WWE Hall of Famer and AEW’s Jeff Jarrett recently spoke on his podcast, “My World,” about a variety of professional wrestling topics including what Booker T meant to TNA:
“The Main Event Mafia was the most successful faction, without question,” Jarrett said. The ratings, when those guys got together and then we clearly drew a line in the sand against, their opponents were AJ Styles, we named them Frontline, the younger guys. Me and Mick (Foley) were compassionate with both sides. We were generationally in the Main Event Mafia era, but we also wanted to see the young guys up and coming.”
Jarrett continued, “All of that was reality based, good compelling TV, and Booker was very important. You look at the five guys that were in the Main Event Mafia. It goes without saying. I think Booker was frustrated, I think mentally where he was at in his career. He had been on the road for so many years with WCW. Then the turmoil on the end of his career in WCW. He became World Heavyweight Champion, but the business was tanking in so many ways. It wasn’t his fault. He goes to WWF, and Austin, and has that run, and everything that goes with all that. By the time he got to us, I think he was burned out, but sometimes his head wasn’t in the right place. He came to Orlando and when you work for, really, two companies, and super capitalized, TNA was an adjustment. I got it loud and clear. It was an adjustment for him, and from a financial perspective, he was making less money than he made in the two prior stops, so that’s hard, but Booker is super important to the era of The Main Event Mafia and the success of it, no doubt about it.”
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(h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)
