Jeff Jarrett says Dark Side of the Ring barely scratched the surface of TNA Wrestling’s history, revealing several of the company’s biggest behind-the-scenes stories were either heavily condensed or left out entirely.
Speaking with The Wrestling Classic, Jarrett praised the series but admitted there simply wasn’t enough time to cover everything. According to him, some of TNA’s most pivotal moments were reduced to little more than a minute despite shaping the company’s future.
“You know what, there’s so much… I’ve been asked, you know, what is it? I obviously had nothing to do with the edit. And sort of seeing… when you know the story of TNA, and the third episode comes out, you know, there’s a huge component of the Hell South story, my original investor, that had to be told, but it was told in 60 seconds, if you will. There’s a deep part of that. The Asylum years you were just talking about… stealing clips and this and that kind of… that entire grind of the Asylum, so much there.”
Jarrett said that was only the beginning. He went on to reveal several major business stories that he believes could have each filled an entire episode on their own. One of the biggest involved TNA’s early relationship with the Carter family. Jarrett recalled being encouraged to find outside investors, only to discover during a tense meeting at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds that Bob Carter had no intention of bringing anyone else into the company.
“There was a time early in the Carter-Jarrett relationship when we got the indication that, ‘Hey, go find other investors,’ and we went and found one, brought him back. We had a very tense meeting at the Asylum, the Tennessee State Fairgrounds, and we learned through that meeting very quickly that Bob Carter had zero interest in bringing on any other investors. That was a component that, when you really drill it down into the Hell South and then the Carters come on board, and then we had a replacement for the Carters… there’s a lot to that.”
Jarrett also revealed that one of TNA’s biggest television breakthroughs—the deal with Spike TV—deserved far more attention than it received. He explained that WWE’s departure from the network unexpectedly created an opening, leading to a pitch meeting that ultimately changed the company’s future.
“And then, of course, the timing of WWE leaving Spike, and then all of a sudden that door opened very unexpectedly. And then our opportunity and the pitch meeting, me and my father—that’s a part of the story that, you know, when we walk into a pitch meeting… I was told by the Spike executives after the fact that when you walk in and you see a father-son… and yes, Dixie was there and David Sahadi was there… but as far as running a wrestling company, they had just left Vince McMahon, which was a family-run business. Vince and Linda and Shane and Stephanie—a family-run business. Well, they looked at a father-son team walk in the door. So that was a whole component that really didn’t get told.”
Another chapter Jarrett wishes had been explored was country music star Toby Keith’s involvement with TNA. He called it one of the biggest “what ifs” in the company’s history, wondering how different things might have been had Bob Carter stepped aside and allowed Keith to take a larger role.
“Again, the Toby Keith component of it… a thousand what-ifs. To me, that’s one of the biggest what-ifs. What if Bob Carter would have said, ‘Okay, Dixie, it’s time for us to take a back seat to Toby?’ So many things like that… but, you know, the reaction online… it’s interesting to see.”
Jarrett made it clear he enjoyed Dark Side of the Ring’s three-part look at TNA, but from his perspective, the promotion’s history is simply too big to fit into three hours. Between the Hell South investment saga, the Carter family negotiations, the Spike TV deal, and Toby Keith’s potential involvement, he believes there are still plenty of stories waiting to be told.
Which TNA story do you wish Dark Side of the Ring had spent more time exploring? Let us know in the comments below.
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