A lot of people in the company are outwardly rooting for Jeff Jarrett, and not just because of the belief it opens up more jobs in the business, but as a safety net. With every week that goes by without an announcement by Spike and TNA of a new deal (the current contract expires in the fall), concern grows. Morale was high about a month ago because of the great crowd response they got on the U.K. tour, and the feeling they were part of a major league promotion. But then when Lockdown, the companys second biggest show of the year, couldnt draw at all in Miami, the mood changed. For the most part, the faith in creative, Dixie Carter and John Gaburick is low right now. Theres the belief that Vince Russo is involved, and that its being kept a secret, which doesnt help morale and leaves people confused since Russo hasnt led to any success in wrestling since he left Vince McMahon nearly 15 years ago. Just the entire handling of The Wolves has been brought up, as they were brought in by David Lagana for a big push, and theyve already had a storyline that made Richards look bad as a face, had a one week title run that came and went with no fanfare and only made the belts look unimportant. Regarding Jarrett, and this is just dressing room talk and belief of things going around since nothing will be announced until 4/7, and even those friends with Jarrett say they havent been told much of anything. The belief is it will start in January and CMT would be the home, but were told more than one station is being talked with and nothing is definitive just yet. The CMT rumors are because Toby Keith is involved and hes got close connections with that network, and that speculation with Keith involved led to CMT. It was always thought that CMT and Spike would be the most logical homes, but Spike is not in the picture. The rumors in TNA is that Kurt Angle could be the lead star of the new group, which makes sense. Angle and Jarrett, despite major obvious issues in the past, are on good terms now. Angles contract expires in the fall. Given what happened with Styles, Sting and Hogan, who, along with Angle, were TNAs highest paid guys, when their deals were up, has to make Angles staying at anything close to the his old deal as something very much uncertain. Perhaps TNA would keep Angle at his current rate to keep him from leaving. If anything, if they wanted to keep him, they should be negotiating a new deal now. There is a lot of bad blood with Angle from the WWE side. Granted, that was also eight years ago and since then, almost every major name has gone back that was a persona non grata in the past. Angle would also be 46 by the time the group would most likely launch, and if anything, physically with all his injuries, hes not a young 46 by any means. The idea is to introduce a lot of new faces to the U.S. national scene. Jarrett has been scouting talent, as hes working indie shows every weekend scouting, as well as looking at videos of people recommended to him, including international talent in Mexico and a lot of TNA people have sent word of being interested. Jarrett was also the one who put together the Wrestle-1 and TNA deal.
There is also talk that the promotion would open with a Jeff & Karen Jarrett reality show that would build to the launch of the TV show and promotion a few months later.