WWE Hall of Famer Jeff Jarrett, who is also All Elite Wrestling’s Director of Business Development, appeared on an episode of his “My World with Jeff Jarrett” podcast. In it, he discussed various topics, including the ring AEW used for Grand Slam: Australia and the reaction from the fans.
Jarrett said, “It made me kind of sit back and think just how — and we’ve talked a little bit about this. And I don’t want to use the words ‘tribalism’ or ‘everything’s politicized,’ but it just feels like, it’s the old Jerry Lawler song. ‘Bad news travels like wildfire. Good news travels slow. They all call me, Old Wildfire because everybody knows I’m bad news.’ But no, it’s like people jump in and want to hang on. And if you don’t like the size of the ring, that’s okay too. I’m not trying to tell anybody what they can and can’t like. But my goodness, Conrad. The negativity just continues to grow and grow and grow and grow. And hey, that’s okay too. But I think a lot of people in a weird kind of way — for me, weird 00 do they get joy out of it? Or does it make them happy? Does it make them feel good? I think in a lot of ways, maybe it gives them a shot of internal adrenaline and like, ‘Ah, yeah, I’m going to post this and tweet this.’ Whether it’s negative or this or that. And I get clicks create cash, and controversy creates cash, and that whole mentality. But Conrad, like you said — and you know me as well as anybody. I’m just such a huge fan of professional wrestling continuing to do big live gates in all the international markets. Because look, I’m a Hendersonville boy, Tennessee. Thirty-eight years strong, third generation. But for the most part, wrestling — and no disrespect to Japan or Germany or any of these other markets, but wrestling is really looked at in today’s economy as a US product, and it’s exported around the world. So the more success that can happen internationally Conrad, I absolutely love it. And when you have that kind of crowd, you can choose to forget about any backstory or what you do or don’t want to believe. But at the end of the day, you just kind of ran through the highlights. But no matter how you slice it and dice it, there were 14,000 international fans that had a fantastic time. Or they sure acted like they had a fantastic time because they were on their feet for the better part.”
On how to look at it:
“Oh, when I heard the original and just kind of the stories out there, it did take me back to maybe a downside to the six-sided ring, for me. When you go to the United Kingdom or other international markets, you’ve got to think through that. We had to kind of jump through the hoops. But Conrad, as I sit here today digesting the — the kind of the outrage, and I don’t even know if that’s the right term. But Connie, you gotta take the bad with the good. Because the good of social media connects us all as a fan base—young, old, Ad-Free listeners, nostalgia listeners, new folks, old folks, whatever it may be. But the bad part is, man it gives some folks a real platform to just create chaos, man. It is what it is, pal. Can’t do nothing about it. Just accept it and move on.”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
