WWE Hall of Famer Jeff Jarrett spoke on his My World podcast about a wide range of topics.
During it, he looked back how in 2011, TNA President Dixie Carter was starting to feel a financial pinch and Spike TV wanted an increase in the TV ratings.
He explained that he and Kurt Angle had no real life heat during this time frame despite Jarrett marrying Angle’s ex-wife.
“Vince Russo called me. To defend Russo here a little bit here, or a lot, he knew the reality,” Jarrett said. “He knew as well as anybody that there was no animosity between me, Kurt and Karen. He knew we were raising Kurt and Karen’s kids in my house. Kurt had visited the house on Halloween one year. There was no real life drama.”
“Russo said, ‘I have an idea’ (which was for Kurt and Jeff to feud on TV). I said, ‘Sure Vince, and what did Dixie (Carter) have to say about it? He said, ‘She’s on board.’”
“I said, ‘Okay, what about Hulk?’ He said, ‘He doesn’t care.’ I said, ‘So what’s the real story?’ He said, ‘Bro, ratings.’ I said, ‘Oh, so you’re circling back to this?’ He said, ‘Yes, we are.’ I said, ‘Well, I think the most important decision maker is Kurt. Where does Kurt stand?’”
“He said, ‘I’ve had the conversation and he’s up for it.’ I said, ‘Okay, well, you probably need to do your job.’ Karen is going to get paid and work out her own deal, her contract, and all that, so we had to work out the payments and all that kind of stuff.”
Jarrett stated that Dixie despised his wife, Karen, but brought her on TV despite it.
“The thing that shined a light on it. It’s no secret, and I was oblivious to how deep it was, but Dixie despised Karen. For her to bring Karen on as a character on the show, I thought, ‘This is really interesting.’
“I know that now (that Dixie despised Karen), but I didn’t know that then. When I got that phone call from Russo, I’m like, okay, you’re calling me, but at the end of the day, I’m a talent and what am I going to say, no? If my kids aren’t involved, then yeah, let’s go do a job, but you have a lot of other decision makers in this. We can make it work.”
“I’ve seen in my entire career a lot of uncomfortable situations. People would come to me and tell me different things, and in my delusional optimism, I would be like, ‘Oh no. Dixie didn’t say that.’ What I know now, I had no idea back then, so I’m looking at it 10 years removed from this, but she didn’t like her from day one.”
