Jeff Jarrett Recalls Don West Giving Notice To TNA

There was no better salesman on the TNA payroll than the late great Don West, and his former boss, TNA co-founder Jeff Jarrett, knows it. West sadly passed away in December after a long battle with brain cancer, and on the latest episode of "My World," Jarrett and co-host Conrad Thompson celebrated West's life and the impact West had on the world of wrestling. Jarrett indeed felt that effect when West handed in his notice to TNA.

"I looked him in the eye and I'm like, 'Wow,'" Jarrett remembered, knowing that TNA had impossible shoes to fill. "We just kind of looked at each other and was like, 'Okay, we ain't going out of business by any stretch, but let's not kid ourselves — we can't replace Don. We need to probably really look at budgets and retool things and relook at things because the blueprint is here, but Don ... when you look over at that merch online and live event sales and everything that goes with it and the driver of it and the energy and the passion for it ... I don't know that we're going to hit the numbers as if Don was here.' That was the real conversation that took place."

Jarrett even recalled a time when he went back to the renamed IMPACT Wrestling in 2017 and had West liquidate over $1 million worth of sales for the company. "Don wasn't afraid to roll up his sleeves and do that," he added, but Jarrett learned a lot more from West than his knack for salesmanship. "The energy of Don West is something that I believe I carry with me to this day, and I say that within the positive energy of gratitude. And that was part of his upbringing, he was very, very, spiritually based."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "My World with Jeff Jarrett" with an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.