My World w/ Jeff Jarrett - When Sting Turned Heel [Show Notes] (Patreon)

We’re coming off Slammiversary which we covered last month…and we called this show Houston We Have a Problem as that was the tagline of Victory Road because it was based out of Houston. Booker T is going to be in the main event against Samoa Joe - was the thought process that having Booker in his hometown challenge for the title would be the big draw?

The story of Booker & Joe kicks off coming out of Slammiversary when Booker claims it took Kevin Nash to save Joe’s title at King of the Mountain. Nash would also say that he didn’t think Joe could defeat Booker…this is all about to build to the Main Event Mafia isn’t it?

Joe defeated Kaz in a great match on Impact to get the story started - why was Kaz always the guy to put someone over and not be the pushed part of the roster?

Sting would make it known that he’s going to be watching the match of Joe vs. Booker - was the plan always to turn Sting heel?

Was that a negotiation…or was Sting with the idea?

Matt Morgan debuts as the biggest pushed star on American Gladiators…how big a deal was this for the company to have Morgan be on the show? Did you see any benefit from it in the long run?

Also going to be running is the World X Cup. From the Observer

“The original plan was for all the World X Cup competitors to be at the 6/9 show. Then, due to problems with visas and schedules, the goal was to have at least one member of each team there who would be shown as the captain. But TNA didn’t get the paperwork taken care of for Averno, Rey Bucanero, Ultimo Guerrero and Volador Jr., so none of Team Mexico made this week’s tapings. Doug Williams also wasn’t there for the same reason. Taichi Ishikari & Milano Collection A.T. from Japan weren’t there but I’m not sure if that’s a schedule issue since they were never scheduled to be at the first taping. Alex Koslov of CMLL made it because he’s an American. So, some of the tournament was likely delayed. The format will be each team has one tag match and one singles match on TV. Then on the PPV, they will have two gimmick matches. I’m not sure if it’s finalized but both will be multiple person matches and may be an elimination type match and the final match will be Ultimate X.”

Who was in charge of this type of thing? How big a mess is this to navigate and why did you go with this format this time?

The story between Sonjay Dutt & Jay Lethal would continue…but their match would end up happening on Impact. Was the card too full because of the World X Cup and it couldn’t fit - or did you think the angle just didn’t get over?

Kurt puts a bounty out on Karen while she’s still associated with AJ Styles and it leads to the Beautiful People attempting to attack her and put a bag over her head. Jeff - I’m going to put you on the spot…what was yours & Karen’s relationship at this point in 2008?

I ask this because a few weeks into the month its reported in the Observer that there were a lot of people concerned over Kurt’s condition at Slammiversary, and at the TV tapings. Were you aware of these concerns - and did you have them?

Kurt and AJ wrestle in the main event on Impact in a lumberjack match and AJ goes for a dive on Kurt who’s on a table…Kurt moves…AJ crashes and burns and Angle locks in the ankle lock for the win. Karen comes out but is taken out by Awesome Kong. The idea of putting Kong in the ring with Karen…any hesitation there?

Also Team 3D, Tomko, Christian, Rhino, & Abyss get involved as lumberjacks. Team 3D and Kurt start a loose affiliation - was there ever any consideration of Team 3D being in the Main Event Mafia?

The rumor and innuendo at the time was there was talk of bringing in Tammy Sytch - Sunny  - to be Kurt’s love interest. Was there anything like that being discussed?

According to the Observer

“They signed a TV deal with Antena 3 in Spain and Sport TV in Portugal. Spain is currently a pro wrestling hotbed with Nu Wrestling Evolution and WWE doing sellouts. TNA ran successful events in both Spain and Portugal in recent months. Impact will air on Saturdays and Sundays starting on 6/21 on the second highest rated station in the country. Impact will air at 10 p.m. on Friday nights in Portugal and the deal started this past weekend. Both stations will also air the PPV shows on regular TV on tape delay, although in Portugal the PPV shows will air the Wednesday night after they happen.”

This was just continued international expansion was it not?

Was this a lot more income do you know?

On the other channel - WWE is running McMahon’s Millions. What did you think of the marketing ploy?

Eventually it would lead to McMahon having the stage fall on him and acting like he was paralyzed. What did you think of that angle?

Bobby Lashley - out of the WWE and doing MMA - was in talks with TNA at the time according to the Observer. What do you remember of these negotiations and where was Bobby’s head at in the business at the time?

It’s also reported in the Observer that the plan is to change the taping schedule to Tuesday & Wednesday instead of Monday & Tuesday - to help with the creative process…is that the reason why? Did it cost more or less for the company do you know?

The UK tour is a success where pretty much every arena was sold out - between 1600 to 3000 fans. What can you tell us about the tour and how exciting it was for you?

With the success of the UK tour it’s announced that Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow & Wembley Arena in London would be booked, which would find 3 of those buildings set up over 10,000 fans. Was this the promoters or the companies idea to expand?

Same in America…Corpus Christi & Laredo - set up for between 8000 and 9500 … are booked. They’re cheaper buildings though correct? Did you think you were in a position at this point to get close to 50% of the arena filled?

LAX defeat James Storm & Robert Roode on Impact but Storm & Roode get their revenge afterwards and whip the hell out of them with their belts. This is the beginning of Beer Money…did you know these two would be one of the cornerstone tag teams for TNA for years to come?

Scott Steiner tears his ACL on the road and is on the shelf for a long time. How badly did this hurt Petey Williams because that act was just going to get hot wasn’t it?

It’s reported that Frank Trigg is starting to get serious and is training every chance he gets while he’s in Orlando. Where did you see Trigg fitting in at in TNA?

Shantelle Taylor debuts and defeats Kong as a fan from ringside and wins the Knockouts title and it’s said you were high on her. Why was she put in this spot and what did you think of her work?

The first Full Metal Mayhem match is announced when Rhino challenges Team 3D & Kurt to face him, Christian & AJ. Where does the name Full Metal Mayhem come from?

From the Observer:

“Jeff Jarrett is being advertised for the next U.K. tour in January. As noted here many times, Jarrett coming back has been something always in the plans. They just didn’t want to waste it at a point when it wouldn’t have maximum value. Well, that’s the PC way of putting it. Jarrett didn’t want to be wrestling and not either with the belt or in the mix for the belt, and end up like Christian or someone like that. When Angle had his run and wasn’t going to lose it, he wasn’t wanting to come back and just be a victim of the month, which, quite frankly, is smart business, since it had been planned long-term for Joe to get the belt and have a long run. By January, with Angle doing the angle with Karen and away from the title picture, things open up better for Jarrett, although at this point I don’t know of a start date back. This is just speculation, so probably wrong, but I could see him coming back in an unannounced return at Bound for Glory in October, since they are determined to make that a Wrestlemania like card with lots of things coming out of it. I don’t see him in a match on that show, but it is possible.”

Is this really why you weren’t coming back? Because of the title picture?

To keep up TNA’s end of the deal with CMLL they agree to send AJ Styles, Jay Lethal, Sonjay Dutt and others for one show. How easy or hard was it to deal with CMLL at the time?

There’s an angle in building Full Metal Mayhem where Team 3D put Chrisitan through a glass table. When you think of guys doing glass spots, you think of Moxley…not Christian. Where does this idea come from and how did you get Christian to go along with it?

Moose - also known as Mickie Knuckles on the indies - breaks her femur in a match with Sara Del Ray at IWA Mid South. When you hear someone new to the company - working indies while on TV - gets hurt - is it disappointing? Do you reach out to her?

Scott D’Amore is leaving the company at the end of the month due to his businesses needing more attention. He did business the right way here did he not?

Were you sad to see Scott go?

Jim Mitchell was also leaving the company, although this was a company decision. Why was it time to move on from Jim?

Directly from the Observer

There are some major political behind-the-

scenes struggles going on. They live and die by the weekly ratings and with the numbers struggling, scapegoats are attempted to be created. The bottom line is that the guys who should be draws like Angle have been destroyed because they are booked in comedic second match on the card style, and even Joe, who they are supposed to be 100% behind as champion, is not being booked like a top babyface, with the whining that makes Kevin Nash the face in their interplay. If the idea is the turn, that’s fine, but then he should be a strong heel. The champ often gets too much blame if numbers don’t move or go down, and when you have someone whose physical appearance was naturally going to have some second-guessing, he can be a scapegoat although he is clearly not the only one. Funny thing is of all the people they’ve booked with Angle, which is basically everyone with any steam on the face side of the active roster, the best buy rates were drawn by Joe when they did the sports build-up, but that’s counter to the philosophy of what televised wrestling is by some.

What say you to the behind the scenes issues and politics at this time?

The TV ratings for the builds were:

• June 12th - .93 and 1.3 million viewers.
• June 19th - 1.03 and 1.4 million viewers.
• June 26th - .90 and 1.2 million viewers.
• July 3rd - .95 and 1.4 million viewers.

Is it frustrating to see the needle barely move?

We’re at the show now Jeff…and it’s well received…73.7% voted it a thumbs up.

The show draws 3000 fans it’s panned as being too light considering the build of Booker and how Houston is one of the best wrestling cities in the country. What do you think…was it less than what you were hoping for and what do you think the reason was for it?

“1. Alex Shelley was the last man in a 12-man X Division elimination match that was broken up into Team International (Tyson Dux & Doug Williams & Alex Koslov), Team Japan (Masato Yoshino & Milano Collection A.T. & Puma), Team TNA (Shelley & Chris Sabin & Curry Man) and Team Mexico (Ultimo Guerrero & Rey Bucanero & Averno) in 24:16. This was a spotfest style match with so many great and unique moves, and the crowd was more into this than any match on the show even without knowing most of the participants. Koslov, Yoshino, Milano, Sabin and Shelley and Milano in particular stood out in this Mexican-style Cibernetico match. At the finish the crowd was into both Yoshino and Shelley by this point. Shelley went for a frog splash but Yoshino got his knees up. Shelley used a Tiger suplex for a near fall. They went back and forth with near falls until Shelley used a low blow and an emerald frosien for the pin. ****¼”

I mean - if you’re going to watch this show - this is the match. Why was the X Cup such an important gimmick to TNA every year in your mind?

“2. Gail Kim pinned Angelina Love in 6:13. Velvet Sky was at ringside interfering freely. At that point, the crowd was chanting “You screwed Bret” loudly. I was thinking they knew more than they thought they did until I realized they were talking about Earl Hebner. Sky then distracted her but Kim used the Marufuji codebreaker and a flying necktie lariat for the pin. Post-match saw Sky attack her and they went for the double-team but Kim ducked out of the way before getting the bag on her head. Kim was very good here. Love tried to at least keep up, but by the end, she was afraid her top was going to fall down. Luckily she can multi-task. Or maybe, unluckily. **¼”

What did having Earl Hebner in the company mean to you? And was it an issue with the chants going his way?

What did you think of the women here? Did you need to get Gail Kim restarted again?

“3. Sonjay Dutt pinned Jay Lethal in 8:24. Dutt gave SoCal Val a rose and a card. She didn’t seem thrilled and then Lethal came out and tore up the card and destroyed the rose. These two probably would have had a great wrestling match but the storyline called for a brawl. Finish was the Lethal combination but Lethal then started worrying about Val. Dutt came from behind and told Val that he loved her, and then took advantage of Lethal using a schoolboy using his feet on the ropes. They left with the idea Val was confused. **¼”

The match does end up making the pay-per-view and it’s a good match - but it’s all story driven. These 3 all pulled this off didn't they?

“4. Homicide & Hernandez retained the TNA tag titles beating Beer Money, Robert Roode & James Storm, in 10:06 in a lumberjack strap match with fans as lumberjacks. They flew one fan to Houston who sent in the best video. The other lumberjacks were from Houston and were people who called radio stations that TNA was doing promotions with and the right caller got to be a lumberjack. This was like the $1 million giveaway in that this was not a good day for those who argue wrestling demographics. Jacqueline Moore wasn’t at ringside on the guise she refused to go out there to get whipped. The fans whipped Storm every time he was outside the ring, but never whipped Homicide & Hernandez. After Homicide did the three Amigos, there was an “Eddy” chant. There was a similar chant before the show when Hector Guerrero came out and was introduced as part of the Spanish announce team. Homicide mostly sold and hot tagged to Hernandez. Roode stayed out of being whipped until the end, and then he got in the ring. Hernandez put Roode on his shoulders and Homicide came off the top with a Gringo cutter for the pin. Another case of a match where the stipulations got inn the way of the wrestlers doing the match. *¾”

Man you guys love having people getting whipped in TNA didn’t you?

“5. Taylor Wilde retained the Knockouts title pinning Awesome Kong in 4:51. Crowd was dead for this one, which is the first time I can recall that kind of a reaction to a Kong match. Work was good with Wilde selling and making comebacks, but the people just didn’t know her or care. Finish saw Kong go for a choke slam, but Wilde turned it into a front rolling cradle. Post-match saw Raisha Saeed run after Wilde as she was leaving and tackled her in the aisle. She brought Wilde back to the ring where Kong had her way with her. She was about to power bomb Wilde on a chair when Abyss’ music played. Abyss’ new role is to save people from being bullied, although he didn’t save Booker later in the show. Kong and Abyss had a square off. Saeed pulled Kong away and talked her into leaving. Saeed then slapped Abyss, so Abyss gave Saeed a black hole slam. This will probably lead to some sort of a disciplinary action angle being done by Jim Cornette on Abyss for violating the male-on-female violence rule. **”

Was it a mistake putting Wilde over Kong looking back?

“6. Volador Jr. won Ultimate X and the X Cup tournament for Team Mexico in a four-way over Kaz, Daivari and Naruki Doi. Probably the weakest Ultimate X match to date in 10:58. Daivari may have had a clue of what it was. Doi would have never seen it and Volador Jr. flew in, was nervous enough being on a U.S. PPV cold before being thrown into a situation he had no clue about. Crowd finally got into the final minute. Finishing spot was great. Daivari was climbing and about to get the belt when Kaz jumped off the stands that the cables were tied from in the corner with a legdrop on Daivari, who was hanging from the cable in almost the middle of the ring. The spot was completely nuts. Kaz injured his hip because I don’t see how you can pull that move off safely since it’s essentially jumping far off a 13 foot platform and landing on your hip and tailbone. It wasn’t serious and he isn’t expected to miss any time. With Daivari and Kaz selling the spot and Doi already selling, this allowed Volador Jr. to climb up, make his way on the cable to the center and take off the “X” to win. Post-match saw Mike Tenay bring in Willie Urbina, the Spanish language announcer to translate as they gave Team Mexico the trophy for winning. This was another way to start off relations with CMLL on a good foot. You’d think with those guys going over that there are plans to use them, but there are no dates scheduled other than they want the relationship to continue. **½”

Sacrificing Kaz here for CMLL’s victory - but the match itself - wasn’t great was it?

“7. Kurt Angle & Team 3-D beat A.J. Styles & Christian Cage & Rhino in 15:55 in a Full Metal Mayhem match which is TNA’s version of a TLC match. WWE has the TLC name as its intellectual property. This was supposed to be a fans voting on a web site picking among different stip matches but all the build-up made it clear who they wanted people to pick. They came across really low rent, as they never showed a graphic during the show of the choices, although mentioned it a few times in commentary. Before the match started, Jeremy Borash just got in the ring without a graphic and said the fans have picked Full Metal Mayhem. Ladders weren’t used to nearly the extent of a WWE style match, but they broke numerous tables and used a plethora of garbage can shots. The problem is TNA does these brawls so often, particularly involving Team 3-D, that they’ve lost any impact. This was a very good match, though. Angle used the Olympic slam on Styles, but given that Angle kicked out of Styles’ finisher, Styles had to kick out here. Somewhere in here, Earl Hebner got bumped, I guess to miss Trigg interfering. That would make more sense if he wasn’t there when Devine came in with the stick. The finish saw Styles climb to the top of a ladder to do something to Angle, but Trigg got up from the announcers table and grabbed the kendo stick Devine had left behind, and hit Styles. Angle then went up the ladder and put Styles on his shoulders and came down with an Olympic slam off the ladder and through a table for the pin. ***¾”

Is the audience numb to this match even though it was so good?

“8. Samoa Joe no contest Booker T to keep the TNA title in 15:14. Before the match, Joe and Kevin Nash were backstage and Nash told Joe he’d be in his corner to the end and apologized. Nash is looking gigantic by the way. Joe made Nash promise, no matter what happened, to stay in the back. Since Nash is the babyface in this program, I guess when he said yes, it wasn’t a swerve, which, given it was TNA, actually made it a swerve. Crowd was strongly pro-Booker. Joe juiced early. Ref Rudy Charles was taken out first. Joe die the “Ole, Ole” kick on Booker right in front of Sharmell. She was way out of control and slapped Joe. Joe then decked her security guy, who was one of Booker’s trainees at his wrestling school. Joe ran Booker into the post and he bled. Sharmell went crazy and told Joe to stop. Joe continued to beat on Booker while Sharmell pleaded for someone to help. They ran in security and Joe took them out, as well as referees, one-by-one. Finally Joe put Booker in the choke. Sting came out and told Booker to stop and that it’s over. Reluctantly, Joe left the ring with Sting. The expectation was that he’d attack Sting, but instead he jumped back into the ring to attack Booker. Then Sting turned around and got back in the ring. Joe flipped him off and Sting hit Booker with bat shots. All while this was going on, Mike Tenay and Don West were asking what gave Sting the authority to be doing what he was doing. Then Sharmell put Booker’s arm on top of Joe and counted to three. She then grabbed the title belt, handed it to Booker, and helped him to the back. Exactly how many times have we seen the challenger steal the title belt in TNA? ***”

Here it is - Sting turning heel - Booker a babyface in his hometown and Joe struggles to get through and gets counted down with a pin…how did any of this make sense Jeff?

Looking back - were you kind of stuck in a holding pattern until Bound for Glory with the Main Event Mafia story brewing?

Next week Jeff…we’ll discuss all the various TNA gimmick matches. Six Sides of Steel, Ultimate X, things on polls, King of the Mountain…and so much more!