Jeff Jarrett comments on TNA Wrestling returning in January 2024.
IMPACT Wrestling recently announced that they would be going back to their original name of TNA Wrestling beginning with TNA Hard To Kill 2024. Now, the founder of TNA Wrestling, Jeff Jarrett, has commented on the return of the original branding.
Speaking on the latest episode of his My World podcast, Jarrett said he was surprised to see Anthem Sports go back to the name after six years of having owned the promotion, revealing that he initially had talks with the brand about going back to TNA Wrestling when Anthem first purchased IMPACT, as Jarett felt that the IMPACT Wrestling name for the promotion was dead on arrival back in 2011.
"I'm surprised in a few different ways in that the conversations that I had with Anthem, I'll just leave it at that, all the way at the highest levels, I was pretty clear with them, 'Hey guys, in my opinion, IMPACT Wrestling, naming that the company, was almost dead on arrival in 2011.' I said, 'I just think IMPACT Wrestling is dead.' I had those conversations in depth," he recalls. "I gave them the history, but they were well aware of it. They bought the show 'Impact!' from day one, Anthem did. They knew that it was 'TNA Wrestling presents Impact!'"
Jeff Jarett also says that he offered to find a way in the storyline to switch it back to TNA Wrestling during the brief time that the promotion was known as Global Force Wrestling.
"So, going down that road and knowing I'm not a big fan of it, and that's where, in my mind, 'Hey, if you don't like Global Force Wrestling, we can figure out some kind of way and use the storyline to go back to TNA.' There's a lot of equity, your library is named that, the international partners have always — there are many places, India specifically, Australia in a lot of ways, they never ever quit calling it TNA Wrestling.' The double entendre isn't nearly as prevalent outside of the US," he said. "So all the information in my head, that's why I was like, 'Okay, so now five years, six years, after you acquired it, you're rebranding? So that would be a little bit of a surprise to me."
Jeff Jarrett also says that he's most excited to see what Scott D'Amore's vision for the brand will be moving forward, believing that change is good in the long run.
"At the end of the day, it's all execution. What is Scott's vision? That's what I'm most excited about. Scott, what's your vision of TNA? I know what mine was. I'm well aware, and we can talk about different things. The four different divisions, how's that going to be presented or promoted? The six-sided ring, to me, there's a lot of nuances. At the end of the day, it's the story. I was blessed with fantastic talent, AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, but I'm excited because it's good for the industry. Change is good, that there is without question," he said.
Jarrett, the consummate worker, does think they could have turned this name change into a storyline in order to better bring about the change, reflecting on the changeover from the WCCW to the USWA in the 80s after his father, Jerry Jarrett, purchased the Von Erich territory.
"I do think change is good. The one thing that I immediately thought was, 'Have they been doing a storyline to bring it along?' To my knowledge, they haven't. I think back to who would have ever thought WCCW, the Von Erich name, tried-and-true, and drew lots and lots of money through the years, but with the no-shows and the way the business was turned upside down there. Who would have ever thought that the USWA would have been the babyface name and WCCW would have been the heel name? That's kind of the storyline that we went down," he recalled. "So I think I think you could have done a hell of a storyline out of this and really got the the the current watchers of AXS or IMPACT Wrestling — because you got to do social media changes, the rebranding, boy oh boy, it's so much easier said than done. It is a full lift. So I'm optimistic and it sounds like they've got until January to kind of complete the thing. I just hope if they haven't, that they kind of get into a storyline to bring the people along, because I think it's a real authentic story, and people can be brought along in the story with it."
Finally, Jarrett admitted that he does have some emotional attachment to the name but he wishes the team nothing but the best.
"When you put your own money up and see go from a dream to a reality, I will forever be somewhat emotionally tied to it, but I wish Scott and the team nothing but the best, and I hope they take it to heights that it's never been before."
Fans can learn more about the impending rebrand at this link.
Jeff Jarrett is currently working hard to expand All Elite Wrestling both in front of and behind the cameras. Most recently on-screen, Double J defeated Eddie Kingston in a Memphis Street Fight, earning Jay Lethal a shot at the Ring of Honor World Championship. Learn more here.
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