WWE Hall of Famer and AEW’s Jeff Jarrett recently spoke on his podcast, “My World,” about a variety of professional wrestling topics including the Texas Chainsaw Massacre deathmatch from AEW Dynamite and addressed criticism:
“I told my buddy at the gym this morning. I’ll just say, he’s not down with lucha libre, says it doesn’t make a lot of sense. He loves Japanese wrestling. He’s not so much a fan of WWE. He just kind of likes the no nonsense strong style. He leans more into that. He came up, and he said, ‘Man, there’s some people bent out of shape online. What do you think about that?’ I said, ‘Well, let me ask you, why do you like it? Because you’re shocking me that you like that.’ He said, ‘Well, when you hear the title ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre Death Match’ right out of the gate, you kind of know you’re not gonna be getting any hurricanranas and German suplexes and all that.’ He’s like, ‘What do you think?’ I said, ‘The biggest disappointment I would’ve had, by far, is if there would have been no feedback.’ The point that there was people, that this made them so divisive, that somebody cared so much or cared so much about the AEW brand, that they tune into Twitter or Instagram…I really thought that the sponsor, exact words, ‘Incredible. Way overdelivered.’ Okay, so that’s a win.”
“It’s my understanding, across the board, the network, because they’re the ones, when you bill a deck and hey, we did for this client and this for this client, all that. Obviously, goes without saying, the top man, TK, super excited. Look, his sole decision. That was up to him. With the funds going to Maui, that says so much to me. But the audience being so passionate about it, I love that, okay, that lit a nerve. Not always good. Some people just didn’t like it, but I loved it. I thought it was an honor to be in that type of integration. It was definitely out of the box. I thought Jeff Hardy and his entire crew executed it to a tee. I’m not a horror movie guy, but Leatherface, that clip of him walking down the aisle, throwing the chainsaw, and he was supposed to be on our side, but Sonjay got his ass kicked, Karen got ran off, and all the integration. Production across the board, it was a grand slam in so many ways. For those that didn’t like this kind of stuff, I will say this without question, it certainly will make you appreciate more your four-and-five star matches. So yes, it actually served a purpose to you as well. It will make you appreciate, ‘Hey, I don’t like that integration stuff, I like this stuff.’ So I’m super excited. Mission accomplished.”
A huge sponsorship deal and a high-profile match?
There's only ONE MAN for the job.
Ain't he great?#MyWorld: THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE DEATHMATCH is available for early access NOW exclusively on @adfreeshows@RealJeffJarrett @HeyHeyItsConrad @AEW #AEW pic.twitter.com/AqIenodn8z
— My World with Jeff Jarrett (@MyWorldPod) August 21, 2023
(h/t to Colin Tessier for the transcription)