
WWE Hall of Famer Jeff Jarrett, who currently serves as the Director of Business Development for All Elite Wrestling (AEW), recently appeared on an episode of his podcast, โMy World with Jeff Jarrett.โ During this episode, he covered several topics, including the upcoming WWE Netflix series titled โUnreal,โ which will provide a behind-the-scenes look at WWE’s creative process.
Jarrett said, โIโm going to use a quote here. I donโt know if youโve ever heard this, but Dutch Mantell and myself used to joke and everything โ I donโt know where this quote was coined, but I heard it from Dutch first. You know how I like my reality television? Because this show is reality TV, quote unquote. But I like my reality television, well-scripted.โ
On WWE already exposing the business:
โA lot, or all of them [are scripted]? I would say all. So look at the end of the day โ it was said three generations ago. Itโs sports entertainment. So hey folks, that catโs out of the bag there. And so Iโm not sure what weโre going to see and what format, and all that kind of stuff. But there will be people that watch this, [who think] that it will be 100% scripted, that go, โYeah, thatโs it. Thatโs real.โ And then thereโs going to be some stuffโ flip this around โ that is absolutely 1,000% authentic, captured content that weโll kind of call, quote, unquote real that people are going to go, โOh, good God, youโre going to insult our intelligence. You really think we believe that?โ That kind of is the nature and the magic of our industry in that, no matter what they show? I think at the end of the day, itโs going to be real and well-scripted. And I say that out of total respect. I think at the end of the day โ because Iโve been asked quite a bit about this. I think โinsultingโ is the word I keep coming back to. Are we insulting the fans in the presentation of how itโs done? Like, โHey guys, you dumbasses, this is scripted.โ Or is it done out of respect? My gut tells me itโs going to lean into โ its shoulder programming. So if it doesnโt support the WWE brand 100% across the board, theyโre spitting in the wind. But I just donโt think theyโre going to do that. Maybe weโll see, but I think itโs going to be excellent support programming.โ
On the evolution of the business:
โThe next evolution is the format and peeling the curtain back and presenting it in a real compelling, biting way that has a little bit of doc style, a little bit of reality show, a little bit of authenticity. And then itโs got to have pro wrestling. But look, itโs getting a lot of news. Itโs got talent talking. Itโs got the trades talking. Itโs got fans talking.โ
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)