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TNA Wrestling started its journey back in 2002, and instantly it was established as the biggest competitor of WWE back then. Jeff Jarrett had been one of the key figures of the promotion for a long time, and he was responsible for a lot of the success that the promotion earned during its prime.
In 2005, TNA Wrestling signed a historic deal with Spike TV, which had been really beneficial for the new wrestling promotion in various ways. It started to give healthy competition to WWE, and it also signed multiple top stars at the time. In 2006, the promotion shocked the entire world when it managed to sign Kurt Angle.
Jeff Jarrett remembers the TNA Wrestling-Spike TV deal from 2005
Jeff Jarrett, who had been one of the key figures of TNA Wrestling back then, recently remembered how this dream deal came into reality and how happy he was about this deal. Recently, he talked about this historic deal on his “My World” podcast, where he said the following;
Jeff Jarrett had been a key figure of TNA Wrestling for a long time
“Conrad, I really can’t put it into words in that — excitement? Yes, the talent was excited. But more than anything Conrad, the emotional bandwidth that we had all been through that had been there since day one — people who knew knew that, ‘Okay, this is great.’ And I knew, and a few others knew, ‘Okay, this turns us into a profitable situation, that we have the ability to really get this thing rocking and rolling.’”
“In our very first conversations with Spike — and I don’t even know if they said it first. But I know we had brought up like, ‘Hey, what’s it going to take for us to get in primetime? We’re very happy. We’re grateful.
Jeff Jarrett remembered the deal on its 20th anniversary
"We’re on Saturday nights, 11 Eastern, one-hour show.’ We were super happy, but they knew and Kevin Kay sitting back in his chair… he’s like, ‘Jeff — I would be so happy if I’m sitting at a table talking to you, saying, ‘Hey, we need to get you guys in primetime. But only the numbers will dictate that.’ And so that’s when you go, ‘Okay.’ I don’t say careful what you wish for. But where I’m going with it Conrad, just the pressure was on immensely. I mean, big time.” said Jeff Jarrett.
This deal lasted for a decade, and after it ended in 2015, it was never renewed. A lot of fans believe that it was one of the biggest reasons behind the downfall of TNA Wrestling. Today, the promotion is doing well after signing the partnership deal with WWE. But they are nowhere near their prime.
