Posted in: Movies, Sports, TV | Tagged: gfw, HRL, impact, jeff jarrett, tna wrestling, wrasslin, wrestling
Turmoil Rocks GFW; Jeff Jarrett Ousted As Anthem Wants Out Of Wrestling
In the most shocking thing to happen in wrestling since the last time the pro wrestling company formerly known as TNA was rocked by turmoil (which was a little over six months ago), GFW has placed Jeff Jarrett on an indefinite leave of absence from the company citing "personal reasons," effectively ending his tenure as head of creative.
According to dirt sheet reports (via 411 Wrestling), the leave took Jarrett by surprise, interrupting a planned fantasy football draft he was going to hold with the company's staff. Anthem, the company that bought TNA after a failed takeover attempt by Smashing Pumpkins vocalist Billy Corgan late last year, made the decision. They were reportedly annoyed by "erratic behavior" from Jarrett, including a screaming match over a hotel room in April and Jarrett's weight gain.
Jarrett's return to the company brought with it a creative team of old school wrestling minds, including Jim Cornette. It's unknown if they will remain if Jarrett departs. To make matters more complicated, TNA was recently rebranded as GFW after bringing in Jarrett to run the company, but the deal for Anthem to purchase the GFW name from Jarrett is reportedly not complete. If tensions continue to rise between Jarrett and Anthem, the deal could fall apart, forcing TNA to rebrand again.
Meanwhile, a report from Sports Illustrated claims that Anthem is "hemorrhaging funds" and wants out of the wrestling business. If they sell GFW, or Impact to be more specific, would Jarrett be a potential buyer? WWE has shown interest in the past in acquiring the TNA tape library so that they can print money with DVDs of their current superstars like AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Bobby Roode, The Hardys, and Kurt Angle, who all spent significant portions of their careers with the company. That would also give Matt Hardy the ability to use his Broken gimmick in WWE. Another valuable asset of the company is Jarrett's stockpile of gold Karatbars.
So will this mess finally be what destroys the company for good? Probably not. When the world ends in nuclear destruction (which could happen as soon as next week), there will be two things left living on Earth: cockroaches, and whatever the hell TNA Wrestling is calling itself at that time.