Jeff Jarrett On Christian Leaving TNA In 2008: He Wanted To Return To WWE And Prove Himself

Jeff Jarrett recalls Christian’s departure from TNA.

In early 2009, Christian left TNA and made his return to WWE by debuting on the revived ECW brand. Just weeks later, Christian capitalized big on his momentum and won the ECW World Championship.

Christian’s decision to return to WWE has been questioned in the past, with many fans pointing out that he was quite successful in TNA. Jeff Jarrett believes that Christian wanted to go back to WWE to prove himself. 

On the latest episode of his My World podcast, Jarrett was asked if TNA tried to offer more money before Christian made his choice to leave the company. In response, Jarrett explained that Christian already had made up his mind, as he had something to prove to WWE.

“I think we were, I don’t want to say past that, but he had already kind of made up his mind. I knew and told Dallas and Panda and probably told Dixie, I don’t really think this is anything other than he wants to go back to WWE to prove himself. I think we probably served the role that he wanted us to, he became champion, it was growth in his career. We did him a solid, he did us a solid, but at the end of the day, we can’t outbid WWE really under any circumstance. So, do we really want to put ourselves in a position that we’re overpaying a guy that we know it doesn’t fit our business model. So, those kind of meetings were always hard for, I’ll say for Dixie to absorb that, hey look Dixie, at the end of the day, we have a budget and we have to keep the entire team rolling in the same direction. You can get out ahead of your skis and then all of the sudden, you pay out of wax. Not saying that Christian’s not worth it, but in our system, we could only do so much. I think the details of the meeting — I don’t think there was money that needed to be discussed.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Jarrett explained why he was worried about Yahama Wave Runners instead of WWF’s purchase of WCW. Check out his full comments by clicking here.

If you missed anything from the December 4 edition of AEW Dynamite, catch up on the show by clicking here.

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