Before his return to AEW TV this year, there was wild speculation that Chris Jericho could be on TNA. However, the 55-year-old revealed prior talks with the company during what arguably was the promotion’s peak.
Dark Side of the Ring co-creator Evan Husney held a premiere of Season 7 in New York City on Monday and had Jeff Jarrett, Karen Jarrett, and Jericho on as guests for a Q&A. A fan asked Jericho if he had ever had talks with TNA during his career. He recalled a meeting with Jeff Jarrett and Dixie Carter around 2007.
We met at the Cheescake (Factory) in Tampa, Florida. I was talking about going back to WWE. I’d been off for a couple of years. I think this was like 2007, and this was at a time when Vince (McMahon) had the magic number of a salary. He had the magic number. I won’t say what that is. It’s the highest that you could get, no matter who you were. It didn’t matter, because with Vince at the time, if you headlined, if you were a main event, you would get paid more money, etc., etc. But the base minimum was this certain number, and he wasn’t coming close to it. I was like, well, let me see if I can arrange a meeting with Double J, and have a conversation with TNA and see what happens. My cousin was in town at the time, and I said, “Just go sit over there and just comment on what you see, and here’s an email address of someone in the wrestling dirt sheet area that might be interested in Chris Jericho.” I’m not saying I wasn’t entertaining the idea, but two days later, guess who came back with the magic number?
Jericho returned to WWE in 2007 after a two-year hiatus.
Jarrett admitted he didn’t have the same recall as Jericho, but he said he knew as a talent that Jericho probably was playing two sides, which Carter might not have known. He then told a quick story about how Carter met with Goldberg and how excited she was about the potential of him signing, not realizing that Goldberg also likely used TNA as leverage.
Husney previewed Season 7 of Dark Side of the Ring, which premieres Tuesday night, with POST Wrestling’s John Pollock, who will do weekly reviews of the series with Wai Ting at POSTWrestlingCafe.com beginning Wednesday.
