The Monumental Podcast

If you thought Jerry Jarrett had lost his mind before you haven't seen anything yet! In this episode Hulkamatt fights illness to hear the story of Jerry Jarrett falling into a completely delusional state as TNA collapses around him.

Sources:
Bryan Alvarez, various August 2002 Figure 4 Weekly Issues
Jerry Jarrett: The Story of the Development of the NWA TNA, 2004.

We continue with TNA's financial difficulties as they sue Jay Hassman and Len Sabal for stuff! This episode might not be good to listen to with headphones as there is the loud reading of all capital lettered text.

Len Sabal, "Defendent in NWA TNA Lawsuit Issues Statement to Pro Wrestling Torch" 8/5/02, accessed 2/15/18 https://www.pwtorch.com/artman2/publish/TNA_News_1/article_84.shtml

The Tennessean 8/8/02

Bryan Alvarez, Figure 4 Weekly 8/19/02

Jerry Jarrett, The Story of the Development of the NWATNA, 2004

PRNewswire: J. Sports & Entertainment LLC Files Lawsuit Against Marketing & PPV Consultant; Consultant Did Not Disclose Relationship With World Wrestling Entertainment. 7/30/02

We step away from the history of TNA for some breaking news: Jeff Jarrett is going into the WWE Hall of Fame! We talk about his Hall of Fame worthiness, how he's managed to screw up everything he's ever been apart of, why we are and aren't surprised he's going in and more! This is episode 19 because Episode 18 was already recorded but won't be up until mid week.

We're back and so is Vince Russo! Following the first TNA PPV Jerry Jarrett discovered writing a wrestling show is lots of work! Who better to hire to help him out than Russo? Find out about all of the internet feuds this kicks off and how TNA discovers the shocking reality that no one is buying their PPVs.

At the end we have a quick tribute to Skinty McEdger. This was supposed to go before the show but it didn't seem right, so we added it to the end of this episode. Given we had to abort recording yesterday due to being down in the dumps about his death, it wouldn't be right to dump that on our listeners right out of the gate. Thank you to all who listen.

Sources:
Len Sabal, "Defendent in NWA TNA Lawsuit Issues Statement to Pro Wrestling Torch" 8/5/02, accessed 2/15/18 https://www.pwtorch.com/artman2/publish/TNA_News_1/article_84.shtml

The Tennessean 8/8/02

Bryan Alvarez, Figure 4 Weekly 8/5/02

Jerry Jarrett, The Story of the Development of the NWATNA, 2004

PRNewswire: J. Sports & Entertainment LLC Files Lawsuit Against Marketing & PPV Consultant; Consultant Did Not Disclose Relationship With World Wrestling Entertainment. 7/30/02

Dave Meltzer, Gigantic Wednesday Update, The LAW accessed 2/14/18 via https://web.archive.org/web/20020714165428/http://www.liveaudiowrestling.com/wo/news/headlines/default.asp?aID=5340

PW Torch, "TNA and Jay Hassman Settle Lawsuit" 7/16/02 accessed 2/14/18 https://www.pwtorch.com/artman2/publish/TNA_News_1/article_4541.shtml

PW Torch, "Hassman Makes First Comments in Response to TNA Lawsuit" 8/19/02 accessed 2/12/18 https://www.pwtorch.com/artman2/publish/TNA_News_1/article_280.shtml
Meltzer on Russo, WrestlingClassics Accessed on 2/15/18 http://wrestlingclassics.com/cgi-bin/.ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=print_topic;f=9;t=049938

Bob Ryder "A History of Ruthless Aggression" 1wrestling.com 7/27/02, Accessed 2/17/18 http://www.1wrestling.com/columns/frombob/default.asp?B1=View+Column

It's the first NWA TNA Pay Per View! Who will be crowned NWA Champion? Will there be men dressed like penises? Penii? Join us as we rate this PPV according to Jerry Jarrett's own principles for wrestling booking!

Sources:

The PPV and Christian York's Wikipedia entry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_York

The history of TNA cannot be told without the legendary man who broke the ring on the first show: Cheex! Learn the story of Mike Staples AKA Rolling Thunder, who he was, what happened to him and more. We delve into what we know, what we think we know and personal tragedy he overcame.

Sources:

Taylor Loyal "Wrestler Prepares to Throw in the Towel" The Roanoke Times 6/1/01
Reprinted: https://classicwrestlingarticles.wordpress.com/2014/05/26/wrestler-prepares-to-throw-in-the-towel/

Jen McCaffery "Man Wrestles Recovery, Bills" The Roanoke Times, 2/7/06 http://www.roanoke.com/webmin/news/man-wrestles-recovery-bills/article_7dafb990-8ed1-510e-a131-ea794a53f146.html

Mid Atlantic Gateway " With Great Honor Brad Anderson talks about his mentor Nelson Royal" http://www.midatlanticwrestling.net/andersons/sections/bradanderson/nelsonroyal/nroyal_interview.htm
Cagematch.net Mike Staples profile https://www.cagematch.net/?id=2&nr=4602&page=4

Before we get to the first PPV let's go into more detail on the creative team. Who is making the decisions? Who is writing the shows? Why was TNA's creative team structured the way it is going into the first show! I apologize for a bit of rough audio near the end.

Sources:
Jerry Jarrett: The Story of the Development of the NWA TNA (2003)
Jerry Jarrett: Open Letter to Fans From Jerry Jarrett Accessed 2/2/2018, http://web.archive.org/web/20020602023007/http://www.nwatna.com:80/news/05/19/JarrettLtr.shtml
Bryan Alvarez: Figure Four Weekly 7/1/02
Wade Keller: Pro Wrestling Torch 5/25/02
Bryan Alvarez: Figure Four Daily 2/16/10

Before TNA there was World Wrestling All Stars! WWA was one of several post WCW upstarts hoping to capture the WCW fans who wouldn't watch the WWF. Let's talk about how similar they were to TNA and the warning signs that TNA ignored.

Sources:

ME WATCHING THESE BAD SHOWS
Kevin Eck "Going global: the WWA is looking to find its niche by spanning the world, but will American audiences buy into the "Ice Capades" concept?" Wrestling Digest (2002)
Jerry Jarrett "The Story of the Development of the NWA TNA" (2002)
Multiple issues of Bryan Alvarez's Figure 4 Weekly from August 2001-June 2002, www.f4wonline.com

Join us as we continue our journey into the history of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling! Today we delve into how Jeff and Jerry Jarrett planned to finance NWA TNA. What was their business plan? Where'd they get the money? What was the outlook for success!

Sources:

10/29/98 Savannah Morning News
Eric Bischoff: Controversy Creates Cash
Dave Meltzer: 11/9/98 Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Jerry Jarrett: The History of the NWA TNA

Join Hulkamatt and I for a deep dive into the history of TNA! In this episode we will take a look at how TNA started, who the main players were, what the nature of the project was and how the promotion was framed. We're going to give you more TNA history than you can handle and this serves as the introduction.

Sources: Ed Ferrera: FROM THE DESK OF ED FERRARA, MAY 30
Jerry Jarrett: The Story of the Development of the NWATNA: A New Concept in Pay-Per-View Programming (2004)
Bryan Alvarez: Figure 4 Weekly issues 3/11/02 and 4/15/02