"This hits on another level": Pro wrestling legend Jeff Jarrett on WrestleQuest, guest characters, his career, and more (Exclusive)
Ahead of WrestleQuest’s launch, I sat down for an exclusive interview with Jeff Jarrett. Truly one of the legends of the wrestling business over the past forty years, his career and name speaks for itself. I also spoke to two of the developers of the game, Zack Manko and James Deighan. Genuinely, this game is one I’ve been the most excited about for 2023, so it was a pleasure to speak with Jeff about the game, what makes it special, and his career.
Whether you’re a fan of professional wrestling or not, WrestleQuest is an incredible turn-based RPG, and players can tell the developers love the Sport of Kings. We had 20 minutes to chat with Jeff Jarrett, and here’s what he had to say about the game, and himself. To give fans an idea of what they're in for, The Last Outlaw discussed how long he's been involved in video games as it pertains to wrestling:
"You know, I've been in wrestling games, simulation games in the nineties, and obviously in the 2000s. Was integrally involved with Midway and the development of that game and the marketing, the promotion, the story and creativity, and all that. But this hits on another level."
Jeff Jarrett, Zack, and James discuss what makes WrestleQuest special
Q. I have to say, I was very excited to play and review WrestleQuest. How does it feel to have your name and other great wrestlers immortalized in this form?
Jeff Jarrett: You know, Jason, I've been doing a lot of press on this and there's something that's unique about pixel art. You know, I've been in wrestling games, simulation games in the nineties, and obviously in the 2000s. Was integrally involved with Midway and the development of that game and the marketing, the promotion, the story, creativity, and all that.
But this hits on another level. When you look at the real legends if you will - the real iconic superstars - Andre the Giant, The Road Warriors, “Macho Man” Randy Savage. Gosh, the list goes on and on. Rocky Johnson, Jake the Snake, Coco B-Ware. It’s just on a whole other level.
I don't really fit in that category if you will, but I'm lucky to be alongside them. But when you see the statues and you see the art and you see it all come to life in the game, it really puts to me right out of the gate, it puts WrestleQuest just on a different level of gaming.
Jason: Oh, absolutely. Though I think I would put you in that group too. Genuinely, you're one of my favorite wrestlers. You tagged with my favorite wrestler of all time, Owen Hart, so you're definitely in that group.
Jeff Jarrett: Well, I just hadn't hit you with a guitar yet, so I guess, yeah, you can still call me one of your favorites. That'll change soon enough Jason.
Q. In the early moments of WrestleQuest, you show up in the podcast booth with Conrad Thompson alongside Jake “The Snake” Roberts and DDP. Could fans wind up fighting against The Last Outlaw in the game, or is that a spoiler?
Jeff Jarrett: Look, you know, in wrestling you always have to have intrigue, okay - Suspense and a story. I'll let you and Randy Santos find out soon enough.
Jason: Oh, I loved the Mucacho Man character. That's such a good gimmick.
Jeff Jarrett: Gimmick? Oh, it's not a gimmick. It's a rags-to-riches story that everybody can relate to. And he works his way up through the wrestling world. And that's what's, again, super cool about the game. There are so many facets, but the authenticity of the storytelling really resonates. And you gotta tip your cap to Zack in so many ways.
Q. How much input did you have when it came to how you were portrayed in the game? Did you get to offer any insight as to the things that you and the other wrestlers might say or do in particular situations?
Jeff Jarrett: Look, my title, and it's real fancy Jason, and I hope you like it as much as I do, but it's executive producer of wrestling.
But at the end of the day, the buck stops with Zack and James. You know, I'm a sounding board. It is no secret, certainly to the Mega Cat team, but you know, I'm not a hardcore gamer. I've got five kids, I'll call them gamers, but I'm maybe the wrestling guidepost.
But as far as drilling down right into the game, Zack drove the ship and boy did he. And he really wove all the different characters, the stories and, you know, the cities and the iconic towns, if you will. But, that's more of a Zack decision.
Q. On that note, Zack I noticed you have some memorabilia in the background. What sort of research did you put into the game when you were working on it?
Zack: It was, it was definitely a crash course full speed ahead into diving into the world and especially considering that we have, you know, the legends in the game and they appear as characters that you interact with.
So getting to write in their voice was a blast because for research I just watched promo after promo after promo, which, you know, if you're tired, you just put on a Macho Man promo and you're ready to go after that. Though it was a blast. You know, promos themselves I think are like a great door into the wrestling world if you are like outside of it, because there's so much there that encapsulates what wrestling is all about.
You know, the larger-than-life characters right there, the storytelling that's involved in them, and then the sort of conflicts that come from them or that are, you know, hyped up during a promo. But all of it, I mean, watching a promo really is like, it's wrestling in a nutshell almost as far as the storytelling and the characters are concerned.
Q. There's also some very interesting guest characters, you know, people that are not wrestlers who have been affiliated with wrestling. What was it like to get people like Mega Ran, OSW Review, Matt McMuscles, and other of content creators into the game?
James: Well, most of 'em are friends with Zach. [Laughs] We've known Mega Ran for a long time. We've had a lot of Mega-based synergies over the years, given our backgrounds with like retro and pixel art chip tunes.
Most of the folks, as in 90% of them, were actually people that played some role in the WrestleQuest story. We met during development, built relationships with, and then as we were getting down to wishlist territory, we're like, you know what's interesting about this is that there's a number of people who were actually discovering wrestling through WrestleQuest.
So for some fans, either lapsed fans or people who were just getting into wrestling for the first time, are also coming in through this current generation fans lens.
But you know, basically, for some people who are either picking wrestling back up after tabling it for a while or in some cases discovering for the first time as they're unpacking WrestleQuest, they're gonna run into folks like Mega Ran and OSW Review and Wrestling Unlimited and all these other folks that we met along the way that like live and love and a built brands speaking to fans and building these close relationships about what they love about wrestling.
Q. I was actually talking to Jay Hunter yesterday about this. I was sort of picking his brain, you know, sort of on the low about this particular interview. And so I was so excited to see them in the game. That's so cool. On that note, I saw one of the trailers for WrestleQuest yesterday. It reminded me a bit of WrestleMania: The Arcade Game VHS. It had Jeff Jarret in the office, and he smashed a guitar over someone’s head. And I just had to know, how many takes did that take? Or was it perfect the first try?
Jeff Jarrett: You know what I prefer to do? Let's talk to the man himself who received that guitar shot. How many takes did it take?
James: Those glasses are prescription, by the way, Jason, he cannot see still. Never been the same after that.
Zack: Yeah. Yeah. Well, of, of course, it took one take. I mean, when you're dealing with a pro like Jeff, yeah. Plus, that's all I could, that's all I could stand. So yeah, you had to do it in one.
Jeff Jarrett: It's definitely a one-take wonder.
Jason: I believe it! I mean, you lord knows you've got experience doing it.
Jeff Jarrett: Well, you could say that. You know, speaking candidly though about those spots, you know, the concept that, and we did several of them. You know, the birthday party spot where I'm climbing a ladder and DDP is setting up a table, and Al Snow is bringing in a chair to set up.
Just all the tongue-in-cheek stuff. The branding of WrestleQuest in every marketing beat, you know, obviously the gameplay, it's just really, really resonates, whether you're an RPG fan or a wrestling fan. It just resonates. And those spots were a lot of fun to produce. Obviously shout out to Woody, who's the creative force behind it.
But, you know, once they started airing the feedback that I got to receive on my social media timelines, it just, it really resonated. It's another thing that's been really fun to be a part of is to create these kinds of marketing materials. But you know, the WrestleQuest branding just knocks it outta the park at the very end of every spot.
Q. Though you did, you just said you're not much of a, you know, a video game player. Um, do you think that could change your WrestleQuest? Could we see you maybe doing a video with Conrad playing through some of it?
Jeff Jarrett: You never know. The old Last Outlaw Double J may be a Twitch streamer before it's all said and done. But no, gaming takes up a lot of time and I've got a lot of projects in the air, but you never know. You never know. Maybe Conrad will become a gamer.
Jason: I also wanted to sort of talk about your career a little bit. I mean, I work for Sportskeeda and one of our biggest things is wrestling.
Jeff Jarrett: Oh, I know the Sportskeeda team on the wrestling side very well.
Q. You've had really, you've had an incredible career and you’ve changed faces many times over the years. Lots of different character changes, but I wanted to highlight one of my personal favorites. Double J, Double M A. What was it like doing that? Was that your idea? Was that someone else's? How, how did the MMA gimmick come about?
Jeff Jarrett: Well, obviously, you know, that was 2010, 2011. MMA was, it was on an upswing if you will, but my opponent was Kurt Angle. You know, with Kurt's background, and at that time, you know, there was talk that he may be stepping into the MMA world and it's just something that again, that I've always enjoyed throughout my career is just playing in a lot of ways, an extension of my personality.
Like, what, what would Jeff be as, you know, you name it. You know, The Last Outlaw is something that's very true to my character. I've been around a few years and I'm a veteran, and I'm one of the last guys that is still kicking, so to speak, that worked the territory days.
So that just kind of resonates. During the Double J, Double M A, it was something that just fit the story, fit the timeline. I had a blast doing it. And Jason, I don't know if you know this, but I retired undefeated. I believe I'm the only MMA fighter in history to retire undefeated.
So when you have a win against Kurt Angle, I mean, you don't even need to know who else I beat. But I retired undefeated in my MMA career.
Jason: That is very impressive. And yeah, you've beaten Kurt Angle. What more is there to say?
Jeff Jarrett: It's all downhill when you beat an Olympic gold medalist.
Q. You've had, as I just said a very lengthy and impressive career. And honestly, it kind of seems like you're, you're better than ever right now here in AEW. What's your secret to staying so lively and, always staying on top of things?
Jeff Jarrett: You know, I try to stay on top of the pulse of the industry. And, you know, gaming is right at there at the top of it. You know, you gotta kind of have your eyes and ears wide open and listening to kind of the marketplace.
But I think at the end of the day, it's what brought me and the WrestleQuest team together, and that's being a fan first looking at the industry. Through the lens of being a fan. And, you know, to this day, I'm one of the biggest wrestling fans around. And that's a common bond that me, Zach, and James have.
But I also think it serves me well, in my industry. I think it's really served Zach and James well, in the creation of the game. But it's just a passion for the industry and certainly, the three of us have that.
Q. Excellent. And one more question about your career. Have there been any creative ideas like you can think of that, that sounded great and they sounded like they would've been worthwhile, but you had to pass on?
Jeff Jarrett: I don't know what you mean by actually pass on, but look, I thought you were gonna say, have you, had a bunch of ideas that you thought were gonna be great and that they kinda laid an egg and if you've been in the business as long as I have, you're gonna run into those. But you know, you can't hit it out of the park unless you get up to bat.
So getting up to the bat, you know, you take a great baseball player - if they hit once every three times they go down as a hall-of-fame hitter. You can't quite do that in the wrestling business, but, you have to get up to bat and give it a shot and look, creative, I say this on my podcast all the time, it's subjective. In the world of creative, anything you do is subjective.
You just got to find the broadest audience possible that you resonate with, and that's how you can be successful.
Q. Zack, James - so what's the future of WrestleQuest look like? Can we expect more content down the road? What is the future of the game?
James: Uh, Dak actually has an exhibit in his contract. I have to buy a hundred new foam heads for him for every pixel created in the new DLC. So it's, it's a lot of heads.
Jason: You know, that's what everybody wants.
Jeff Jarrett: Well said, Jason.
James: We have a good head supplier. But you know, we’re actually working on DLC right now.
Jason: Oh, fantastic.
Jeff Jarrett: Get ready Jason. Jason, when I tell you that you're gonna be excited about the projects, the content, and the DLC, I'm just gonna say this, you're gonna be blown away, so stay tuned. The launch is just step one.
WrestleQuest launches on August 21, 2023, on a wide variety of platforms - PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Windows PC, iOS, Linux, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Android devices. You can find our review here, where we call the game a pro wrestling masterpiece.