Jeff Jarrett – 'We're Gonna See UFC Stars In WWE'

22/09/2023 01:01

On a recent edition of his “My World” podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Jeff Jarrett discussed the merger between WWE and UFC into the TKO Holdings Group following Endeavor’s acquisition of WWE.

You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:

On WWE employee layoffs and the TKO Holdings Group merger: "I think change is good, change is positive. It's not easy to swallow to some folks. And look, I know Frank [Riddick] personally is a good dude, man. Been in meetings with him, he's just a good man. I'm sure Frank is very happy for his entire career. He goes back a ways there, they leaned into him a couple of times over the last — well, throughout his career, but they leaned in a couple of times I'd say, in the previous 3 to 5 years. And there are others.

"And look, it's the natural progression… But how will the layoffs be? Affects the pro wrestling industry? Oh, it just — I think everything's relative. You know, could it be small, medium or large? I think it's got a good shot of being at least a medium. Because when you have skilled professionals that have the knowhow, that have been in the biggest sports entertainment conglomerate ever assembled that has been around for years and years. And you just have to look at their stock, dividends, and profits to ask yourself, are they successful? So they've done a lot more things right than wrong. And I'm sure the good businessman learns more from the decisions that were made wrong than right. So, I think there's a lot of wisdom on the open market right now, I think it's the best way to say. And I think it will be up to all promotions around the globe, do they want to tap into that wisdom? Whether it's a full-time, a consultant, whatever it may be? But I think it's a huge, huge upside for the wrestling business as a whole."

On Dana White ripping UFC executive Lawrence Epstein for his WWE-UFC fan crossover comment: "This is what's bizarre. I thought Epstein's point was, 'We want to create synergies on mega weekends, pay-per-view weekends, where you have a Friday night event for UFC and a Saturday night event for WWE, or a Saturday/Sunday, whatever it might be.' I thought, 'Not only yes, but hell yes.' I believe for the majority it is two separate fanbases. But you have one load in, one up and down, I'm talking about it from a production point of view. You're in one arena. You have the synergies of finance and HR, administrative and accounting, and all that stuff. Okay well, their place of work is in one town, not two. And so there are a lot of situations where I think there's an upside, and I also think you can own the town. Go see UFC Friday and WWE Saturday because it is, for the most part, two different audiences.

"And I think we're gonna see that. I'm not sure exactly how that's going flush out, but I'm not gonna say a 'Mania weekend, a SummerSlam, or a Survivor Series, the big four. I don't think it's gonna happen on those weekends, but let's just take Payback in Pittsburgh. I could see a Friday-Saturday with that because there are so many events. I think it can create a whole new kind of branding initiative with a lot of upside. And you can have the occasional, we'll call it a fan-fest where you have it all under one roof. I think there's a lot of ways to monetize that.. I think it's great for the industry as a whole. I think it's great for AEW, I think it's great for any and everything, and I don't put them in the same bucket. I think it's great for MMA, and I think it's great for professional wrestling."

On using former UFC stars in WWE: "I think we're gonna see it. In a lot of ways, and I've said this going back three generations: you know, in professional wrestling, wink-wink, we control wins and losses, presentations and storylines, and everything that goes with it. And in the UFC, they don't have that luxury. So, it is always a different game. It literally is, what are we going to promote? Because they don't create Conor McGregors every day. You have to capture that lighting in a bottle. Whereas you don't create a John Cena overnight but man, you can create one. That's what's really cool. You can utilize past stars in such a monstrous way."

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