Jeff Jarrett Wanted WWE Legend To Join TNA Wrestling

In the 2000s, TNA emerged as a challenger to the behemoth that is WWE, and Jeff Jarrett attempted to bring in WWE legend Bret Hart to help take the fight to Vince McMahon's promotion.

In a recent edition of his "My World" podcast, Jarrett admitted that he had tried to convince "The Excellence of Execution" to appear in TNA on several occasions.

"Often [tried to sign him]. And when I say often, you know, it's not like a weekly, but multiple times," said Jarrett.

Jarrett recalled WWE bringing back Hart for a segment with Shawn Michaels in 2010, at a time when he was trying to convince him to switch to TNA. He feels that the move to WWE signaled Hart's intentions to patch things up with WWE. The AEW star also revealed the role he wanted Hart to play in TNA as someone who could help elevate the promotion's top stars, like AJ Styles.

"[I thought he would join TNA] Not just because we were buddies or both sons of promoters, but because we had a good working relationship, and kind of what he's done. [He said to Hart] 'Look, Bret, nobody expects you to wrestle. How can we get you involved?' So those conversations kept ebbing and flowing because I knew there would be an ambassador role in there. And when you think about, I'll say this, the Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, the real in-ring product, Bret could really endorse or knight or give the rub to multiple folks. Namely, in my mind, AJ Styles. Like [I thought], how can I get Bret to get involved with the product, really first understand who AJ is, and then give him the rub?" Jarrett recollected.

Jeff Jarrett also revealed that he was optimistic about signing Bret Hart to TNA after "The Hitman's" appearances in Australia. 

"And the reason I had, I guess you could say, even more confidence, was because he did those Australian tours that I was on. He flew over to Australia and would come out and do promos and all that. So Bret wasn't — he certainly wasn't opposed to working outside of WWE at all," said the Hall of Famer. 

Jarrett involved other TNA executives in efforts to bring Hart into the promotion, but to no avail.

"But every time we would kind of get serious or close, for one reason or another, it would stall. And I wasn't the only one — Scott D'Amore, Jeremy Borash, others had relationships with him and all that. But I think it would ultimately come down to him making a decision — Am I going to go work for Jeff? And I think, at the very end of the day, he always had hope and optimism — 'I'm going to go back to WWE, and everything's going to be all right.'"

Jarrett said he wanted to give Hart the freedom to choose what he wanted to do, whether that be to step into the ring once again or just get on the mic. He feels that WWE may have wanted him to wrestle as part of the deal, which he wasn't adamant on asking Hart to do.