[WWE/TNA] The Full Story on Jerry Jarrett

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Yesterday, WWE had this on their site:

Longtime wrestling promoter Jerry Jarrett met with WWE officials this morning in Stamford, Conn., and he was not alone.

By Jarrett’s side throughout his meetings with Vince McMahon and John Laurinaitis (Vice President of Talent Relations for WWE) was a 6-foot-6, 310 pound monster of a man called Oleg Prudius.

“I know they were both impressed with Oleg, as is anyone that meets him,” said Jarrett as he left WWE Headquarters Friday afternoon. “He’s an exceptional person and a special athlete.”

So with Jarrett’s backing, is Prudius on his way to WWE Superstardom?

“He’s a future prospect who is very interested in WWE,” said Laurinaitis after meeting with Jarrett and Prudius. “He comes from a very highly-regarded amateur background. And hopefully, if things work out on both sides, we can maybe do business together.”

Accompanying this was a picture of Jerry Jarrett with Prudius. Thi s apparently was either not the only thing they were talking about or a cover for the real story.

“Jerry Jarrett was in the WWE offices and it was made a pretty public deal. Jarrett had called Jerry Lawler recently and told him about being disenchanted with TNA, believing he put the company on the map and now that it is on the verge of success, he has pretty much no power. With the exception of working at the Gorilla position at tapings, Jerry Jarrett has virtually no involvement in the company at this point in time. In May, he was vocal against putting the new creative team in place and told anyone who would listen that they would fail. When they didn’t tank the company, his opinions stopped being listened to. The story is he was there to negotiate with WWE for a big Russian he was representing, but at the meeting, made it clear he was unhappy with TNA. Virtually nobody, and that includes the people closest to Jeff, were aware he was going. The “other guy” that the WWE web site doesn’t say but wants everyone to believe was Jeff, would have been the Russian, whose name we’re not aware of. The way the story is being slipped out on the internet is a very public FU to TNA from WWE, and no doubt, Jerry perhaps even more, knowing it’ll shake everyone up. To say people in TNA are pretty furious at Jerry for how he played this game would be an understatement. Stories that Jerry was there to sell the Memphis tape collection are entirely untrue as he has no rights to the collection. Jarrett sold his 50% of the company to Jerry Lawler circa 1997, who in turn sold it to a Cleveland based group, who in turn, put it quickly out of business resulting in a messy lawsuit.”

– Wrestling Observer

You may remember that Jarrett was close to taking over WWE when Vince McMahon was going through his trial. Jarrett was indeed set to run the company should Vince have been convicted.

So in essence, Jarrett was bringing WWE a prospect and may have been trying to get a job at the same time. This has provided WWE the opportunity to flip the bird to TNA without mentioning them, and this has TNA’s rank and file furious.

If anything else should come about regarding this, we will let you know.