When you think of Impact Wrestling, the first name you think of is Jeff Jarrett.
The 51-year-old and his father started what was then known as Total Nonstop Action in June 2002, but ended up selling controlling interest of the company to Panda Energy later that same year. Jarrett won the heavyweight championship on six occasions, he's a three-time King of the Mountain winner and was inducted into its Hall of Fame in 2015. That’s separate from his WWE Hall of Fame induction this past April.
But there were also rocky personal times in TNA for the Tennessee native. He was involved in a real-life wrestler storyline , when he married Karen Angle, the ex-wife of fellow wrestler Kurt Angle. And with some of that turbulence being considered, one would think the last thing Jarrett would want to do is talk about is his time in TNA. But after some prodding by popular wrestling podcast host, Conrad Thompson, Jarrett will be conducting a TNA panel with numerous luminaries about his time in the company. And he'll do that Friday at the Starrcast convention in Chicago.
"That’s not how I operate," Jarrett told Sporting News. "If you put it in context because if you back up in the last six months or so, Conrad has pushed me into wanting to do a (TNA) podcast together. He’s doing terrific podcasts with Bruce Prichard (“Something to Wrestle With”), Eric Bischoff (“83 Weeks”) and Tony Schiavone (“What Happened When”). Those are three terrific podcasts with three different perspectives and concepts. The first time Conrad asked me about it, I said I wasn't sure if I would be good at it. I always had a bunch of questions for him.”
Jarrett added: "But when he asked me to do this (podcast) at Starrcast, it is hard to tell Conrad no. When he pressed me for it and laid it out to me, I really thought about it. There's so much ground to cover in 90 minutes and I certainly want to do it justice. That’s why when I thought about who was going to be on stage with me that had different perspectives. I want it to be something that the fans hear, feel and talk about things and walk away from saying that they didn't expect them to discuss this or that. Like with any wrestling event I’m in, I want to give the people their money’s worth."
When it was revealed that he would be doing this, people started talking about the possibility of Jarrett doing a full-time podcast. The possibility is something Thompson has discussed on his podcasts in the past, too. While Jarrett is open to the idea in the future, he wants to see how everything goes at the event before making a decision.
"I want to see what happens at Starrcast," Jarrett said. "But anything further than that, it’s obviously up for discussion. I want to do a wait-and-see and see how Starrcast goes and then evaluate from there."
After leaving TNA, Jarrett announced the launch of his new wrestling promotion, Global Force Wrestling, in 2014. Three years later, Jarrett rejoined Impact Wrestling, which by that point fell under the ownership of Anthem Sports & Entertainment. By September, though, the company announced that Jarrett would be “taking an indefinite leave of absence.” He wound up being released the next month.
When he got he released from Impact in October, Jarrett reportedly checked into rehab for alcoholism. The celebrated champ would then be honored by WWE by being inducted into its Hall of Fame this past spring.
"It’s incredible," Jarrett said. "This is out of character for me, but 2018 has been incredibly humbling. I’m very grateful for all the opportunities at this stage of my career."
