During a recent edition of his “My World with Jeff Jarrett” podcast, Jeff Jarrett commented on TNA Wrestling running head-to-head with WWE Monday Night RAW, why the company signed Hulk Hogan, and more. You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On TNA signing Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff and the company’s decision to go head to head with WWE RAW: “There is layer upon layer upon layer that goes into this. For the lack of a better word, and I’ll jump off here, from June 19, 2002 until the end of July of 2009, I was the executive producer of every episode. This was the first episode I was at where my only role was a talent. I can just give you my perceptions, but I wasn’t on the inside of baking this cake and why Monday night and Hogan’s debut. I don’t know why they were so adamant on his debut to be on Monday night…..to be very clear, I can’t say I was the No. 1 cheerleader but as I witnessed and was part of and saw the needle move from action figures to video games to boardrooms with Sting. So, Hulk Hogan would do if not more to move these needle and chess pieces even more. I was a big part of Hogan being an ambassador and told Bob Carter as much.”
On whether he was in support of TNA going head to head with RAW: “From the very beginning…..we were the alternative and everything that went with it. I was never a proponent of going to Monday nights. Never, ever, ever. Did it not cross my mind? Sure, I was in the Monday Night Wars. But did I want to do that? No.”
On what he thinks TNA’s strategy was with the move: “My delusional optimism has been a lifetime trait. The continuous feedback that we’re moving to Mondays – I’m like, hmm, not so fast. There was a big shift in talent in a lot of ways. The Main Event Mafia was running up through July and August and there was a turnover of talent, and then a whole new crop of talent coming in. There were so many moving parts. The permanent move to Monday was what was a head-scratcher. Coming out of the gate, it’s stepping into the Hulk Hogan era making as much noise as possible. I thought that was a strategic move…..asking me to figure out Dixie [Carter’s] strategy, and I mean out of complete respect, I do not know what the answer to that question would be if we were to ask them then or now. I don’t know.”
(h/t – 411 Wrestling)
