Although there have been rumors and rumblings floating around for a while, TNA has made the official announcement that they have signed former NXT Women's Tag Team Champion Shotzi Blackheart.

🔗 TNA Wrestling Has Signed Shotzi Blackheart

I'm just not buying him as a face. Everything about him screams heel imo. His personality, his move set, his demeanor in the ring. I think it would be a great move to turn him heel.

World champ - ali. I think him vs. leon will be great. But also, ali has been one of the absolute mvps, and i think he could put on some great matches for the title. I think elijah will dethrone him after they renew there past rivalry too.

X-division - i think kc would be a good pick, but i feel like Giovanni is getting it. They have been building him up more. Unless he goes for the international. But i would love Kc to finally get it.

International - the big man! Bill bill. The dude has been playing bodyguard long enough, i think he's been putting in great work every time he stepped in the ring and will be a good champ. I also want ricky to win it and i think bill will be a fun win for him.

Tag champs - the good hands. Yes, i know order 4 basically (only ali and jason are solo) split now, but to be fair, they never actually betrayed each other, and i can see them possibly reuniting down the line and finally getting the tag titles... BUT i do think kaz and avery will successfully challenge for the titles first. And they'll beat them down the line. Syx i don't see as a team that cares about the titles currently, or the rightous.

Knockouts - i think cora will get it. Honestly i enjoy seeing her and indi grow in tna. Always was one of my favorite things about tna, getting to see talent grow into there own. I really hope they both can put on a good match if that's the direction.

Knockouts tv title - i honestly believe we're getting elegance vs. elegance, and maggie is losing or a triple threat where they lose and possibly split... i want gabby or tasha to win, tho. Or harley.

K.o. tag title? Yeah, no one beating them...

1.second version(2007-2013)

2.eighth version(2024-2026+)

3.first version(2002-2007)

4.sixth/seventh version(2018-2023)

5.third/fourth version(2013-2017)

6.fifth version(2017-2018)

He's his little brother FFS!

Anyone know the name of the song?

So, this all started when I went to respond to this comment by u/Ok-Engineer2768

Basically, it’s the usual question of “why did Jeff Jarrett keep booking himself to win the TNA World Title early on in the promotion?”. Now, I’m a newer wrestling fan, so this isn’t in my memory banks. I never watched TNA in my early years; I came into wrestling in 2024 due to the ‘Finish the Story’ angle and thinking Rhea Ripley is awesome (it’s not a crush, honestly). I have vague memories of John Cena lunch boxes here in the UK when I was about 9 in 2006, and I always thought Undertaker and Sting looked cool. Basically all this to say, this wasn’t my personal history, but in the past 2 years, I’ve gotten really into the lore and history of wrestling, with podcasts and recaps of old shows playing a lot in the background as I do things. I listen to CVV when someone I’m interested in goes on, and even some of WWE’s ad-filled podcasts at times.

So, when I read this question this time, I realised that I had, in fact, heard an explanation about this. In fact, I’d heard this very recently, from the mouth of AJ Styles in an incredibly off-handed comment very early during his latest appearance on What Do You Want To Talk About? With Cody Rhodes. After Cody’s intro reading out all AJ Styles’ accolades (that WWE recognises), AJ remarks,

“I think back to the TNA days when you talk about the X Division title. The reason why I had it so many times, because we kept going to different stations, or different programs, and they're like, ‘Okay, reset. Jeff Jarrett, you're now the Heavyweight Champion. AJ Styles, X Division Champion. All right, here we go."

-AJ Styles talks Roman Reigns, Bullet Club & son’s wrestling journey | What Do You Wanna Talk About - 1:44

Hearing that, I then had another bell ring in my head, something back from a few months ago. Jeff Jarrett himself on Chris Van Vliet’s podcast. And so I decided to go a little crazy here and did some research; looked back over those recent interviews, and while I don't think it 100% explains things, I think I've figured out why Jeff Jarrett has 6 title reigns with the NWA Heavyweight Championship between 2002 and 2006.

This is not the story of how those title reigns happened, booking-wise; make up your own mind if you like it or not. This is my personal deep dive (article?) into whether the reasons that AJ Styles and Jeff Jarrett have both given in the past year line up with the actual history of Jeff Jarrett’s 6 title reigns.

First of all, we need to know what Jeff Jarrett claimed were the reasons for the title always coming back to himself. In his interview with CVV, Jarrett claims he made decisions based on business and not ego, as it was his own money at stake in the early days,

“when I had to really have that conversation [...] I would look at somebody and say, ‘Do you really think that Jeff Jarrett, you know, that has the most money at risk, is going to make a decision based on ego rather than dollars and cents? My money's at stake. I'm the single largest shareholder of the promotion. I have a fiduciary responsibility to my investors.’ It was such… the nonsense and the thought process that he's making himself champion for glory is laughable.”

-Jeff Jarrett On Creating TNA, Being Fired From WWE, Chyna, AEW, Taylor Swift Babysitting His Kids - 8:39

Beyond that, Jarrett goes on to say that his booking philosophy is that he likes the babyface chase, not the babyface champion, as was WWE’s model (at the time). In addition, he makes the claim that he believed he was the only person he could trust who wasn’t going to leave TNA,

“the only person that I can guarantee will not walk out and go to the WWE is myself. And I'm also, you know, my philosophy in booking is the babyface chase. [...] WWE has always had, for the most part, that babyface champion - a touring champion that's a babyface. I didn't necessarily think that would fit our model. [...] I wanted a heel champion where the babyfaces were chasing, namely an AJ Styles, as we were developing talent.”

-Jeff Jarrett On Creating TNA, Being Fired From WWE, Chyna, AEW, Taylor Swift Babysitting His Kids - 10:40

Just for now, let’s take Jarrett and Styles at their word. I understand that this is a carny business, and I understand that Jarrett’s history with money and the truth has been somewhat shaky at best, but for now, let's take what’s been said and actually compare it to the history of Jeff Jarrett and that title belt. Could these be excuses given to AJ by Jarrett in those early years?

I'm not looking at the kayfabe stories going on here, just the timing of Jeff Jarrett's title reigns and trying to make sense of them given both Jarrett's and AJ's comments on the situation:

• 20th November 2002, TNA Weekly PPV #22 - Jeff Jarrett beats Ron Killings to win the NWA World Heavyweight Title

• 27th November 2002, TNA Xplosion #9 - recapping/airing Jeff Jarrett's win the previous week, and is the first episode of TNA TV to get syndication

Jarrett knows that one of the first matches/visuals people will see of TNA will be him (very much the heel) beating Ron Killings for the NWA World Heavyweight Title, and hopes it will engage people wanting someone to beat him for the title.

(Jeff Jarret drops the belt to AJ Styles on 11th June 2002, who holds it for 133 Days)

• Mid-2003 - Sting signs a contract to wrestle 4 matches with NWA/TNA

• 22nd October 2003, TNA Weekly PPV #68 - Jeff Jarrett beats AJ Styles to win the NWA World Heavyweight Title

• 5th November 2003, TNA Weekly PPV #70 - Jeff Jarrett wrestles Sting for the NWA World Heavyweight Title (Sting wins via DQ)

• 12th November 2003, TNA Weekly PPV #71 - AJ Styles and Sting team against Jeff Jarrett and Lex Luger, with AJ and Sting winning

• 17th December 2003, TNA Weekly PPV #76 - Jeff Jarrett loses against Sting in a non-title match

TNA sign one of the biggest babyfaces from WCW for a few matches over the course of the second half of the year in 2003. It makes sense they want Sting in a main event position, but not against another babyface, so Jarrett takes the belt and faces Sting himself, having Sting team with AJ Styles in hopes of getting AJ even more over getting ‘the Sting rub’. Sting's last contracted match (for now) is against Jarrett, and I bet if Sting had re-signed with TNA at this point, then it would've been a title match that he’d win.

(Jeff Jarret drops the belt to AJ Styles on 21st April 2004, who holds it for 28 Days)

• 2nd June 2004, TNA Weekly PPV #100 - Jeff Jarrett wins the NWA World Heavyweight Title in a King of the Mountain match against AJ Styles, Chris Harris, Rave and Ron Killings

• 4th June 2004, TNA Impact #1 - First episode of Impact on Fox Sports Net, recapping Jarrett's winning of the NWA World Heavyweight Title, and highlighting Jarrett as the champion (setting him up in a promo against Dusty Rhodes)

With a new program and a new channel, it seemed Jeff Jarrett wanted to go back to that status quo of him holding the title, and having faces like AJ Styles chase him, with the first being the old favourite of Dusty Rhodes. It's a new network and a new program for people to watch; while it's obviously a continuation of what came before, it's still something of a new era, so Jarrett goes back to what he believes is right: belt on him and the babyface chase.

(Jeff Jarrett would drop the belt AJ Styles on 15th May 2005, who holds it for 35 Days)

• 15th September 2005, BCW International Incident - Jeff Jarrett beats Raven in a Raven's Rules match for the NWA World Heavyweight Title

• 1st October 2005, TNA Impact #65 - TNA's debut episode of Impact on Spike TV, the show recaps Jeff Jarrett winning the NWA World Heavyweight Title from Raven, the episode ending with a promo segment where Team 3D and Kevin Nash both debut(?) to oppose Jarrett.

Again, TNA moves to a new network (this time seemingly for a long time), and Jeff Jarrett regains the belt in order to restart that storyline of the heel holding the title and the faces chasing. This time, Jarrett seemed more aware of the hatred towards him for holding the belt, and basically decided that, along with it being something of a fresh start on a new network, it would be a good time to have all the new debuts basically jump him. So you get Bubba and Devon as the big pops, followed by Kevin Nash doing the same thing.

• Sometime in October/early November 2005 - Christian Cage is offered a new WWE contract, but declines and chooses to allow the contract to expire. He then decided to sign a contract with TNA.

• 23rd October 2005, TNA Bound For Glory - Rhino beats Jeff Jarrett for the NWA World Heavyweight Title

• 25th October 2005, TNA Impact #70 - Jeff Jarrett beats Rhino for the NWA World Heavyweight Title

• 13th November 2005, TNA Genesis - Christian Cage debuts and declares he's going after Jeff Jarrett and the NWA World Heavyweight Title

Another example of Jeff Jarrett having the belt and being the big heel that the newly debuted star, this time Christian, is going to chase. Now, why did he drop the title for 2 days to Rhino? I have no idea, but clearly around that time Cage signed with the company, or at least expressed strong interest, and perhaps Jarrett pivoted whatever the Rhino storyline was going to be to get the belt back on himself ASAP so he could play the heel champion to get another guy over? Perhaps Jarrett himself wanted to be the guy that went after Christian Cage in the main events?

(Jeff Jarrett would drop the belt Christian Cage on 12th February 2006, who holds it for 126 Days)

This next one is weird, and I can’t really lay it all out as neatly as some of the other stories here (it’s almost as if booking by Vince Russo doesn’t make sense). Basically, this is where Sting comes back into the picture. Jeff Jarrett would regain the title from Christian for a final reign around 18th/19th June 2006 at Slammiversary. Jarrett holds the title for 125 days, then would actually drop the belt to Sting on 22nd October 2006 at Bound For Glory.

So, looking at this, what can we see when it comes to what Styles and Jarrett have recently said? Looking at it, it does seem that Styles is telling the truth about those early days. Whenever TNA would have a new program start, or when they would move to a new station, there was a big reset of the story back to Jarrett holding the belt. However, the other big factor seems to be that if a popular, outside babyface came into the company, then Jarrett would suddenly regain that belt, putting it on himself as the TNA heel to feud with this babyface. With that being said, it did seem like Jarrett would put over those babyfaces… eventually.

Jarrett dropped the belt to AJ Styles 3 times, once to Christian Cage, and once to Sting. The only anomaly seems to be that of Rhino, which doesn’t make any sense at all.

Now, this might seem like I’m praising Jeff Jarrett here, or even worse, you might think I’m accusing him of telling the truth. I understand that Jarrett is a carny, a third-generation guy in the wrestling business, a business that is built on swindling and lying - but in this instance, I do think he’s mostly telling the truth. Just looking at the booking, it’s clear that this idea of “heel holds the belt, the babyfaces chase” rings true, and Jarrett always dropped the belt to a babyface.

Now, where I think the lies and ego come in is that Jarrett himself believes he's the only one good enough to play the heel. I understand his comments about being the only person he trusts, but at the same time, he held the belt 6 times in the course of 4 years. Perhaps he was the only one he trusted, but that’s a lot of trust you’re putting in yourself to literally be the best heel in the game, and to some extent, I think Jarrett did achieve that, but in other ways, I think he leaned into a repetitive book philosophy and played the game far too close to his own chest, and flew too close to the sun.

The booking strategy led to Jeff Jarrett playing solitaire with his own cards, returning back and back again to the same point, each time getting less and less effective.

After putting Sting over at Bound for Glory 2006, Jeff Jarrett never held the NWA World Heavyweight Title again, nor would he ever hold the TNA World Championship again. The only other TNA championship Jarrett would hold was the TNA King of the Mountain championship for 29 days in 2015.

What an achievement.

At Awesome Championship Wrestling (ACW) Mischief Night 2, Max Caster once again addressed what happened at Bound For Glory, and announced he will be stepping away from in ring action for an extended period of time

Caster says he will be going to therapy when he goes home, and wants to make himself right so the next time he steps into a ring it will feel right again.

“I’m gonna go home. I’m gonna go to therapy. I’m gonna get it right so that the next time I’m in the ring, it feels like I’m at home.”

Was this week on Impact / BFG induction the first time we’ve ever had Red cut a promo in TNA? Im referring to him actually talking on the mic rather than hearing him speak in vignettes or taped segments. Even still; I don’t recall hearing his voice before that, because I never knew he had an accent.

This week, Heather by Elegance faces Alex Gracia in the exclusive match, and From the Vault features the new X-Division Champion and TNA Hall of Famer Amazing Red, with Red vs AJ Styles from NWA-TNA PPV #25 (2002), and Red vs Kid Kash from NWA-TNA PPV #43 (2003)!

I’m watching this week’s impact and love the Hardy’s goat helmets but who do you think bought the 3D printer to make these? It’s gotta be Matt, right? What other things is he printing that are going to start showing up Thursday nights on AMC?

The number is 214k and 0.03 in 18-49 demo

Again pretty good going against NFL and MLB playoffs. If it wasn't for the NFL which hurts wrestling at least 30 percent, they would be over 250k. It's also hard to get ratings without paying for them so it takes a long time to get them.

WE ARE GONNA BE EATING GOOD Y'ALL I can't wait for this match

• BFG Fallout
• The Hardys 35th Year Legacy Night
• Matt & Jeff are the matchmakers