Jeff Jarrett, current AEW star and co-founder of TNA, was born into the skilled wrestling business, and his thoughts and opinions carry weight to many. Jarrett recently sat down on “The Ariel Helwani Show,” where he addressed TKO’s take care of Netflix, and said he’s spoken about it with Nick Khan, and WWE has “printed money” since its merger with UFC.
“To me, I’m the idiot if I start throwing stones and, ‘Hey, creative’s this and that, they usually went back to Vegas back-to-back years,'” Jarrett said. “Okay, who said they weren’t going to make mistakes? Creative’s subjective. Stock isn’t. The one thing that I’m very inquisitive about is… [AEW President] Tony [Khan] answers to Tony. Vince [McMahon] used to reply to Vince… [CEO President] Ari [Emanuel] answers to Wall Street. How long? How sustainable is that going to be?”
Jarrett said it’s hard to elucidate to Wall Street as a wrestling company what they need to take a position in. He also said that trying to elucidate to investors why they should keep a certain star is difficult, as well,
“You may tell, Sheamus is the most recent, however the restructuring of deals,” he said. “I get that, because they’re answering to Wall Street. Wall Street won’t understand, ‘Hey, we have got to maintain this talent… Yeah, we’re paying them, and we’re paying them big money, and yeah, they’re sitting on the bench, but boy, oh boy, once we call them off the bench, they are a brand name. They will deliver.”
Jarrett said he is not attempting to predict the longer term, and what TKO has done with the stock is amazing. He questioned, nonetheless, just where WWE might be two years from now.
When you use any quotes from this text, please credit “The Ariel Helwani Show” and supply a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.