This week on “My World with Jeff Jarrett,” Jarrett spoke about 2011’s TNA Genesis, TNA moving to arenas, and the company paying Hulk Hogan despite health issues.
Jeff Jarrett gave his thoughts about moving the TV tapings from Orlando to arenas in 2011:
“I was called from Dallas a couple of times off the record and on the record wanting my thoughts. I said, ‘It wasn’t a problem in ‘07, ‘08, and ‘09. Why is it a problem now? What is the difference?’ is what I would try to get them to ask themselves. I understand that there are challenges at times, but we can also go to Wichita, Lubbock, L.A, Denver, Nashville, or Tampa, and you know what? The people aren’t really into it tonight. The exact same thing can happen. Maybe not as often, or maybe, but taking the show on the road was not a cure to engage the crowd was my opinion all throughout,” Jarrett shared as the podcast continued.
“I said at the very top, ‘Can we afford it? Can we afford it? Can we afford it?’ If you’re taping in Orlando Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, yea maybe by Wednesday it’s a little bit (quieter), but then all of a sudden you get Jeremy Borash, you get your audience coordinator, and you get them fired up and you engage them. You give them something extra. You do what you do. You promote to keep them engaged. I thought it was a lazy man’s excuse to say, ‘Oh, let’s blame it on the Orlando crowd.’”
“Wait a minute, the Orlando crowd is supposed to be entertained. Who’s responsible for entertaining the crowd? Creative.”
Jarrett talking about Hulk Hogan having extensive back surgery around this time and TNA still paying him:
“Hulk goes back with my family, late ‘70s, and everything that went with it, but I was always like, so he’s going through serious, serious, serious, back surgery, all kinds of issues, and we’re still paying this guy a boatload of money? What kind of sense does that make? Every indication that I heard or was aware of was that the back surgery went a lot longer than expected and he’s probably done.”
Jarrett continued: “He was getting paid a lot of money as it relates to the bottom line of TNA, I mean a lot of money. By far, the highest paid per shot guy including Kurt Angle, per guy, per shot. The ROI, it was painful for me to watch then and it was actually painful for me to read through the notes because look, injuries happen. It’s unfortunate.”
“He put a lot of wear and tear. He’s the single biggest box office attraction as far as longevity. I think Taker is up there, but Hulkamania and the NWO run, I mean, my God. But him coming into TNA and that big contract, just from a business perspective, the ROI was damn near nonexistent.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit “My World with Jeff Jarrett” with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
