Jeff Jarrett Questions Timing Of TNA Re-Brand

Company founder Jeff Jarrett has had his say on Impact Wrestling’s decision to rebrand to TNA.

Impact Wrestling caught many people by surprise when at the end of the recent Bound For Glory event they revealed that beginning in early 2024 they are re-branding to the former company name of TNA Wrestling.

TNA was born all the way back in 2002 when Jeff Jarrett founded the company alongside his father Jerry. Originally known as NWA: Total Non-Stop Action (NWA:TNA) the company used the championships belonging to the National Wrestling Alliance to help make their way in the pro wrestling world that found only Vince McMahon’s WWE as by far the biggest player in town.

Over two decades later, Jeff Jarrett is the Director of Business Development in the new number two company in the US wrestling world, AEW, and what became Impact Wrestling is going back to its TNA roots, something Jarrett had a lot to say about.

Speaking on his My World podcast Jeff Jarrett gave his take on the name change from Impact Wrestling back to TNA and hints at the fact he’d try to go down that road before with the company’s current owners, Anthem Entertainment:

“I could go down so many rabbit holes and so many avenues. I had heard rumblings and do you really want to open up this can of worms? But yes, I’m surprised in a few different ways in that the conversations that I had with Anthem…I’ll just leave it at that.

“I was pretty clear with them that hey guys, in my opinion, Impact Wrestling, naming that the company was almost dead on arrival in 2011 and ’12 – the tagline wrestling matters and all that kind of stuff. But I said I just think Impact Wrestling is dead – the television show.

“So – not to go on and on and on about it – but I had those conversations in depth and gave them the history and they are well aware of it. They bought the show Impact from day one, Anthem did, they knew that it was TNA wrestling presents Impact. So going down that road and knowing okay, not a big fan of it. And that’s where in my mind hey, if you don’t like Global Force Wrestling – I even said that, hey, we can figure some kind of way and use the storyline and go back to TNA, there’s a lot of equity, your library’s name that the international partners have always.

“There are many, many places, India specifically, Australia, and in a lot of ways they never, ever quit calling it TNA wrestling. The [t and a] double entendre isn’t nearly as prevalent outside of the US in so many markets. So I guess you could say all the information in my head. That’s why I was like, okay, so now five years, six years after you acquired it, you’re rebranding? So that would be a little bit of a surprise to me. But then at the end of the day, it’s all execution.”

Jeff Jarrett excited for TNA re-brand: “Change is good”

Jeff Jarrett continued noting that the outcome of the brand switch is all going to come down to the vision of the current President of the company Scott D’Amore and says he wishes the revamped TNA nothing but the best:

“It’s all about what is Scott’s vision. That is what I’m most optimistic about. Okay, Scott, what’s your vision of TNA? I know what mine was, well aware. And we can talk about all the different things, the four different divisions, how’s that gonna be positioned or promoted? The six-sided ring, to me, there’s a lot of nuances. But at the end of the day, it’s the story. And I was blessed with fantastic talent, AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, we go through on that list, but I’m excited because it’s good for the industry. Change is good.

“I will forever be somewhat emotionally attached to it. But I wish God and the team nothing but the best and I hope they take it to heights that it’s never been before.”

The TNA brand will officially begin when the company presents Hard To Kill on January 13, 2024. Already scheduled for the event is Alex Shelley defending the TNA World Championship against Moose and Jordynne Grace challenging Trinity for the TNA Knockouts Championship.

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