Jeff Jarrett Talks His WWF Firing And Early Plans For TNA
On a recent episode of the My World Podcast, Jeff Jarrett spoke about the transition from WCW to TNA starting in 2001 to 2003. On a previous podcast, the founder of TNA spoke about how he thought Vince McMahon firing him live on the first RAW after purchasing WCW was to shoot an angle with Jarrett. Unfortunately for Jeff, he was actually let go and not brought back, and spent time at home waiting for his next move.
Like many of the wrestlers in WCW, Jarrett was on a guaranteed contract from WCW and was able to take a summer off and relax before making his next move in his wrestling career. Jarrett spoke about what it was like to have the time off and experience his first birthday at home and not on the road.
"I can vividly remember coming home and just waking up and knowing no airline tickets, nothing on the agenda," Jarrett said. "I had been going since [1986], outside of the end of 1995. Forward thinking, it was April and I knew through at least October, November, but I wasn't even thinking about the timeframe, I said I've got a summer. I had moved on the lake, never spent really any time [on the lake] because I travelled, I was never home. Here comes 2001, I was going to have some free time.
"Jeremy Borash was a buddy of mine, I always admired Jeremy's skillset and he was getting paid too, he was on that same timeframe and we called the summer of 2001 the 'summer of no worries'. I would call him, 'Hey man, what are you doing?' [Jeremy said] 'Nothing, no worries.' I didn't really have any plans, I was just going to take it easy and I did. That's all I did, I worked out and got really regime on my schedule, get up, go to the gym, come back, fix a cooler of food, go out on the water, come back in, get more food and go back out. That's really what I did for a couple months. My birthday is in July, that was the first birthday that I was home, I had two little ones."
Jarrett also spoke about conversations he had with his father, Jerry Jarrett, about creating TNA in 2002. The 53-year-old talked about working in-between WCW and TNA for World Wrestling All Stars and how that gave him the idea that another wrestling company in the United States could work.
"I remember multiple brief conversations," Jarrett said. " I told him 'Dad, there's a lot of talent and a lot of spot shows to run. It's just not in our backyard, it's all over the world. There is an opportunity. Run right, get the right crew together, get the right promoters together and create that touring Allstar and get into the mindset of how we are going to creating content and getting the episodic nature.'
"Coming of the Attitude Era, the business was so red hot that people knew Konnan and Disco [Inferno] and Jeff Jarrett and [Scott] Steiner. There was so much talent on the market, Scott Hall, there was a lot of talent out there. That was my mindset talking to my dad. 'Dad, there's a lot of spot shows to run around the world, you just can't oversaturate it. Go in with a fresh look and run lean and mean and there's an opportunity.'
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit My World with Jeff Jarrett with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.