Jeff Jarrett Addresses His ‘Strained’ Relationship With Dixie Carter, Says He “Tried To Look Out for Her’

During a recent interview with Insight with Chris Van Vliet, WWE Hall of Famer Jeff Jarrett discussed his relationship with former TNA Wrestling Owner and President Dixie Carter. According to Jarrett, their relationship has been strained for years, and it started before his first wife’s passing almost 20 years ago. Below are some highlights from Insight:

Jeff Jarrett on His Current Relationship With Dixie Carter

“It has always been strained. Since before my first wife’s passing, I would say it’s been strained, but I had so much respect for her position. That is the investor’s daughter, in the investor Bob Carter, and Janice played a huge role, and that’s where the talk about stuff being misunderstood that you often hear about Bob Carter, but very few people really understand what a role Jan is. They were a team, they’re a husband and wife, but also a team. But I respected Dixie, and knew that, okay, that’s the financial partner’s daughter. I’ve got daughters, I respected that. So I always handled that situation, and despite what she thought, I tried to look out for her over and over and over.

“But I mean, talking about Dark Side, the producers had tried to get Dixie to be a part of the Dark Side, to my understanding, multiple times, and she said no, or didn’t call back, or whatever it was. We were on a phone call, and I said, ‘Hey, guys, do y’all want me to call Dixie and try to get her on the show?’ ‘Well, yeah, we weren’t going to come out and ask you.’ I mean, Dixie’s kids, and my sister and brother’s kids, and before my dad’s passing, they live in South Nashville. The kids went to school together. They saw each other socially, so I had no problem, and I’ve seen Dixie occasionally. But I just text her and I said, ‘Hey, have you got a few minutes? I’d love to chat.’ She said, ‘Yeah, give me a couple hours or something.’ So we jumped on the phone, and I told her, ‘Dixie, I know you’ve been asked to do Dark Side. All I really want to say is I’m encouraging you to sit down and tell your version, tell your truth.’

“She’s like, ‘Well, I’m not real sure.’ She kind of indicated, I’ll paraphrase, you know, that part of her life is behind her, and all this. I said, ‘Dixie, here’s the real reality in this industry, there’s your truth, and they will say there’s multiple people that are on the show, their truth, and then somewhere in the middle, in there, there’s truth.’ I wanted her to understand that I thought it was in her best interest, and she didn’t tell me no, but she never came through.”

On the Premise That TNA Wrestling Would’ve Died Had Dixie Carter and Panda Energy Not Come on Board to Finance the Company

“So this is where the narrative, if you will, in that I hadn’t even begun to look for money. So HealthSouth, and that’s another thing, you can only touch on it, and they did go from two to three hours, but you can only touch on so much in this, the HealthSouth style story in and of itself. Richard Guru, a personal buddy of mine, basically started the funding and said, let me know when you need more type conversation, he was all into it. Well, six weeks into that, the business things go south for him. I never once picked up the phone and said, ‘Hey, Richard, I know you’re in trouble, but let’s figure out something for a bridge.’

“There’s so many different avenues that I didn’t choose. When I knew the funding quit, and Richard, okay, I probably need to really think through that, so I immediately, out of respect for every one of my vendors, I didn’t want them a, to hear it from somebody else, b, I wanted to be as straight up and honest. That’s straight from my grandmother, look somebody in the eye and tell them bad news before you tell them good news, and they will respect you immensely. So I went to every vendor, anybody that was in that sphere, and Dixie was one of probably 15 stops that I made around town. The production company, the pyro folks, all the different folks that I knew, that okay, we’re retooling this thing quickly.

“I went to her and she sat back in her chair. I’ll never forget it, and she’s like, what are next steps? I said, ‘I’m going to go raise capital.’ She said, ‘Do you have any materials?’ I said, nope. She said, ‘Could you put something together?’ I said, I sure could. I had no idea who Bob Carter was, or Janice Carter, or Panda Funds, Panda Energy International. I had no idea that. We had a couple of conversations, but one serious conversation with the folks from Don King. Me and my father were going to go look for money banking that would have raked us over the coals, but that’s another thing that’s misunderstood, that if it wouldn’t been for Panda Energy International, TNA would have gone away. I’m not saying that’s a possibility, but it’s not fact.”

Dark Side of the Ring Season 7 debuts on July 7 on VICE TV. Season 7 will feature a three-parter of “Jeff Jarrett’s TNA.” Parts 1 and 2 will air on July 7, while Part 3 will air on July 14.