Posted on 7/03/126 by Colin Vassallo
Jeff Jarrett its down with Chris Van Vliet in Nashville,
Tennessee to discuss him and TNA being featured on “Dark
Side of the Ring”, being fired on WWE TV, where the six-
sided ring came from, his current relationship with Dixie
Carter, wrestling Chyna in WWE and TNA, his favorite guitar
shots, being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, Taylor
Swift babysitting his kids, and more!
This Dark Side of the Ring Season Seven is coming out on
July 7. There’s three episodes about you and TNA, and
everything around that, and it’s crazy because I feel like
they’re just scratching the surface too.
“What’s bizarre is I have been a fan of the show, but I
wasn’t out of the gate. Because look, being a third-
generation guy, it has told stories that don’t reflect maybe
the best light on the industry. But as you kind of dig in
season after season, I remember Dutch Mantel enlightened me,
and then, of course, the Owen episode, and just different
episodes, and I’ve done a few. It’s done in an in-depth,
very respectful way. So when they approached me it was like,
oh, wow, I’m being approached about a Dark Side of the Ring,
and I’ve watched plenty of episodes, and a lot of folks
candidly don’t get the opportunity to maybe talk about the
light side. There’s a dark side, but my story, as it sits
today, it went through some dark components, but coming out
of it, I’m very grateful. So, when they approached me, I
thought it was really interesting, and you just assume one
episode, and we got into, hey, we may end up doing two
episodes, and then hey, we may end up doing three episodes.
I first thought it was on me, and then when you hear, I’ll
call it the other part of the story, the back story, or
whatever it may be, that kind of came to light, Evan
[Husney] had planned to kind of do a TNA story, and then
maybe a Jeff story. Then as they got into it, the network
was like, “Hey, man, this is the story.’”
Well, you can’t tell the story of TNA without telling the
story of Jeff Jarrett, and they even say it in Dark Side of
the Ring: TNA was built out of desperation. Because at that
point in time you’d just been fired from WWE, there was
nowhere else for you to go at this point.
“Well, it’s funny, 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 “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, started
TNA. The reality was I was paid through the end of October,
and when that was over, I kind of sat back and said, okay. I
never made a call to say, ‘Hey 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,
and so that is really the thought process that went through
my mind is there’s a real opportunity here. So it’s just one
of those things that 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.”
Is it also the balance in TNA of being the owner of the
company and also being the top guy? Do you give yourself the
championship? If so, how many times?
“That is something that internally, even Dixie weighed in as
we got going along in that I would always stop folks when it
really got into a discussion: Dutch Mantel, Vince Russo,
Jeremy Borash, Scott D’Amore, folks that were in the room,
they were well aware. But when I had to really have that
conversation when I knew that it probably needed to be said,
I would look at somebody and say, ‘Do you really think that
Jeff Jarrett, who has the most money at risk, is going to
make a decision based on ego rather than dollars and cents?’
My money’s at stake. I’m the single largest shareholder of
the promotion. I have a fiduciary responsibility to my
investors. It was such nonsense and the thought process that
he is making himself champion for glory is laughable,
especially me being a third-generation guy, and being around
the business since a little kid, and it was always so
laughable. But again it was something I couldn’t control, so
it was what it was.”
How’s your relationship with Dixie Carter now?
“It has always been strained. Since before my first wife’s
passing, I would say it’s been strained, but I had so much
respect for her position. That is the investor’s daughter,
in the investor Bob Carter, and Janice played a huge role,
and that’s where the talk about stuff being misunderstood
that you often hear about Bob Carter, but very few people
really understand what a role Jan is. They were a team,
they’re a husband and wife, but also a team. But I respected
Dixie, and knew that, okay, that’s the financial partner’s
daughter. I’ve got daughters, I respected that. So I always
handled that situation, and despite what she thought, I
tried to look out for her over and over and over. But I
mean, talking about Dark Side, the producers had tried to
get Dixie to be a part of the Dark Side, to my
understanding, multiple times, and she said no, or didn’t
call back, or whatever it was. We were on a phone call, and
I said, ‘Hey, guys, do y’all want me to call Dixie and try
to get her on the show?’ ‘Well, yeah, we weren’t going to
come out and ask you.’ I mean, Dixie’s kids, and my sister
and brother’s kids, and before my dad’s passing, they live
in South Nashville. The kids went to school together. They
saw each other socially, so I had no problem, and I’ve seen
Dixie occasionally. But I just text her and I said, ‘Hey,
have you got a few minutes? I’d love to chat.’ She said,
‘Yeah, give me a couple hours or something.’ So we jumped on
the phone, and I told her, ‘Dixie, I know you’ve been asked
to do Dark Side. All I really want to say is I’m encouraging
you to sit down and tell your version, tell your truth.’
She’s like, ‘Well, I’m not real sure.’ She kind of
indicated, I’ll paraphrase, you know, that part of her life
is behind her, and all this. I said, ‘Dixie, here’s the real
reality in this industry: there’s your truth, and they will
say there’s multiple people that are on the show, their
truth, and then somewhere in the middle in there, there’s
truth.’ I wanted her to understand that I thought it was in
her best interest, and she didn’t tell me no, but she never
came through.”
What’s the story behind Taylor Swift being a babysitter for
your kids?
“Taylor Swift stories. You know, born and raised, lived in
Hendersonville since I was a kid. But Scott Swift, Taylor’s
dad, in the financial services business, could work out of
his house. Taylor’s got a brother, Austin, but she wanted to
be a country music star from a really early age, and so they
packed up, and they moved to Hendersonville. Moved down
here, and she went to the same high school that all my kids
went, and all that. So my first wife, Jill, had gotten real
sick, and so just friends among friends around town, and
that album Tim McGraw had just come out, so she was just
breaking, not on tour or anything, it is around Christmas
time. So a friend of a friend asked her to come over and
play for the girls and my wife, and so that’s where the
relationship started. In that time, TNA had so much going on
there. Wife who’s sick, daughters, just a real challenging
time, and so in this community one thing led to another, and
it started out with seven or eight of us, and Taylor just
kept playing. I’ve said this, it turned into a couple-hour
concert. She played everything, but that’s when the girls
and her bonded. Then, tough time, and a couple of months
later, my wife passed away, and Taylor was with them through
it all. She would call from time to time, ‘Hey, what are the
girls doing this afternoon? I’d like to come over and make
cookies. I’d like to just spend time with them.’ She’d come
over and there’s a picture floating around playing the
piano, but that’s the side of Taylor people don’t see. The
little girl’s grown up, gone to the Big Apple and tying the
knot, but she just became what you call a family friend, so
I can officially say she’s never been on the Jarrett
payroll, she never had a paid gig as a babysitter, but very,
very good to the girls.”