was a storyline that has grown that Jeff got fired and started TNA. The reality was I was paid through the end of October, and when that was over, I kind of sat back and said, okay. I never made a call to say, hey, man, J.R., Vince, you got a job for me? You just kind of look back and know your place in the industry and go, you have no leverage. None. It was a... Man.
Jeff Jarrett 4:33
It certainly wasn't a wrestler's market. Vince, without a number two, they're... There is no number one. It was Vince owning the entire game. And so that is really the thought process that went through my mind is that, man, there's a real opportunity here. And so it's just one of those things that, you know, TNA, just the narrative that is out there, as you say, it built out of desperation. I believe it was built out of an opportunity.

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