Csonka: Jeff Jarrett is The Smartest Man in Wrestling

– Welcome back to column time with Larry. Today’s column is all about the new king of the carnies, the new smartest man in wrestling, the real king of the mountain… Jeff Jarrett. I hope that you enjoy, and feel free to share your thoughts. It’s wrestling, we love it and will disagree. The only rules are “have a take, be respectful of other’s opinions and don’t be a dick.”

The Global Force Begins and Fails to Recruit NJPW: With his time with TNA at an end, Jeff Jarrett went back to the drawing board and decided to start another new wrestling company. Jarrett essentially was trying to build a new global brand in the image of the more successful times of the NWA. He tried to create “Strategic Partnerships,” and if I am being completely honest, he started off well and scored an agreement with NJPW and was able to be the promoter to bring WrestleKingdom 9 to US PPV. The media blitz in terms of interviews, video packages and overall hype was extremely well done and showed that Jarrett and company had something to offer in that regard. Also attaching GFW to NJPW as it was on the rise and gaining nothing put positive press was an extremely smart move. Unfortunately Jarrett couldn’t ink a long lasting partnership and had to move onto his next project…

The Global Force Database of Wrestlers: Jarrett would continue to try and build his “Strategic Partnerships,” but then came the realization that the company needed to build a roster. Jarrett then launched a series of meet & greets along with a serried of training seminars and tryouts at $150 a pop. The goal behind this was to build the famed “Global Force Database of Wrestlers,” in order to build a roster. Jarrett built a roster of free agents, NJPW guys that were filling indie dates in the US and TNA castoffs. They ran small shows, a lot of fair shows and Jarrett went back to his roots running the paid for baseball park events. Attendance was poor, the promotion never gained traction and the free agents started to get singed away. So what do you do when your latest promotion fails to get off the ground? You offer investment opportunities….

Global Force Gold: Global Force Wrestling launched “Global Force Gold,” which was classified by business insiders as a Karatbars Scam. The Karatbars scam was labeled similar to a pyramid scheme, it claimed that the gold will help protect you from a failing money system in the United States. They further claimed that in cases of hyperinflation or global crisis, gold would retain, and even increase, its value, which far outweighs its other investment risks. While this is largely true with gold and silver, business insiders continued to rank the Karatbars Scam as nothing but false promises; giving the company a black eye and feeling that they were trying to rip off wrestling fans.

GFW AMPED: With things not progressing well, Jarrett invested in TV tapings in Las Vegas. Jarrett produced 16 one-hour episodes of GFW Amped TV, which never saw the light of day. The episodes were produced to shop the product for international and US TV deals, which the company never got. Global Force Wrestling was a thing in name only, a failure, but Jarrett was not done yet…

The Final Revenge: TNA lost Spike TV, moved to Destination America, and lost that and moved to POP TV. The Destination America & POP TV deals were essentially barter deals, with TNA receiving a portion of ad rates, which were next to nothing. They lost their US TV revenue and with no live events and only a few regular PPVs and the One Night Only shows as sources of revenue (and locked in due to past poorly done contracts), the main revenue (and really only revenue) was the Sony Six deal in India. With the financial situation dire, Billy Corgan entered the picture and not only loaned the company money but looked to buy the company. But with all sort of debt & legal issues, it became messy; Corgan was finally paid off as Anthem Entertainment bought the former TNA, ending Dixie carter’s reign over the company. When all is said and done, Jarrett got the final laugh in the TNA/Impact Wrestling/Global Force Wrestling story. Anthem Entertainment got rid of Carter when they bought the company, and brought Jarrett back into the mix to run things. Jarrett immediately brought in his wife Karen, Dutch Mantel, Scott D’Amore, and Sonjay Dutt and integrated the GFW titles that he could into the Impact product as part of the build to Slammiversary. Anthem Entertainment then bought Global Force Wrestling from Jarrett, and then it was finally announced that Impact Wrestling was re-branding to Global Force Wrestling. Jeff Jarrett had won, Global Force Wrestling failed upward in a way that no one could have expected years ago, but that many speculated would once Jarrett was brought back. Jeff Jarrett just completed the best long con wrestling has seen in years…

THE TIMELINE
*2002: Jeff Jarrett and father Jerry Jarrett start Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.
*2002: TNA debuts in June.
*2002: Health South bails as an investor in August (reports of falsely inflated PPV numbers surface, which caused the company to spend beyond their means).
*2002: Panda Energy and its Chairman and CEO Bob Carter acquired a controlling interest of TNA in October; the Dixie carter era begins while Jarrett become a minority share holder.
* 2013: Jeff Jarrett & Toby Keith tried to buy TNA and failed (reports were that Bob Carter demanded that his daughter Dixie remain in the company as on-screen President).
* 2013: Jarrett resigned from TNA Entertainment in December (he remained an investor).
* 2014: Jeff Jarrett looks to start over again and announces Global Force Wrestling in April.
* 2014-2015: Works with NJPW to bring WrestleKingdom 9 to US PPV, fails to get them to partner with GFW.
* 2015: Jarrett returns to TNA in June, wins the KOTM Title, gets GFW on TV and feuds with TNA hoping to gain some much needed name recognition, sells his remaining TNA stake to Dixie Carter in order to fund GFW.
* 2015: Gets access to select TNA talent, tapes 16 one-hour episodes of GFW Amped TV, which never aired.
* 2016: Global Force Wrestling exists in name alone.
* 2017: Anthem Entertainment hires Jarrett to run the newly branded Impact Wrestling.
* 2017: Brings in his wife and closest allies (Dutch Mantel, Scott D’Amore, Sonjay Dutt)
* 2017: On Jun 28th, Anthem Entertainment and IMPACT Wrestling acquires Global Force Wrestling.
* 2017: On June 30th, Jarrett end game was complete as it was announced that Impact Wrestling was re-branding to Global Force Wrestling.
* 2017: Jeff Jarrett gets control of his company back, changes the name and makes it appear that GFW is an actual thing, becoming the new king of the carnies, the new smartest man in wrestling.

AIN’T HE GREAT?

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”