Jeff Jarrett says George Barrios and Michelle Wilson’s exit from WWE in January 2020 was hard to wrap his head around.
Barrios, the former WWE co-president, was the guest on My World with Jeff Jarrett to discuss his book, Sometimes Wrong but Never in Doubt: How a Cuban Kid from Queens Transformed WWE. Jarrett was working for WWE at the time.
“I was in every creative meeting, but he was having me look at live events,” Jarrett said. “When all that went down, obviously I’m not privy to any of what you just kind of shared, but I was just like, in a way, I’m like, wait a minute, now wait a minute, they’re gone. It was just like, it was hard to wrap my head around.”
Jarrett repeated a line Barrios used about the experience.
“Life is a movie, not a photograph. Boy, oh boy, is that accurate in so many things.”
Jarrett said he believes the exit led to McMahon’s next move.
“I’ll say this without really knowing… He saw the stock report. I’m sure he looked himself in private in the mirror, but had that not happened, he wouldn’t have had the clarity to say, you know what, I’m going to do one last big thing. I know what it is, but I need clear thinkers.”
Barrios and Wilson later returned to the WWE board in 2023, the year WWE merged with UFC to form TKO.
Transcription by Global Force Entertainment.