WWE Hall of Famer Jeff Jarrett, who is currently the Director of Business Development for All Elite Wrestling (AEW), recently featured on an episode of his podcast, “My World with Jeff Jarrett.” In this episode, he discussed a range of topics, including the release of Christopher Daniels from TNA.
Jarrett said, “He was there a long time. And look again, this isn’t just bashing Hulk. It is what his mindset was, and there’s a little validation in, ‘They’re paying me a s**tload of money, I better make changes.’ And he made them across the board. I just know he didn’t watch any TNA or minuscule, even the three to four months leading up to him debuting. Because there was a — look, we’ll call it the Jeff regime run was over in September, and they had September, October, November, December. So three to four PPVS — it was really three. And that’s when they dismantled [the] Main Event Mafia. Like, Dixie just cleaned house on all that. And look, I think Desmond Wolf got a hell of a push out of that, Daniels. I mean, they were just kind of reshuffling the deck pre-Hogan. But you know, releasing Daniels — again, that’s why it’s a head scratcher. And I’ve said it, there’s two sides of this. I think Hogan, as far as protecting Hulk Hogan, and protecting his IP and his personal ability to program himself is — I don’t think he’s got any peers. Look at the longevity, look at the success, go all the way down. As far as a creative guy in booking and matchmaking and all that? His proof’s in the pudding. He destroyed, in a lot of ways, everything that with TNA was built around. And when you look at the three kind of pillars — and there was a bunch of them. But the three pillars of kind of the X Division, AJ, Chris and Joe. And he just cans one. It just was running off his fan base. And I say his, because at the time he was the face of TNA.”
On Vince McMahon Calling TNA “tawdry”:
“Well — look, as we sit here today and in May of 2025, we all kind of get a chuckle at it. Because we’ve seen — it’s how the business literally rolls in that we can call Vince ‘the master chess player’ or ‘the positioner,’ but it’s business. He was making fun of Ted Turner and ‘pro reasslin.’ I chuckled even back then, it just kind of [is] his position. And you learn a lot from it in that, him responding that way. He gets his diplomatic digs, and appears to be saying — he knows damn well he did ‘Hot Lesbian Action’ and everything with that, but he’s playing the character right here, of Mr. McMahon in a sensational way. And appearing as if he’s taking the high road, which is a chuckle in and of itself. Not just the avenue, but he got in there, ‘We kicked their ass on Monday, and we did this and we did that.’ Again, whether it’s [Wade] Keller or Mike Johnson or whoever it may be. You know, it’s always been reported, the internal documents about — and I respect that. You know, when I went back in 2019, the amount of emails that are compiled from all kinds of sources and data research and and all that. But there’s always a listing of competition. And whether it’s another professional wrestling, it doesn’t matter, or it’s Disney on Ice or the NBA? Vince understood, ‘I’m going to stand out from the crowd and say what I need to say, and position my company in the best possible manner as it relates to this specific situation.’ Now, you can ask him three hours later, and he’ll have a different stance.”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
