411’s Dark Side of the Ring Report: “Jeff Jarrett and The Battle for TNA -Part I”

-Written: 7.7.26
-Source: Vice

-Plug: Bash at The Beach 96 (30 years already?)

-Personal note: Happy Birthday to my mother! Yes, she is so cool that the nWo wanted to be formed on her birthday.

-We are back for Season Seven of Dark Side, and we start with a Three-Part episode on Jeff Jarrett and TNA. The first two episodes were dropped tonight, and Part III is next week.

-Chris Jericho is our narrator once again.

-Teaser has Jarrett saying he had the balls to step out. He didn’t listen to those who told him not to do it. He wanted to create a brand that was different, and apparently, it was pissing off Vince McMahon, and there was nothing he could do. It was all great, and it went to shit as there was a power struggle. Here’s Russo to dump on Hogan as he knew it wouldn’t work. Pot Kettle! We are also going to cover JJ’s drinking problem. Yes, Tony Khan is a talking head as promised.

-Show opening!

-We start with Jeff Jarrett as he talks about the story of TNA and how it was the story of 1000 “what ifs.” He thinks of the early days, and we get the talking heads going over the craziness. Russo: “If you are a traditional wrestling fan, this show is not for you.” Jeff says it’s a deep question whether he feels validated and right for where he is today.

-We go back to Memphis in 1979 with Jerry Jarrett vs. Jerry Lawler footage. Jeff says he idolized his father, who was the boss and promoter. His parents divorced when he was three, and his mom blamed the wrestling business. JJ lived with his mom and saw his dad on TV from time to time. As he got older, he started spending summers with his dad. He would see wrestlers coming to the house and started watching tapes.

-Jeff’s Grandma, Christine “Teenie” Jarrett, was the most successful female promoter in the industry. Don’t let Rock hear that. If you need history, here’s Jim Cornette. He is always great on this show. Jeff made $300 one night working concessions for his grandma, and he knew he was going to like this business. He became a referee and got beaten up by the heels, which brought Jerry out to save his boy. He was supposed to go back to college, but stayed with wrestling. Cornette puts off Jeff as being young, good-looking, who could sell, and was a great worker. Well, great is an opinion.

-Scott D’Amore next, and he covers Jeff’s run in the WWF as a country music star. WITH MY BABY TONIGHT! Credit to them for playing a few bars of the song. David Sahadi, former TNA producer, says the gimmick was super cheesy, but that made it great. Jeff’s second character was a pissed-off guy in the Attitude Era. So, we are skipping the failed Horsemen run in WCW.

-We go back as Jeff says he had his first match on April 6 of 86 and two days later he had his first date with Jill. She was a little younger than he and fell in love. “We were both ready to conquer the world.” She was never around the business and stayed home while Jeff went to work. She had her first round of breast cancer in the late 90s. Jeff stayed home to take care of their daughter. He then went back to work and was paired with Owen Hart.

-Jeff says they were in the same stage in their lives. He calls Owen his best friend. Cornette says they were a great team because they grew up in the business. That leads to Kemper and Owen falling from the ceiling when a stunt goes wrong. We get the news being broken by Dan Rather and how he has to stress that it wasn’t part of the show.

-Jeff: “My best friend died in a work accident.” They cut to JR breaking the news on air. We see fans who were there giving their account. Jeff had to stand there and cut a promo while Owen was being wheeled out. Cornette still can’t believe they didn’t stop the show. Jeff says Owen fell 82 feet and that he walked through the crater that Owen’s body left. JR then tells the world on PPV that Owen has died. We see Jeff’s emotional remarks the day after on RAW.

-Jeff always wondered why Owen had to pass, as he was the good guy among them. He chalks it up to survivor’s remorse and also says he never took time to grieve. He thinks that is what started to wear him down.

-Jeff gets frustrated with his role in the WWF, as he wanted to be part of the main event group. Well, don’t piss off Austin to the point that he doesn’t want to work with you. Cornette says Jeff never had the size or over the over-the-top gimmick. He had the option to go to WCW, but was still the IC Champion. He was set to drop the title to Chyna. Jeff says he was owed 3-4 months of back pay. Jeff knew he wouldn’t have any more leverage, so he wanted $100,000, and Vince nodded. Jeff then thought about it and asked for another $100,000, and Vince smiled and handed him a check. Jeff loses the IC Title to Chyna and was on Nitro the next night, hitting Bagwell with a guitar.

-Here’s Vince Russo, and he says he first met Jeff in WWF as a writer on RAW. Russo says he put the belt on Jeff in WCW because Jeff was a great heel. Debatable! Vince ends up buying WCW, and oh yeah, Jeff holding Vince up came back to bite him. Vince fires Jeff on the air during the RAW/Nitro simulcast deal.

-Jeff knew Vince buying out the competition wouldn’t be good for him or the industry. Scott Steiner (he better talk about math at some point) says a monopoly isn’t a good thing. Scott says Vince’s firing of Jeff meant Jeff had nowhere to go, and that led to him starting his own promotion. Jeff says he wanted to tap into the country music and NASCAR fans. The seed money came from his bank account and his dad’s bank account.

-The initial idea was a weekly PPV for $9.99 a month because WWE was charging $40-$50. True, but it’s the same price each month. I had a way to watch those early shows without paying. Like many others out there. Jeff had a meeting with Richard Scrushy, CEO of HealthSouth, and presented the idea to him. That gave the Jarretts an investor, and now they had to get to work.

-Jeff had to come up with a name and knew that on PPV, they could push the envelope. He wanted something to be different. Russo says it came from him: “Tits and Ass.” Of course, Russo took credit. Total Nonstop Action told people what they would be watching each week.

-June 19, 2002: TNA has its debut on PPV. It was the first show Jeff had ever been the boss (EVP). They have told this story before, but the ring broke before the show started. It was put back together as they were coming on the air. Toby Keith! Jeff says everything came off the way he wanted to, even if it was disjointed at times. That first show was an education.

-They wanted to have the traditional Heavyweights with the NWA Title. Jeff was a fan of Lucha, European, and Japanese wrestling. He wanted to brand it as the X Division. Scott says you can’t talk about TNA without talking about AJ Styles. He was pegged as the future from day one.

-Cornette knew TNA would never be competition to WWE, but there is money to be made as an alternative. Jeff wants to compete, so he asks Russo to come in and write his TV. Jeff knew they would never succeed if they didn’t try new things. Russo: “This was going to be an adult version of GLOW.” Yeah, and Hogan’s era was never going to work. The Johnsons! SEX! A midget is masturbating in a garbage can, and Jerry is not happy. Russo: “I wanted a midget to masturbate in a trash can, and Jerry wanted 1970 USWA.” I missed where the midget pulled a gun out, and Jarrett stopped him with a chair.

-You don’t need to get Cornette going about Russo. Jerry hated Russo from the start. Jeff was stuck in the middle. He knew what each side was bringing so he was trying to balance them, and to Jeff, it was a healthy balance. Jeff says they were putting the pieces together and got the call from HealthSouth that the funding was being pulled.

-Commercials! For whatever reason, my DVR skipped the first 2-3 commercial breaks.

-HealthSouth had been overstating its profits for years, and the feds got involved. Richard had bigger issues than pro-wrestling, so the line of credit was pulled. Jeff knew he had a lot of work in front of him, as there was no more money in the account. Russo says Jeff started drinking more because of the financial issues. Jeff was telling vendors and contractors he couldn’t pay them until he finds more money.

-One of the contractors is Dixie Carter, and she tells Jeff to meet her parents. Nobody knew Bob Carter and Panda Energy, and they were stunned to learn he was a multimillionaire in Texas. Jeff and Jeff hopped a plane to Dallas to meet Bob. The Sinister Minister says if he won the Powerball for 50 million, he wouldn’t start a wrestling company. Bob asked Jeff how much money he had in TNA and then told him he thinks he can help. Russo calls it a gift from heaven.

-In 2005, TNA gets on Spike TV and had a strong roster with good production. They also had a strong, core fan base. Jeff says they were becoming a true alternative to the WWE.

-Commercials!

-Impact becomes a hit on Spike, and they start to turn a profit (I am sure Dave will have more on that). Jeff Hardy says he has known Jeff for 30 years and talks about seeing the six-sided ring. He thought it was the future. Jeff wanted to give it a more sporty feel. D’Lo Brown says the fans hooked on to the identity of TNA, which meant the six-sided ring and the high-flying. ELIX SKIPPER CAGE WALK! I can never get enough of seeing that.

-Jeff Jarrett dominated the Main Event scene, and Scott admits that Jeff was not a favorite of the fans. No kidding! Scott says you can’t put the title on someone you can’t trust. That’s the old Gagné line of thinking. No excuse for Monty Brown never being TNA Champion.

-We hear the voice of Jerry saying it was a living hell dealing with the Carters. Jeff says his dad became bitter as he didn’t like the Carters or Russo. He told Jeff they needed to get out as he didn’t think the Carters were treating them right. Jerry wanted to get out, so he took Kozlov to WWE and had his picture taken in the WWE offices. Jeff says he was surprised, but his father knew what he was doing. That’s a heck of a way to get fired! Jeff says they took a break and didn’t talk for several years. Now that sucks! Jeff says his parents were very transactional. He was estranged from his mother and now from his father. His wife’s breast cancer came back a second time.

-Commercials!

-Jeff is estranged from both parents, and his wife’s cancer is back. This time, they knew they were on a rough road. Jeff had three daughters and had to be home, so he stepped away from wrestling. The creative meetings were moved to Jeff’s house because he rightly needed to be home. We get the Taylor Swift story as she was a neighbor, and because she is awesome, she came over and played music for the girls. Jeff had no clue she would be the biggest pop star in the world. She was just Taylor from Hendersonville.

-Russo breaks down, which is weird to see, as he talks about Jill’s health declining. Scott says she was an amazing person, and he has to step away as he breaks down. Man, that woman was loved. Jeff: “I witnessed a woman fight for her life.” See, any bashing I ever did of Jeff was the wrestler and promoter. A husband and father is a completely different story, and my heart breaks for him. She passed at 1 AM, and Jeff walked to a dock to gather his thoughts. He looked at his watch and sees May 23. Wow! Same day that Owen passed! That told him in a crazy way that everything was going to be okay. Neither his mom or dad came to Jill’s funeral. That’s rough! It was five miles from Jerry’s house. Just like with Owen, there was little grieving, and Jeff went back to work.

-I will have full thoughts at the end of Part III. Thanks for reading!