Latest on Jeff Jarrett’s GFW Leave of Absence – Anthem May Not Own GFW Name

– According to a new report, Jeff Jarrett’s leave of absence from GFW was a decision made on Tuesday. PWInsider reports that Ed Nordholm made the decision today for Jarrett to take time away from the company and personally met with Jarrett this afternoon about it.

GFW announced the leave earlier today, citing “personal matters” as the reasoning behind it. The site reports Jarrett did not know this was coming and was even scheduled to have a NFL fantasy draft party at his house with company staff. That is now being held by the staff at GFW headquarters.

According to those in the company, the decision was not due to any dissatisfaction over creative but instead unhappiness from Nordholm about Jarrett’s “erratic behavior.” The sources point to the incident back in April where Jarrett and his wife Karen got into a screaming match with Bob Ryder at a TV taping about the booking of a hotel room as the “beginning” of the road that led to the leave. The final straw appears to have been his appearance at Triplemania, where he had put on noticable weight and acted erratic. Several people questioned after that whether Jarrett needed time off, and Nordholm was at the show.

One source noted that while Jarrett was not “blameless,” there was “blame to be thrown in all directions.” The source noted that some of Jarrett’s criticized actions, such as defending Anthem over the Matt Hardy “Broken Universe” dispute, was an example of him following the company line due to his loyalty to Anthem Media. Some backstage have believed that Jarrett was trying to stay between Nordholm and the wrestling side of the company, because many felt Nordholm doesn’t understand the business. A notable example of this is when Nordholm shared a picture of Alberto El Patron on Twitter ahead of his debut with the company after the company had gone to great lengths to keep his debut a surprise. Some people are wondering how Nordholm will do running the company now that Jarrett is on leave.

At this time, the creative team that Jarrett put together is still on board. Karen Jarrett is expected to be out for obvious reasons, while El Patron’s status is a question mark since Nordholm was willing to cut him after Patron’s airport incident with Paige back in July. Patron is believed to have a year left on his deal with the company. Jim Cornette, who came in via his relationship with the Jarretts, is still with the company.

One interesting and potential game-changing note is that according to one source, the merger between GFW and Anthem is “nowhere near as completed” as has been stated. Global Force Wrestling, LLC, which Jarrett launched in 2014, still owns the trademarks for Global Force Wrestling and GFW. It is conceivable that, should Jarrett not return, GFW will not stick around as a name. It is important to note though that PWInsider specifically said this came from one source. As such, it has not yet been confirmed.

At this time, the Jarretts have not publicly commented on today’s announcement.