BoboBrazil 0 Report post Posted November 16, 2004 ·There continues to be a great power struggle behind the scenes between Jeff Jarrett and Jerry Jarrett. Sources say that the falling out between the father and son is severe as now Jerry is attempting to get control of the company from Jeff. During a recent conference call, TNA owner Bob Carter pressed the issue of when he could expect the company to have a profitable month. Jerry has apparently been telling Bob Carter that Jeff Jarrett is part of the problem and that the company won't turn around with him in charge. Jerry has been using Hulk Hogan as a bargaining chip with Bob, stating that if Bob took power away from Jeff (who actually owns a small stake in TNA) and gave it to him, he would put Hogan in charge of booking. There were rumors last week that made it all the way to WWE's front office that Hulk Hogan and Jerry Jarrett would be taking over control of TNA and moving Dusty Rhodes and Terry Taylor into the booking position and ousting Dutch Mantel and Jeff Jarrett. Says one wrestler: "I don't know what's going to happen, but backstage there is a sense lately that something is about to go down. Some people would be happy with major changes, but not everyone is sure change will be necessarily be good." Some within TNA react to the rumors of Jerry's powerplay with disgust. "Jeff put everything he has financially into this company and now his own millionaire father is trying to rip it away from him. It's disgusting," says one source. There is fear that if Jerry were to gain control, pay would go down across the board since Jerry's method has always been to cut talent pay as much as possible, arguing that if they're willing to work for it, it's by definition "fair pay." He believes with so few options, wrestlers would work for TNA for less than they're currently receiving. Those in favor of Jerry's actions are fearful that if Jeff remains in charge, TNA will never be profitable and they'll end up out of work anyway. Dixie, meanwhile, is said to be a staunch supporter of Jeff and, according to one source, "despises Jerry for undercutting his own son." ·Everyone in TNA was thrilled with how the Victory Road Fanfest went. A special autograph session was held the day before the PPV at Universal Studios, and they drew great crowds at $50 per person to enter and then $7 per picture and $5 per autograph. Wrestlers were broken into two blocks for three hour sessions, but they had to stay longer than their allotted time to accommodate demand. It was uplifting for the wrestlers to be treated as stars by so many fans the day before their big PPV. Dixie Carter was at the fan festival and was working nonstop to be sure it went smoothly. She also seemed happy with the turnout. ·The next TNA PPV is scheduled for Dec. 5, titled Turning Point. At TNA's website, Monty Brown is featured in the Turning Point ad with the words "Destiny Awaits" beneath him. It's expected one way or another Brown will be in the main event, either in a singles match against Jeff Jarrett or a tag match involving Randy Savage and Brown against Jarrett's team. TNA NOTEBOOK Randy Savage's name was all over the board backstage at the TV tapings last week mapping out the plans for each segment. Most prominently he was scheduled to run in at the end of the main event match... Observers say there was no serious talks about having Hogan appear on camera at the PPV despite internet reports to the contrary. Hogan spent some time talking with owners Dixie and Todd Carter, whom witnesses described as "marking out" for Hogan... Hogan arrived at the PPV in a decked out new Mercedes that impressed nearly everyone. He rode to the PPV with Brian Nobbs. Savage arrived with Brian Adams of "Kronic" fame... Elix Skipper was legitimately out on his feet during the America's Most Wanted vs. Triple X match on the PPV. He was taken to the hospital following the show because of a concussion he suffered. Chris Harris and James Storm had no idea that Skipper was injured. In fact, they were initially upset with him because they thought he was just being difficult in the ring... Jim Mitchell actually played the hooded figure that watched the Raven vs. Abyss vs. Monty Brown match from the rafters. All indications are that he will be managing Abyss... The storyline that Raven, Abyss, and Brown were locked up for 24 hours before their match was a Raven creation... Scott Hudson's line about the server being down in Stamford, Connecticut is being blamed on Jeremy Borash... The big pre-show meeting consisted of a viewing of the "Victory Road" video and a minute or two of comments from Jeff Jarrett. Apparently, the biggest thing discussed during the meeting was that the wrestlers were not allowed to wander into the Universal Studios offices... One observer reports that Roddy Piper was stumbling around backstage and "appeared to be in his own little world" for most of the night... The live crowd at the pay-per-view was heavily papered, but the wrestlers and office were thrilled with the enthusiasm they showed throughout the show. One wrestler said that roughly 400 fans attended the fan-fest held the day before the show. Wrestlers were surprised to see that some of the attendees travelled from various parts of the country to be at the show. In fact, one wrestler said he was surprised to know that the product is actually popular outside of Nashville, Tenn. and Orlando, Fla... Word on Vince Russo is that he won't return to TNA as long as Jeff Jarrett has booking power. He grew more and more frustrated over time with Jarrett's creative ideas and his inflexible process of executing them. Nothing special was done for Russo even though it was his last show with the company... A.J. Styles vs. Petey Williams at Victory Road was scheduled for 18 minutes originally, but had to be cut due to time constraints... Some wrestlers dismissed Best Damn Sports Show Period co-host Brian Cox as just another member of the show's stuck up crew, but others marveled at how well the former NFL linebacker did in the ring. Cox teamed with Monty Brown for a tag match and showed great charisma, according to some observers. He is a longtime fan of WWE and seemed genuinely happy to be wrestling, even if he wasn't familiar with the TNA product... For the final episode of TNA Impact before Victory Road, Jeff Hardy showed up the day of the Impact taping again, which is a day later than the company wants the wrestlers to arrive. Hardy had confided in some wrestlers that he's been disappointed by his TNA experience, as he expected the company to be run more professionally than it is. Of course, management would almost certainly make similar comments about Hardy... There were whispers backstage that the Naturals have fallen from grace as they did quick jobs for Monty Brown & Brian Cox and 3 Live Kru during the two-day taping session... TNA lost the television deal it was negotiating with Canada's TSN. The word in the locker room is that management blames agent Scott D'Amore for talking about the potential deal during a radio appearance. Management officials believe WWE found out about those negotiations via the radio show and did their best to stop it... The live crowd at the Nov. 2 Impact taping was large, but the company flopped on Wednesday for the Best Damn Sports Show taping. It was so bad that Best Damn producers actually wanted some of the wrestlers to go sit amongst the fans to make the building looking better on television. The producers wanted the wrestlers to sit far enough away from the ring that they wouldn't be noticeable on television. The wrestlers objected for obvious reasons... Dixie Carter made it known that she was disappointed by the energy the wrestlers showed for the Wednesday BDSSP taping. Some wrestlers admit that the energy level was down, but point out that they had to sit at the building from noon until seven and then worked for a small crowd... Dixie was also telling people that she thinks Victory Road will give the company a chance to prove that they have better talent than WWE. No, she wasn't just telling that to the wrestlers as a form of motivation, she's been saying it to office workers as well, so apparently she believes in what she's saying... Some wrestlers were grumbling that the company gave away better matches on the Best Damn specials than they are advertising for the pay-per-view. They were also pointing out that it conflicted with Jeff Jarrett and Dutch Mantel's feeling that the only way to build characters is to feature them in squash matches. The company's defense is that the shows will give them as much exposure as they've ever had, and they are hoping that the specials do well enough that Fox Sports Network will move them into a prime time slot. The other complaint is that the matches were too short, which may have been something the Best Damn executives requested... The Best Damn co-hosts took turns sitting in on commentary with Mike Tenay, Don West, and Jeff Hammond. A few people who listened to the audio noted that Hammond got lost in the shuffle and really didn't say much as the tapings went on... Jeff Hardy did a Swanton Drop off the top of the cage during his match with Jarrett. TNA officials did ask him if he would perform the move, but he confided in friends that he was hesitant to perform the stunt... Jerry Jarrett is taking heat from wrestlers who blame him for bringing in Lex Luger. While it's true that Jarrett did agree to let Luger come to the show, he also made it clear that there were no guarantees regarding work and that the main reason Luger was coming in was to show that he was clean. According to numerous observers, Luger appeared to be anything but clean during his first night backstage... Ryan Wilson worked as Mr. USA for Japan's Hustle promotion recently. He was paid $2,500 for the weekend appearance. Wilson is telling friends that promoters have since invited him to return for $7,500 for a tour... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest TroughOfMantaur Report post Posted November 16, 2004 If Jarrett and Mantell REALLY believe that we need to return to the days of TV filled with squash matches, then by all means I say let Jerry, Duthty, and Taylor give things a try. Thanks for posting, even though I take anything from the Torch with a horseblock of salt. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
eirejmcmahon 0 Report post Posted November 16, 2004 During a recent conference call, TNA owner Bob Carter pressed the issue of when he could expect the company to have a profitable month. Forget all the other nonsense - that's the one bit of real interest right there. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vyce 0 Report post Posted November 16, 2004 Dirty dealings or not - the company MUST be taken out of Jeff & Mantell's hands. If that means that Jerry has to screw over his own son, then so be it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
slimm44 0 Report post Posted November 16, 2004 There wasn't much hype for the BDSSP taping. It was announced a few days ahead of the taping. Yes there was not a huge crowd because of poor hype. I thought the show was great live. There was a decent crowd. As for Hardy...if he wanted to come into something more professional, he should have watched TNA more closely before joining. He came in, got a shot at the world title, knew he wasn't going to win it, so to make up for it he comes in the day of the show. Big deal...drop him, he isn't helping the company Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stephen 0 Report post Posted November 16, 2004 I think Ousting Jeff Jarrett could be far worse. Hogan & Dusty?, considering the fact that the owners were marking out for hogan and i'd imagine would have no problem seeing him get an NWA title reign . Wow so petey vs AJ was supposed to go around 20 minutes, but they cut it down to 10 due to time restraints. What in the heck went long on the PPV?. Edit: They needed to make room for that horrible 8 man tag match, which i'm sure when people bought last minute it was because of that match. Jeff Hardy knows he will back with the WWE soon anyways, I'm sure they have been taking a look at his progress with TNA. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
