Jeff Jarrett is done letting people run with the idea that TNA only happened because WWE kicked him to the curb.
While speaking to Chris Van Vliet, Jarrett said the famous Vince McMahon “firing” on TV was not the full story. According to him, he was still getting paid by WWE for months after that moment, so the whole “Jeff got fired and started TNA” version is not exactly accurate.
“Well, it’s funny how even, you know, we were talking before the cameras rolling about being misunderstood, being fired. And I’ve been let go, fired numerous times. But the reality was Vince did quote-unquote fire me on TV. But I was still going to have a contract for the next seven or eight, nine months. So that was a storyline that has grown that Jeff got fired and started TNA. The reality was I was paid through the end of October.”
Jarrett said he never called WWE begging for another job once that deal ended. Instead, he looked around and saw a wrestling business where Vince McMahon had no real competition left.
“And when that was over, I kind of sat back and said, OK, I never made a call to say, ‘Hey man, JR, Vince, you got a job for me?’ You just kind of look back and know your place in the industry and go, you have no leverage, none. It certainly wasn’t a wrestler’s market. Vince, without a number two, there is no number one. It was Vince owning the entire game.”
That is when Jarrett says the lightbulb went off. To him, TNA was not some last-resort play. It was a chance to build something while WWE had the entire industry locked down.
“The thought process that went through my mind is that, man, there’s a real opportunity here. And so it’s just one of those things that, you know, TNA, just the narrative that is out there, as you say, it built out of desperation. I believe it was built out of an opportunity.”
Jarrett clearly knows the story fans have repeated for years, but he is pushing back hard now. In his version, TNA was not born from panic; it was born because he saw an empty lane in wrestling and decided to take a swing.
What do you think about Jeff Jarrett’s explanation for why TNA was really created? Drop your thoughts in the comments and let us know.
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