Chad Porto and Alex Swisher interviewed Jeff Jarrett this week, which aired on the NOE Wrestling Live! podcast, hosted by Porto and Zach Duncan. The podcast airs every Tuesday night at 9 p.m. EST on NOEentertainment.com. They sent us these highlights from the interview:
The latest on GFW:
“Well, obviously we just wrapped and the end of January, basically a month long promotion. WrestleKingdom 9 obviously happened on January 4th and in today’s world of on demand viewing, Directv, on Demand and scheduled replays, so we really just wrapped (promoting) that. And there was a lot of tying up loose ends business wise, not a lot of fun stuff, boring stuff, but stuff that had to be done. That sort of came to an end at the end of January, but during that time I’ve been working on everything that, in my opinion, if you’re interested in and curious about Global Force Wrestling, I’ve been working many long hours about the things you’re asking about. I’ve been having multiple discussions with talent, I’ve got several opportunities with sponsorships that have literally developed in the last 14 days. Talking to different venues, live event plans, it’s coming together. More international companies have discussed with me about bringing their product to the North American market via ppv. I’m just not quite ready to release details but I can tell you this, I am very excited. I’ll call it – I hate to put timelines because you miss them, and Murphy’s Law takes effect and that’s how it always is, but I think by WrestleMania season, by the end of the season there’s going to be some very exciting announcements about Global Force Wrestling.”
Will GFW Produce a AAA pay-per-view and if GFW work with Lucha Underground:
“That stuff I’d like to not discuss, but what I can tell you is discussions are going on with AAA in Mexico. They (Lucha Underground and AAA) are really two separate entities, although the Roldan family is owners in both of them. They (Lucha Underground) have different partners in the states. Great group of folks, from Mark Burnett, all the way down. But it really is a different entity. I haven’t had any discussions with that group (Lucha Underground). But I continue with my 10 or 15 year relationship with AAA down in Mexico.”
How difficult it is to from TNA and start a brand new company all over again:
“It’s so exciting. It’s, for lack of a better term, really refreshing. I said this on my media rounds heading into Wrestle Kingdom 9, I haven’t been this excited about the wrestling business in a long-long time, and it really really excites me. I think the timing is right for a number of reasons (next wrestling boom), at the very top of that list is the talent pool that’s out there. It’s red hot, the free agent market is as healthy as it’s ever been. Obviously the New Japan organization is top notch, and now they’re working with (pro wrestling) NOAH; well they’ve been working with NOAH but now they’re taking it to a whole other level. The wrestling business is really fun to be in right now in my opinion.”
Will the Bullet Club be in GFW:
“My quick answer to that is: ‘Stay tuned.'”
What “inactive” wrestler he would like to build GFW around:
“In my opinion, this is a no brainer. When you have a guy that is 3rd generation, knows the business inside and out and comes up and becomes the hottest box office attraction in the world – The Rock. I mean he’s on a completely different level. He’s a movie star, a great athlete and a great wrestler. I think you’d have to absolutely start with him. Then you go back a couple generations and look at the great wrestlers like Buddy Rogers, Jerry Lawler… the Von Erichs… but you’d have to go Rock. Then you know, Hulk Hogan. His record speaks for itself. He had Hulkamania and then was right back on top 15 years later with the nWo.”
If he watches non-NJPW television and what he thinks about the current wrestling scene:
“I watch it all. I literally watch everything that’s on television. And I watch quite of bit of, what I’ll call, the Youtube stuff that’s posted. I hate to sound like a broken record, but there’s a lot of good things going on. Is everybody doing everything right? No, it’s impossible. You see different fan-bases being hypercritical about certain situations. But I can tell you, producing a three hour live program every Monday has its challenges. You’re going to have some good, bad, ups, down’s. That’s a very very hard challenge to accomplish every Monday, but the economics is why you do it. NBC Universal is writing the McMahons a very fat check and so you do “what’s best for business.” Outside of the WWE, and I guess you could say the televised product, there’s promotions all over the world that I get a chance to see and they’re good, they really are.”
Why he feels we’re on the verge of another wrestling boom:
“I can’t put my finger on the main reason. I think there’s a bunch of contributing factors. I think the Rock-effect, when you had a guy come on the scene like that during the Attitude era, Rock and Stone Cold, the Monday Night Wars. The kids that were 10, 12, 14 years old who were watching it, are now 28, 29, 30, 31, 32 years old and these guys have all been wrestling 4,5, 6 years. There was such an enormous exposure to the mainstream. Everybody was watching wrestling and now we’re seeing some residual payoff of that. I also think that the wrestling fan bases that have popped up, ROH has been around as long as TNA has and they have their fans… You have TV being produced in South Africa, in India, small promotions you guys have probably never heard of are being produced. Just all around the globe, wrestling as content is being produced and I think when you have that, a lot of wrestlers having a lot of matches, and the cream, slowly but surely, rises to the top and I think NXT is the best example of that today. Kevin Steen is a 12 year pro and he’s just now stepping onto the scene. I think all those contributing factors are to me. But the proof is in the pudding. You got RAW, Smackdown, NXT, all under the WWE umbrella, you referenced Lucha Underground earlier, you got AAA in Mexico, you got TNA, you got ROH (New Japan, New Japan World, it) and that’s just a few who are producing content.”
His favorite wrestler in NXT:
“Steen (Kevin Owens) He’s very good. There’s a bunch of other ones, but I’m excited him because of the road he’s traveled all these years. When he hits the main roster he’s going to shake things up.”
Jarrett also discussed his take on the Intercontinental Championship, the WWE brand extension, why TNA did their biggest pay per view in October, his thoughts on Jim Ross, Vince Russo, A.J. Styles, Mick Foley, Kurt Angle and more. You can check out the full interview by clicking here.
