| TNA may undergo major power shift: Jarrett out, Russo in
Cover Story from Torch Newsletter #729
Cover-Dated:
Nov. 2, 2002
By Wade Keller, Torch editor
NWA-TNA founder Jerry Jarrett may be on his way out the door after a successful powerplay by Vince Russo. Jarrett, who started NWA-TNA this summer with his son Jeff Jarrett, brought in Vince Russo to help him with booking. Just a couple of months later Russo had become so frustrated with being overruled on booking matters that he has recently convinced the new financial backers to side with him over Jarrett.
The details are sketchy since the major parties involved aren't talking about the situation, a situation which has yet to fully play out, but it appears that the Panda Energy group that is buying out the majority interest in Jarretts' promotion have more faith in Russo than Jarrett to run the company. Jarrett may be "out of power" as soon as this Wednesday's show.
Jerry Jarrett had been warned by friends that a power play was taking place behind the scenes with Russo at the forefront, but he either didn't believe the rumors or underestimated Russo's persuasive powers. He found out last Thursday that the financial backers had been talking to Russo and believed in his booking vision more than Jarrett's. The pending new owners were swayed by Russo's resume, which included being the main writer for Raw during its most successful period (right before the product was watered down with the expansion to Smackdown on UPN).
The day after last week's Oct. 23 NWA-TNA PPV, the representatives of the new ownership group were said to have "blind-sided" Jarrett with heavy criticism for the direction the program took. They were highly critical of recent decisions he had made. They made it clear they liked what Russo had been proposing (ideas Jarrett was open about shooting down) more than what Jarrett was implementing. They made it clear if their money is involved, they're more confident with Russo's approach. Jarrett, while feeling betrayed, shocked, and saddened, apparently isn't in the mood for much of a fight at this point in his life. In fact, it's not even clear whether Jeff Jarrett is going to side with or against the new backers and Russo despite how they are forcing his father out of the picture. Sources say that Jeff has lost faith in his father's booking and that Russo and the backers are protecting Jeff by allowing him to appear neutral while in reality Jeff is in favor of Russo's approach.
Phone conversations are still expected to be taking place between all involved parties early this week to determine the final fate of the direction of the promotion and the power of Russo and Jerry Jarrett as the new ownership group takes over. It's possible when the new ownership group becomes aware of the consequences of going with Russo over Jarrett that they may have second thoughts.
If Russo takes over control and Jerry is ousted from power (or officially "steps down"), it's expected that a number of people involved in the promotion will leave, including Sean "Syxx-Pac" Waltman, Scott Hall, and Mike Tenay. Waltman and Tenay told Jarrett when they joined TNA that under no circumstances did they want to work with Russo. Russo isn't a fan of Tenay's "sports-like" announcing style and would probably want to go with a more "sports-entertainment-oriented" announcer anyway. Waltman is loyal to Jarrett and worked closely with him on the booking and format of last week's PPV, which was widely considered a vast improvement over previous weeks' shows by TORCH readers and contributors. Hall is only working for TNA because Waltman convinced him to. Without Waltman, Hall likely won't participate in future events. Brian James is also questionable.
The working plan is to "relaunch" NWA-TNA in January with an entirely new marketing approach and style, while in the mean time attempting to set the stage with continuing weekly events. Russo has long been frustrated with upper-management stifling his vision for a wrestling program both in WCW and NWA-TNA. If he gains the full autonomy he desires with the new ownership group, his vision may get a chance to be tested without interference or compromises.
Jerry Jarrett, meanwhile, will likely disappear from the wrestling industry with this venture marked down as one of the low points of his career.
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