TNA House Shows Succeed Under Don West & Jeff Jarrett

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House shows have become the most successful division of TNA’s business. Attendance numbers are not anything special but they are up from $6 per head last year to $20 per head this year in terms of merchandise. Don West has been the big difference maker as he is now on the road and making merchandise deals a big part of the live presentation. Jeff Jarrett is responsible for running the house shows, with Jeremy Borash and West putting together the non-wrestling aspects of the shows. West is said to be one of the highlights of the shows due to his enthusiastic approach to working at the merchandise booth. Jarrett is no longer involved in writing for TV, which means sometimes the house shows do not correspond to the Impact storylines. Vince Russo has asked to book the house shows so that they will match up to TV, yet Russo has never been to a house show despite being with the company for years. Last year TNA ran one in Colorado that was 5 minutes from Russo’s house and he did not attend it. Eric Bischoff has been to two since he began and Hulk Hogan has been to none. A number of people in TNA are now said to be trying to get to work on the house show side of things, fearing that those responsible for TV are about to get blamed for the decrease in that part of the business.

Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter, 24 May 2010 (subscribe here)