Jeff Jarrett Reflects On Developing Young Wrestling Talent

Jeff Jarrett has worked with his share of young wrestling talent over the years, and he talked about helping make stars and more in a new interview. Jarrett was a guest on the Wrestling Perspective Podcast for Fightful and a few highlights are below:

On being able to help develop talent: “I feel lucky, grateful, blessed all the above. It’s kind of the culture, also, that I was born and raised in the Tennessee territory. [With] the socioeconomic, we couldn’t compete with Charlotte or the WWE/F just [because] of their dollars and cents. Texas was a lot bigger. So, my father and Jerry Lawler, and obviously their predecessors, were always looking for new talent and developing new talent. That whole learning tree was that you have to have a turnover talent. It was Lawler, [Bill] Dundee, and maybe Dutch [Mantel]. Talent came through Road Warriors, Hogan, Savage, you name it, they all came through Tennessee. But, the mindset of cultivating talent was in my DNA, and it still is today in ways. That would probably surprise you, but it’s part of who I am as a businessman, cultivating talent.”

On developing talent through TNA: “Then if you fast forward to 2002, June 19th, we launched TNA, and we were the alternative at that time. As Lars pointed out, there weren’t cellphones, Youtube, it was pre-social media, pre all that kind of instantaneous information. So, the internet was just getting its legs under it in a big way… So we were the alternative, and so the culture that we created with that early, early TNA Crew was small, and then we grew, and then as you know with Team Canada, Samoa Joe, AJ Styles and Beer Money. Just the development of talent through the years was part of. It always will be part of my D. N. A, and I just think as we progress, I think the opportunities in 2023 to develop talent is more than ever.”

On the crop of current wrestling talent: “I mean, when I look back at my 2022 year and I said a year ago, Effie is a really good talent. He took an ass-kicking from “The Last Outlaw”. There is so much talent on the market right now, that is, I’ll say quote unquote undiscovered. They’re just looking for their opportunity. The opportunities are there because of the ability to monetize content nowadays.”