On the final episode of My World for the year, Jeff Jarrett and Conrad Thompson broke down the “Good, Bad, and Ugly” of 2025. While discussing the year’s lowlights, Thompson did not mince words regarding the celebrity involvement of Travis Scott, labeling it the definitive “Ugly” moment of the year.
“The ugly for me this year was Travis Scott’s involvement,” Thompson said. “His involvement in the John Cena retirement tour, his involvement in the WrestleMania main event… I have to be honest, when people talk about that WrestleMania main event, years from now, it will not be remembered fondly. This is not something that will get better with age. And I don’t know, it just felt short-sighted.”
Jarrett offered context to the rumors surrounding Scott’s participation, specifically regarding the physicality. “Hasn’t it come out recently? Did Cena say this that essentially, Travis Scott’s like, ‘Hey, that shit is too real for me. I ain’t taking that bomb, so I’m gonna make my millions over here’?” Thompson added, “Logan Paul said on his podcast, Impaulsive, that he just no-showed… Apparently WWE certainly made him a priority, inserting him into the main event of WrestleMania, and it doesn’t feel like those feelings were reciprocated.”
The conversation shifted to the corporate influence on creative decisions, specifically regarding The Rock’s return. Thompson noted, “The story of how The Rock got involved… Rock says, ‘Hey, I got a call for [Ari Emanuel], saying, hey, we need, we need some Rock dust. Can you come sprinkle it on us at Elimination Chamber?’… It feels like a business person making a wrestling call, which sounds a little WCW 1998 to me.”
Jarrett agreed, identifying this shift in leadership philosophy as a major turning point for the industry in 2025. “The leader in the marketplace, the company that’s been around forever… they have fundamentally shifted their decision-making process, and then they answer to Wall Street, as opposed to wrestling fans,” Jarrett said. “I think that is the biggest ‘bad’ out of 2025 because it’s very clear that’s the decision now.”
Jarrett elaborated on the potential long-term consequences of this dynamic under the TKO banner. “I think the residual of Ari and team answering to Wall Street, as opposed to the, you know, really listening to their audience, it’s going to be interesting. It really is going to be interesting, because we’re in the entertainment business. They’re in the entertainment business.”
To close his point, Jarrett used an analogy from the music business to describe the difference between creativity driven by passion versus creativity driven by stock prices. “[Toby Keith] didn’t used to write songs to figure out what radio wanted played,” Jarrett explained. “He figured out, ‘I’m going to write what’s going to make the most money.’ And there’s just a difference in what makes money is writing for your fans.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit AdFreeShows.com with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
