Jeff Jarrett takes pride in the X Division’s fingerprints being all over modern wrestling, and he shared a story about Will Ospreay that drove the point home.
Speaking on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Jarrett said he didn’t fully grasp the division’s influence until he began doing interviews, recalling a conversation with Ospreay backstage at Sting’s final match. Ospreay, he said, pointed to a specific TNA classic as an inspiration. “He watched Joe, AJ, and Daniels, Unbreakable 2005,” Jarrett said. “He looked at me, he said, ‘Jeff, I watched, and not only do I want to do that, I can do that, and I can do it better than them.’ Well, look at the results.”
Jarrett explained that the X Division was a deliberate effort to give independent standouts a platform they had never had. “I knew that they didn’t have TV experience. There was never a platform,” he said, noting he wanted to showcase a melting pot of lucha libre and strong-style influences that he believed represented the future.
Not everyone was on board at first, including his own father. “I had a conversation with my father specifically about the [X Division], and he was very negative on it. ‘Son, they don’t know how to tell stories, and there’s no money in this,'” Jarrett recalled. “I’m like, ‘Dad, yes, there is. This style is where the industry’s headed.'” All these years later, Jarrett feels vindicated. “The X Division style of wrestling now is the main event style of wrestling.”
