Jeff Jarrett on the Origin of the Term “Slapnutz”, Possibly Returning to the Ring, Importance of India for Impact

Impact Wrestling’s Jeff Jarrett recently spoke with Sportskeeda and below are some interview highlights:

How did the term “Slapnutz” originate:

“Oh Slapnutz. That is a legendary term that, to this day, continues to garner quite a bit of interest. Whether it’s Beetlejuice or Mae Young and Moolah, they’ve all been smacked on the head with a guitar and called a Slapnut. I remember in the early days of Slapnutz, we were in Detroit, Michigan and I was working for WCW where I was pulled into a small room, and Standards and Practices looked at me and said, ‘Jeff, we want you to explain something to us. We really want to know what’s going on, because we have been called from the North Tower of the Turner Organization and asked what actually is a Slapnut, We feel this needs to be censored.’ So, Slapnutz was derived from my grandmother Christine Jarrett and she used to call people slappy. A slappy was someone who slapped their gums together. She would say, they know more and more about less and less every day. Let that sink in. So you put that in 1999 language and you turn it into a slapnut, with a Z. It sort of just took off, sold a lot of t-shirts, had a lot of fun. It’s funny. Here we are in 2017, in Mumbai, India and you’re asking me about Slapnutz. You’re the crazy one (Laughs).”

Getting in the ring again:

“I’ve got my promoter cap on. Firstly, my wife doesn’t want me in the ring. Karen is like- ‘Stay out of it’. Obviously, being inside the ring and wrestling is my first love. It’s something I grew up dreaming about and then [I] got to step into the ring with all the greats. Before I was a wrestler, and certainly before I was a promoter, I was a wrestling fan. It’s something I still love. You know, I’m just past my 31st year in the business…that does make me feel old…but no, my in-ring days are far behind me. [However, you can] Never say never in this business.”

India’s importance as a market for Impact:

“It’s very important. You know, we are here at The Westin, minutes away from Film City (site of the Impact Zone in Mumbai) and this isn’t my first time in India producing professional wrestling but it’s very obvious that over the last 120 days, Anthem Wrestling and the new ownership and the new regime…it’s a rebuilding of the brand and it’s a priority. With the United States, it’s our home base but with the United Kingdom and India, both of them are our top priorities. Impact coming to India and producing content has been talked about for a long time and here we are. My family’s been in the business for over 70 years, so to do something that is a first is very hard. And so producing Impact on Indian soil is truly history making. It’s something that no one takes lightly. We are very, very excited, from the production to the administration to the talent, every facet of our organisation is truly excited. How ironic is it that we’re producing 4 episodes of Impact that lead up to our fifteen year anniversary. In the States, Slammiversary coming up on July 2nd, is a pay-per-view. Around the world, it is premium content. We’ve been here two days and couldn’t be more excited.”