The View from the Cheap Seats
Posted on June 20, 2007 by Brian Hansley
Brian Hansley, Pro Wrestling, TNA, The View From the Cheap Seats
This week fellow columnist John Philapavage debuted a new feature entitled, “Worst Person of the Week.” With his teaser I knew who he was going to be mentioning before he mentioned it. I read through it all, and then took some time to calm myself. I then read fellow writer Gene Boyer’s thoughts and I felt safer about writing this. Needless to say I agree with Gene.
Yes- Jeff Jarrett used time on Total Nonstop Action’s recent pay per view to issue a statement to the fans in Nashville, and watching at home. He talked about starting the promotion and then talked about how his wife believed in him and helped him get this off the ground. It was a touching thing to see and read about.
We can only imagine how much Jill meant to Jeff. They were married for a long time and had three kids together. She had gotten cancer and they thought she was recovering nicely before it came back again, this time worse. Jeff took himself away from the business he loved, because the real world was calling him. He stuck by his wifes’ side until the end. Sure he came back to wrestle, but reports were he was flying in for his matches and then flying out right away to be with Jill. When she passed on Jeff was left a single father with three kids and a business that he was still trying to get off the ground.
Everyone grieves in different ways. Some go inside their shell and take a long time to come back out. Some plunge into their work in hopes they won’t have time to think about the pain they are feeling. Jeff had two options at this point- either go full scale back into wrestling, or take some time to step away from it all. It makes it harder that the job he is going to is one that his wife supported him starting, and supported him through while they were switching financial backers, and television networks. Going to work from this point forward is going to be a constant reminder to Jeff that Jill is no longer with him.
As it moved along Jeff had a choice to make. The fans who support TNA now, are basically the Internet fans. These are the people who know why Jeff isn’t showing up, and no “wrestling” reason will cover that. So Jeff took a moment on the most recent pay per view, not to use his wifes’ death to put over his company, but rather to point out that Jill was the one to support him getting it off the ground, and right now- it’s just to painful to get back involved with. No I don’t believe this was a fake wrestling promo anywhere in there. I’ve been around people coping with grief enough to know when real emotion is being portrayed. Any business that starts and eventually succeeds or fails has people behind the person pushing them along. Jeff was letting the fans of TNA know- the loyal ones in Nashville that were there from the start- if and when the company succeeds Jill had as much to do with it as he did.
Much like Gene I’m coming from a different perspective on this maybe, but there was no underlying motive to what Jeff did. He is in grief and he is looking for outlets for it. He used one at the pay per view thanking the fans for supporting his dream that was encouraged by the woman he promised to spend forever with. That doesn’t make him the worst person of the week. The people bashing him over it across the Internet are worse
June 20th, 2007 at 4:47 pm
I want to take a moment to first show respect to Gene Boyer and Brian Hansley for their excellently written and thought out responses to my article. I’m gonna ignore that little dig at the end by Hansley, particularly because I’m not sure you meant it as such. Either way, two great writers with perspective and opinions.
Another thing to note. They are right. They are right in the same way I feel I’m right. We simply do not know for sure. I’m coming at this in the sense that I understand Jarrett is grieving, and he has a TV show and PPV he might find as emotional outlets, but that he is a carny/wrestler/promoter at heart, and I’ve learned the hard way to not take some things at face value or by into everything as ” genuine”. Doesn’t mean it wasn’t, or at least wasn’t meant to be, but he could have done something similar to it w/o it being on the show or directly attached to the promotion. Again, maybe it was a tribute, or he felt he owed it to her, and perhaps for him it was closure, where it can be viewed as getting over or a fanbase rally cry. It’s possible the agenda was both. It’s a perspective issue.
Regarding loss in our own lives, I don’t think I’m breaking anyone’s personal privacy to much by saying Hansley, Gene, and myself are all in the 25-30 year old demo. We’ve all been around long enough to experience loss in our lives. I understand the logic and relation to the situation they both write about, and I respect the perspective. I’ve used similar outlets, like writing, for grief management. I’m coming from a thought process that many humans have good intentions mixed w/ “bad”. Bad meaning something selfish or self-serving. they can go hand in hand with those intentions that our selfless and healing.
I stick by my commentary because I feel the past behavior indicates/predicts the present and future. None of what I say, Gene says, or Hansley says is completely rooted in fact, though both did give factual comments regarding the situation, which I appreciate.
Ultimately, it’s a great debate and agree-to-disagree situation, which everyone here encourages. Perhaps Vince should have finished a few votes ahead, but I’d still have Jarrett on my list at #2. Hansley and I go round-and-round for hours on this stuff, and if anyone accuses the staff here at PWChronicle.com of having a party line, look no further then these pages. Thanks to both writers for the counter-arguments.
June 20th, 2007 at 7:47 pm
After thinking a bit more, I wanted to present a scenario to everyone. This isn’t just for Gene and Brian, as I invite anyone to share their thoughts on this subject. Regardless of my opinion, I think this topic is fascinating because of its depth, and if you do flatly agree with me, then at least chime in with whether or not you think it’s more acceptable or worst to exploit a storyline death in the way the WWE is handling their Vince storyline.
For me, I think the sticking point is the context in which Jarrett made his speech. Fifth Aniv. Show in Nashville - his hometown. Reports of negotiations with FOX’s TV units. Recently turned babyface in a company which Brian Hansley claims is heavily internet supported by fans who are aware of his wife’s passing and the details surrounding it. The thought that keeps coming to me in this context is the phrase “heavy-handed”. Here’s a scenario, and I’d like to know whether you find this an acceptable halfway point in this disagreement.
Instead of what did happen, how about Jarrett comes out for a match that he dedicates to his wife. You pull Joe from the main event, or perhaps Angle. This even works with Sting, but with Joe you are endorsing the idea that this is the next generation of TNA and the top babyface by crowd reaction. If anything, you can pick Jill’s favorite babyface.
He then instructs Tenay and West to call it as a wrestling match without hyperbole or gimmick, and ease up on mentioning the tribute. In fact, maybe don’t specifically say that at all. After a 20-25 minute match without ref bumps or run ins, put the younger guy over, give him a hug, and point to the sky. At that point it’s fine for Tenay or West to make ONE-and that’s all- remark in terms of why he just did that. It’s not exploiting, it works out his emotions through tribute in a match without storylines or bad guys.
If it sounds familar, and I know Hansley at least knows where I’m going because of his teenage leanings, it’s essentially the Bret-Benoit match that was a tribute to Owen on NITRO. And this commentary would be less about getting that fact over then WCW’s was.
Or, if the fans do know so much, and it wasn’t about putting over the company by rallying fans behind Jeff and having crying fans chant “Thank You Jeff”, which I’m willing to buy, then Jeff should have known all of this and simply put an out of character promo on the TNA website and TNA Today podcast/Youtube release. This way those fans who know could see it, and I’d have no problem with a mention or two on the PPV or TV that simply states “Jeff Jarrett interview where he discusses the long road of TNA and a personal tragedy in his life that he’d like to address.”
I am of the belief, sighting the Owen death beforehand, the history of the Jarrett family, and the fact Jeff knows this company is essentially it for him in the business, that he was aware of the exploitive nature of such a promo on PPV and it’s benefits to him and TNA, which is essentially Jeff Jarrett and friends.
June 21st, 2007 at 9:27 am
The last line wasn’t meant as a dig at you. I’ve read reports along the internet that are far more aggressive in their finger pointing.
The only difference to me between the scenario you posed is Owen and Jill Jarrett have different places in wrestling. Owen made his living in the business, Jill was just a behind the scenes force in pushing Jeff. The best way to honor Owen given that was to have a wrestling match. However, if Bret isn’t ready to step in a wrestling ring- it never happens. Like I said everyone grieves differently. Jeff may not have been able to wrestle in a ring. I’m shocked that he was able to, and willing to talk publicly about the whole thing.
Also, while the audience is mostly Internet driven there are some casual fans who support the product that might not have known what was going on. From everything I’ve read- what has kept Jeff going is his wife’s support. Essentially his work family will become his family now. This was basically him drawing that bridge that to this point was invisible. I don’t think he had a motive or anything to make it a rallying cry but it happened as a byproduct of what he said. To me there is a huge difference between doing somethign that you know will elicit a reaction versus doing something because you feel its the right thing to do.
The WWE is way worse with what they are doing now, not becasue of the angle, but becasue of how they are following it up. I don’t have a problem with them “killing” off the McMahon character but the fake sit-downs, and ten bell salutes cheapen what those have meant in wrestling.
Jarrett deserves a lot of the criticism he gets but in this case I think people are just picking on him
June 22nd, 2007 at 2:55 pm
Several WWE wrestlers (you’d have to be known by more then 5 people outside wrestling to be a “superstar” to me) including Tazz and John Cena have been on real radio shows pretending the angle is real and playing up the storylines while hosts giggle and mock them. Of course, this is Vince’s angle, so no one dares back off, and they end up looking like fools on live radio shows. That is now added by this:
–WWE is marketing an “I Did It” T-shirt on Who blew up Vince. (Friday WrestlingObserver.com update).
Okay. Vince wins. I’m backing off Jarrett unless he also markets a T-shirt, and we all know TNA has no idea how to market anything, so Vince is the NEW official Worst Person in the WORLD.