Jeff Jarrett says the style of professional wrestling “is not going in reverse”
William Regal, who has been WWE’s vice-president of Global Talent Development in recent years, issued a warning to wrestlers that are taking bumps on their head and neck. During his podcast, Jeff Jarrett was asked about comments from Regal and other wrestlers. Here was Jarrett’s response…
“I think first things first is to take a real step back and look at this form of entertainment. We’re sport and entertainment, but if you look at the game of football, just how that has evolved—from all the different equipment and the headgear and all that kind of stuff, to the West Coast offense, more passing, spreading out, different rules, and you can’t touch a quarterback—just all of that. The sport has evolved.
Basketball used to not have a three-point shot. Now you can take four or five steps and they’re not calling traveling. That’s evolved. The year-round training has evolved. I ran into a buddy recently who’s connected to a firm based here in Nashville. I don’t know if you’re a football fan, but the talk on the street is that Derrick Henry, who’s a Baltimore Raven and former Tennessee Titans running back, spends a quarter of a million dollars a year on his preventive and recuperative healthcare.
So football evolves. Basketball evolves. All sports evolve—anywhere you talk about it. Same with entertainment. It’s just an evolution, guys.
And I say this with respect. I respect anybody that may have this type of opinion. But the industry is not going in reverse. That goes without saying. It’s just not.
The Will Ospreays of today—and he’s told me the story—’I watched the X Division as a kid. I watched the Unbreakable main event: Chris Daniels, Samoa Joe, AJ Styles. And I said, I want to be that guy.’
There are kids today watching Will and Ricochet and fill in anybody at WWE or New Japan or All Japan or CMLL or whatever it is, and those kids are saying, ‘That’s who I want to emulate.’
Athletes today—the evolution—they’re bigger, faster, stronger. Period. Game, set, match. The style of wrestling is not going in reverse, in my opinion.”