On a recent edition of his “My World” podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Jeff Jarrett discussed Scott D’Amore’s attempt to take over the TNA creative team between 2004 and 2006.
D’Amore’s TNA contract was terminated by Anthem Sports this past February. He was thus fired from his position as President of TNA and replaced by Anthony Cicione.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On the rebrand of AEW Dynamite: “The entrance; you know, Conrad? I thought it’s very, very interesting to hear all the different feedback and — you know, I believe there was a sentiment online as well as internally that a lot of folks wanted the tunnels. So there was a lot of tunnel talk. You know, by the time had I arrived here there were some tunnels, I think. But that had altered and changed. But I guess the OG was the tunnels and the look, and all the vibrant colors now. But you know, from time to time throughout — gosh, I can even remember a CWA to a USWA kind of rebrand and refresh, and relook, and logo change and all that. And it is obviously a topic of discussion amongst fans. Back in the Texas days, going from WCCW, the legendary letters that the Von Erich’s had built through the years and the Fabulous Freebirds and everybody that go with that. When the WCW letters came down in USWA [went] up, that was built around an obviously a big storyline. But lots of chatter over that, there were some long, long time wrestling fans that — you know, the words would obviously say ‘Never.’ They never thought that they would ever see that happen.
“So it’s pretty cool. You know, Raw [and] Smackdown. I remember the TNA days when we went from different colors of red on the TNA logo. And boy, people could really get wrapped around the axle on that. But of course, the major one that I was not in favor of and voiced it was was going to drop TNA and go into Impact Wrestling. But anyhow, it’s just kind of the nature of the business, and you kind of look at iconic logos. Get outside of wrestling, and — I don’t know. NBA, and NFL, and I don’t know Conrad. So I do, I like the vibrant colors that we got going on. And obviously, the tunnels are near and dear to my heart because of the TNA kind of lineage, if you will. So all good, man. A lot of fun, like you said. And the free agent [signings]. Have you ever seen in a month’s time? I don’t think so. I think a lot of people — obviously Mercedes, and Okada. But Okada and Will had been a part of the product before, but the [TD] Garden lit up in Dynamite last week. So yes, an exciting time.”
On whether Scott D’Amore tried to make a power play to take over TNA creative: “So I wouldn’t call it — but look, sometimes I’m naive. But by ’06, the Carters had done — we brought another buyer to the table. What was that? ’04ish? Always get these months wrong. But they made it very clear they were not — you know, they obviously did that in 2013 as well. But they made it very clear they had no interest in selling it, no matter what they said. But in ’06, the set of circumstances, they had brought in — I believe this is the third or the fourth kind of acting CEO. I don’t want to say that, because Dixie [Carter] was president, and I was whatever you want to call me. You know, until I left, I was still the single largest shareholder in the company for whatever that’s worth. And at that time, creative and talent. But they were wanting… Panda, they never quit holding our feet to the fire. And they always wanted more. And they want a bigger return on their investment and wanted to continue to cut expenses.
“And there was a time in that ’06, there was a gentleman by the name of Frank Dickerson who didn’t know wrestling at all. And him and Scott became buddies. And that is when, you know, at one point — again, I’d have to really look at the timeline, because as far as the creative they said, ‘Hey, let’s turn this into a committee and not just have the buck stop with Jeff.’ And I’m like, ‘Historically speaking, that never works. You need to have the buck stop.’ But they put Scott in charge of the committee. Which, okay we’re going to have a vote. Which [brings the question], ‘Are you really in charge of it?’ To me, and I said this back then, and I’ll say it now. ‘Okay, that means you are just more in charge of more headaches. And we’re going to create more problems by creating a voting system here. Because creative is subjective, and we’re never going to be able to land on one single decision. And we’re just going to be wasting a lot of time.’ But at that time, Scott had kind of moved into a position where Panda was not sure of the direction they wanted to go. Again, when you factor in Dixie still being relatively young and chiming in. And then you know, about this time I think my dad was bought out. And he exited, or within the 12 months or so of that. We’re striving, we hadn’t quite gotten the Spike deal or we were just talking about that. So there was a lot going on. And Scott did make a move to kind of — I don’t know if we want to say ‘take over.’ I don’t know the exact question, but he wanted to be in charge of creative work.”
On D’Amore just being interested in a larger creative role and not taking over the company: “Yes, that’s fair enough, yeah. Not take over, no.”
