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Anthem Media has come to terms for Jeff Jarrett to return to TNA, PWInsider.com has confirmed. We are told that Jarrett will be at this week's TV tapings, as will his wife Karen Jarrett.
Jarrett, one of the original founders of TNA alongside his father Jerry Jarrett, resigned his position from the company in December 2013. At the time, Jarrett held the position of Executive Vice President of Development/Original Programming and his departure was seen as a huge shock at the time.
Jarrett would go on to form Global Force Wrestling while still a minority shareholder in TNA, which was seen as an embarrassment to TNA at the time. There was such an anger about that from Carter's end, that, at the time TNA brought back the six-sided ring, numerous sources told PWInsider.com that it was done because Carter felt Jarrett would do it within GFW, so it was TNA's way of cutting him off at the pass.
As it turned out, Jarrett was brought back in 2014 as part of a deal that saw him inducted into the TNA Hall of Fame as part of a deal that saw Dixie Carter acquire his shares in the company, giving her, at the time 100% ownership. At the time, though, it was a deal that was done so that she had complete control and could attempt to find new partners without Jarrett's interference, something that led TNA down the road to Aroluxe, Billy Corgan and finally Anthem Media.
Only, Anthem decided to turn to Jarrett.
The re-emergence of Jarrett was pointed to this morning as a sign that Carter was completely out in terms of decision-making as the pair had at times, split the loyalty within the company between their two sides and had a number of falling outs over the years, including a time period where Jarrett took time off from the company, during which Carter let go Jarrett's entire support staff at the time, including Dutch Mantel, Savio Vega, Jim Cornette and Brian "Roaddogg" James.
"There is no way [Carter] would have allowed Jeff to return," said one source who spoke under condition of anonymity. "This is proof that she is done."
The return of Jarrett makes him something of a Steve Jobs figure within TNA as like Jobs, Jarrett was forced out/walked away from something he created, only for that same entity to reach out seeking his assistance in righting it. Anthem reached out to Jarrett last month and held a number of meetings with him as they did their due diligence prior to officially announcing they had acquired Impact Wrestling yesterday.
We are also told that Dutch Mantel is already in Orlando and is expected at this week's tapings, which certainly lends credence to the idea that Jarrett will be helping behind the scenes in terms of creative as Mantel was always one of his top lieutenants in that regard in the past.
We are also told that this does not mean the end of Jarrett's Global Force Wrestling promotion, which has been working to establish a TV deal in conjunction with "American Ninja Warrior" production company A. Smith & Co. Productions in Los Angeles.
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