By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
“Andrew Thompson Interviews” with guest Jeff Jarrett
Host: Andrew Thompson
Full interview available at YouTube.com and PostWrestling.com
Jeff Jarrett on a possible in-ring return: “I’ve always got a guitar ready, always. So yeah, especially during the pandemic with no travel involved essentially. I double downed on my workouts and it’s something I love. It’s almost — it’s a hobby as well, staying in shape but I love it but yeah, I will — I’ll say this: I’ve always got a guitar close by.”
Jarrett on working with Santos Escobar in AAA, feels Escobar will be on Raw or Smackdown soon: “So I’ll take you back even a prior year. I’ve known him [Santos Escobar] a long time but in 2017, I brought him to Impact, Global Force [Wrestling]. I brought him as a part of that. He’s bilingual which is huge. He understands both psychologies. He’s got a family lineage, his father, so he obviously grew up in lucha libre but he also understands the American style, and we’re buddies, we’re amigos but I cannot say enough good things about him as a performer. The sky’s the limit for him. He’s very articulate in both languages and so, I really think in 2022 and I’ll just say this: A year from now when you bring up his name, I think me and you would have a different conversation because I think the sky’s the limit for that guy and I couldn’t be happier for the opportunity that he’s getting today but I can see him being on the Raw and/or Smackdown roster sooner rather than later.”
Jarrett on the argument that WWE could do more with R-Truth outside of 24/7 Title/Truth providing talents with airtime via the 24/7 Title: “It’s no secret me and Ronnie [R-Truth] are buddies and always have been, always will be. We’re tight. I mean he was NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion in the early days of TNA and he wanted to be a rapper first, so music is in his blood. But at his very core, he’s a performer, he’s an entertainer, and Ron’s a smart dude and as genetically gifted as he is and I’m not just talking about he doesn’t age, but his physical skillset is still, if not at the top of his game, it’s right up there but Ronnie also knows that it’s a young man’s game as well. So, to the flip side of that, we’ll call it a debate or argument or point is at Ronnie’s 20-year career, he’s still actively involved in a weekly episodic television show and this is a young man’s game and it is so should he be in the quote-unquote world title picture, I.C. Title picture?
“No, probably not, but he is such a diverse character, he really gives back because if you’re in a pre-tape or a scene or a match with Ronnie and look how many people — the 24/7 [Title] and Ronnie’s character involvement, look at how many people over the last year-and-a-half, two years that Ronnie quote-unquote has given airtime to so he gives back to the business by A, wanting to do it. Ronnie [has] a saying, he’s made some fat checks over the years but he’s still giving back and entertaining and his ability to connect with the audience and really anybody on camera with him in any scene, their presence on camera and Ronnie takes them to another level so, you know, as a performer you don’t — unless you’ve really been in the industry, you don’t really realize how valuable Ronnie is but man, Truth has got a skillset that only he ever has really presented. I’ve never seen a talent like him and I’d love for somebody — you don’t really see that kind of talent because of his longevity, his physical skill set, his connectivity and really, his ability to work with anybody is quite frankly an anomaly in so many ways.”
Jarrett talks about his leave of absence from Global Force Wrestling in 2017: “We don’t have enough time to talk about that [his growth from 2017 to now]. I’m incredibly blessed but I, you know, when I look back at my entire career, there’s always ups and downs but 2017, October, November, December was an incredibly reformative, transformative process in my life but it was a real dark time but the person that I was then to what I am now, I’ve got a sense of peace and happiness and excitement of where things are going. I would have never dreamed when Conrad [Thompson], when he presented the podcast, I really looked at it as, ‘Okay, I’m going to sit down, do a podcast.’ The doors that it’s already opened in four weeks, five weeks have blown me away. Multiple projects that I have going on, not just domestically but internationally and so, to specifically, the growth that I’ve had as a human being and I continue to grow everyday. I work on [me] every morning from about 5 to 7:30 or 8 in the morning, sometimes 8:30, I work on Jeff every morning and it’s real personal growth and personal awareness and the fruits of that continue to be seen in my life on a daily level.”
Jarrett says Jeremy Borash is doing great in WWE: “He’s [Jeremy Borash] doing great and when I’m asked, whether it’s about Jeremy Borash or AJ Styles or Samoa Joe or those formative TNA years, Eric Young, Bobby Roode, I could go down that whole list and they say, ‘How do you feel about their success? Does it make you proud?’ I think in so many different ways, yes, I’m the proud, crazy uncle or whatever it may be but I’m also very reflective on just how lucky and blessed I was during that time. To be able to work with these guys and be around them day in and day out, what a nucleus of guys that we had, both in front of the camera and behind so I feel lucky as I sit here today that, you know, that AJ Styles was such a enormous part of the roster, that Jeremy Borash was such an enormous part of the TNA team and wore so many different hats from producer to editor to cameraman to social media, everything, ring announcer, live event ring announcer. I feel very lucky.”
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