WWE Hall of Famer Jeff Jarrett, who is also All Elite Wrestling’s Director of Business Development, appeared on an episode of his “My World with Jeff Jarrett” podcast. In it, he discussed various topics, including whether he would have started TNA after leaving WWE in 1999 instead of going back to WCW.
Jarrett said, “Hell no. Conrad, when you really think about up till, I would say — and here’s what’s crazy. It was such a bizarre time that the business had gotten so hot that Vince and — you know, he never missed a Raw, or he just didn’t do that. And he literally would come in for Raw. We had launched Smackdown. But you know, he’d come in for Raw and then he’d fly right back out, because he was talking to investment bankers all over the world. He was going through the process of taking the company public while still running the business day-to-day. Obviously still running creative. Dealing with Austin and Taker and Rock and, I mean, all of that. They only had two writers, Russo and Ferrara. I mean, he was doing it all. And that character went from May of ’99, Owen’s accident. And not long after that, I became IC champ. And not long after that, we’ll just say that, ‘Okay, the chartered course had been going, and this was Jeff’s character. The male chauvinist, guitar swinging — by this time we’d gone through the Tennessee Lee. We’d gone through all this kind of stuff. But this time, we’ll call it kind of the ‘Don’t piss me off,’ flat top haircut. Conrad, the gas was being poured on weekly. I mean, Pat and Vince and obviously Russo and Ferrara and Bruce and anybody else. There was no secret; the steam was rolling in a positive way. The heat was rolling in a positive way. The only real outlier was JR. And look, we’ve covered this, and I get it. I totally get it. He has to make his case as a general manager of a team roster, he wants to keep everybody happy. And he — you know, made the call. Because the numbers didn’t add up. We were, you just said it, selling out. Why he couldn’t bring me back just to the sea level that I came in at in ’97. But he didn’t. Had he come and said, ‘Hey, Jeff man, a lot of water under this bridge. And man, you’ve persevered through some crazy ass stuff. Your wife’s sickness, the character’s ups and downs, but man you’ve really hit your stride here. Seems like you’re back on course. And man, this thing you and Chyna are going to do, who knows, there may be a return. And then from there, we’ll go from there.’ And just all the things in my mind, logically. And obviously the number one company, the last thing I wanted to do Conrad was go to WCW. I mean, it literally was, ‘No, that is not a good idea.’ I mean hell, when I — I think, this is the last time I used that attorney. When I had the conversation and just said, ‘Hey, man, this is the reality. He ain’t budging and doesn’t really want me around. But I get it, and it is a good living, but it’s not even getting back to the sea level deal.’ And he’s talking upside and look, I don’t think that — I’ve reached out, and I’m waiting to hear back, And they came back, and the money was much better, and guaranteed and paid house shows — all that kind of stuff. But that contract all could have gone for naught with one conversation with Jim.”
On how he believes nobody does PPV events like AEW can:
“Nobody does current wrestling pay-per-view like AEW. You always walk away from it going, ‘Holy s**t. What a show.’”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
