12 Things We Learned From Dark Side Of The Ring: TNA (Parts 1 & 2)

12. What Jeff Thought At The Last WCW Nitro

WCW always finds a way to sneak in there somewhere.

The first 20 minutes or so of the opening episode detailed Jeff Jarrett's upbringing in the industry, WWF runs and time in Atlanta. Then, after bashing viewers over the head with enough skimmed context to fill several books, VICE's doc zoomed in on the final episode of Monday Nitro in March 2001.

Jeff's head was swimming when he was driving home after it. Deep down, he knew he didn’t have a future in the WWF after Vince McMahon publicly fired him on air during the simulcast with Raw, but Jarrett also figured that Vince buying his own competition could be problematic for the federation longer term. It’d also leave a sizeable gap in the industry that had to be filled by…something.

Enter TNA. It's fascinating to think that Jeff was already starting to visualise the company at that point in March '01. He didn't have a clue what it'd look like really, but he did want to maintain some of the southern elements the NWA/WCW had been known for, and he thought teaming up with the NASCAR crowd would bag him some easy brownie points locally too.

That was about it. Jarrett didn't even have a name for his new venture yet. Hell, it wasn't even a new venture at that point - he was a wrestler battling an uncertain future. Whilst others looked forward to seeing what they could achieve on Raw and SmackDown, Jeff was scheming a way to prolong his career in the biz.