Following his WWE release in 2021, Jeff Jarrett described the period as a “dark time” and credited that experience with giving him a new perspective on wrestling. The new perspective has been well reflected in AEW‘s decision to host more events outside of Dynamite and Rampage, which Jarrett acknowledges was influenced by WWE’s current schedule.
Following his departure from Impact Wrestling in 2018, Jarrett wrestled in Mexico for Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide before returning to WWE in January 2019.
On a recent episode of the Wrestling Perspective podcast, Jarrett reflected on changing his perspective following his WWE release.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On his “dark time” after his 2021 WWE creative team release: “I view things differently, and in a lot of ways, I don’t want to say but I was off the market, you know? I wasn’t active and doing things, but over the last couple of years -– and I’ve documented it on My World -– from the Hall of Fame and then working in international and the live event department in WWE and just doing certain things, and kind of just my life circumstances, I made a decision about, I don’t know, about 18 months ago, ‘You know what? I’m going to get in the best shape that I possibly can and just see what happens.’”
On signing with AEW: “If I would have told you this time last year [about me going to AEW], we would have all said, ‘What are you smoking? Are you out of your mind?’ But, to me, the AEW situation -– and hats off to Tony Khan.”
On people coming to him for advice: “If someone wants to engage, I’m more than willing to ask questions. I ask questions first and then give some advice. I don’t ever give advice without, kind of, understanding more of the situation, but experience says that.”
On embracing his life to the fullest: “I went a lot of years with a lot of experiences and I never stopped to process and say, ‘What can I learn from that?’ And then, ‘What role did I have in either making that a success or a failure?’ Probably, more importantly, as a failure… At the end of the day, we want to do it our way and, you know, life is just that way. You’re going to have to have some experiences, you’re going to have to have some failures. Learn from those failures.”
