Jimmy Jacobs On What He Would Redo With Vince McMahon, Transitioning Into A WWE Creative Role
Jimmy Jacobs has been a producer and member of Impact's creative team for the last two years. But before that, Jacobs was a part of WWE's creative team for two-and-a-half years where he got a first-hand view of what it's like to work for Vince McMahon.
Jacobs talked about what he would redo with McMahon after working with him when he appeared on Jordan Garber NOW.
"When I first got to WWE, I wasn't scared of Vince. I just thought, 'He's a dude.' Maybe a billionaire but a billionaire dude and everybody was scared of him so I was asking why is everybody scared of Vince? After working there for a month or two, I see why everybody is scared of him," stated Jacobs. "So, I spent the majority of my time there basically scared of Vince and ultimately afraid of losing my job. It wasn't until the last couple of months of my time there where I was so sick of feeling just tied and boxed up that I wasn't scared of getting fired anymorehich, which is what I spent most of my time doing. Maybe I would last longer if I wasn't scared of Vince. It's his sandbox... He's just letting you play in it."
Jacobs was a full-time wrestler before moving to the creative department but he said the transition from wrestler to writer wasn't as big as becoming a part of WWE's corporate environment.
"I remember at the last CWE 2015 tour I had a pretty good idea I was going to WWE. When I first starting writing and getting into the creative role I thought I was done with wrestling and good never wrestling again. I was fine leaving that behind me and as a year or two went by, it wasn't just me missing performing," revealed Jacobs.
"WWE is such a faux corporate environment and Vince wants it to appear as corporate. It made me feel like I couldn't be myself. I missed having nail polish on and being kind of like a maniac. I felt like I was in a shell. So when I left WWE, it was nice to come back and be Jimmy Jacobs again."
Impact appears to be on the most stable ground it's ever been on thanks to Anthem purchasing AXS TV and Impact's TV show moving to that network. Jacobs talked about Impact's direction heading into 2020.
"I enjoy working there still and doing all the stuff behind the scenes. I hope the direction is good because I am one of the guys steering the ship," said Jacobs. "We got some good stuff happening and we got some good talent. Rich Swann had a star-making performance during the last tapings and with Tessa Blanchard a lot people have been following her journey. We have been telling that story for the better part of the year and people are starting to get behind her so there is definitely some good stuff happening."