Jeff Jarrett has one big Dixie Carter regret, and it has nothing to do with money, contracts, or ratings. He wishes he had told her to stay off camera.
While speaking on The Ariel Helwani Show, Jarrett admitted he should have sat Carter down years ago and explained why becoming an on-screen TNA character was a bad idea. He said he doesn’t know how she would have taken it, but looking back, he believes that conversation needed to happen.
“To point it on any one thing, if you want to drill it down — and I’m not sure how she would have received it at the time. I’m sure I would’ve said she won’t take it well.”
Jarrett said his position in TNA gave him a very specific reason to speak up. He wasn’t just another voice in the room. He was heavily invested in the company and felt he had plenty to gain or lose from the direction it took.
“But had I sat Dixie down and said, ‘Dixie, I’m the single largest shareholder of this organization. Panda Energy International was a group of 400 individual investors. I have more to gain and lose, so I want you to understand that’s where I’m coming from.’”
Then came the advice he wishes he had actually given her. Jarrett said he would have warned Carter that being on television would change how people saw her and how talent dealt with her behind the scenes.
“I would have told her, ‘Dixie, I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to be on camera. I think that will lead us down a road because I have seen talent, I have seen a set of circumstances that just changes the dynamic in the relationship that I have with you and that you have with everyone in the company.’”
That is the part that still sticks with him. Jarrett saw the risk, didn’t say it out loud, and later watched the situation play out the way he feared: “And it did. I never said it, and I wish I did.”
Dixie Carter eventually became a major on-screen figure in TNA, especially during some of the company’s most heavily criticized creative years. Jarrett didn’t blame every TNA issue on that one decision, but he clearly believes it changed the internal dynamic in ways that hurt the company.
For Jarrett, the regret isn’t that Carter got involved on television. It’s that he saw the warning signs, had the standing to say something, and still stayed quiet.
Do you think Jeff Jarrett was right that Dixie Carter should have stayed off camera in TNA? Let us know in the comments below.
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