On the latest episode of Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Jeff Jarrett shared how a run in Mexico with AAA founder Antonio Peña led him to bring the six-sided ring back to TNA, seeing it as a way to stand out during the rise of MMA. You can check out his comments below:
“Antonio Peña was a big Double J fan, God rest his soul. We’d done a talent exchange in the Asylum days, and he came up and laid it out: Jeff, I want to bring you to Mexico as the antagonist, a big heel, the American businessman. He wanted to portray me as not only the king-of-the-mountain wrestler but also an American businessman coming to take over. He laid the ground floor, and I became red hot as a heel down there. I can remember showing up for one of the big shows, and there sets the six-sided ring. This is where timing in our industry sounds cliche, but timing is everything. I knew we were in a transition period, about to go to Orlando, and the MMA world was now really coming on the scene, red hot. The Octagon was this cool-looking vibe, these warriors getting in there and battling it out, and I just looked at the six-sided ring and said, okay, this is going to differentiate us from WWE, from every other promotion, certainly from WCW back in the day. So when I looked at it from that perspective, I immediately knew I’m taking this back home.”
