By James Caldwell, PWTorch columnist

After Kurt Angle went to the U.K. Sun to verbally express his frustrations with TNA last month, Jeff Jarrett responded in the Daily Star. In the interview published over the weekend, Jarrett mixed storyline with behind-the-scenes dealings in an attempt to clear up Angle's position with the company.

One of Jarrett's motivations for the interview was to address the controversial involvement of Jarrett's late wife and his three daughters in the storyline feud against Angle. Jarrett claims Angle took the feud in that direction on his own.

"No I did not know he was going to say that," Jarrett told Patrick Lennon. "I spoke to him about it afterwards and told him he needed to focus. I told him 'You're hurting yourself.' Kurt is Kurt, what you see is what you get. The person we hired two years ago is not the person we have today, he's going through a lot of change outside the ring."

Jarrett added that his daughters have not watched the programming where they have been referenced, but they understand it's part of the wrestling business. "I grew up in this business and they’re growing up in this business and they understand it takes all kinds to make this business thrive," he said.

Referencing back to Angle's comments in the Sun about his contract expiring next year, Jarrett said TNA is finally in a position to lock up some wrestlers to long-term contracts when they were unable to do that in years past. Similar to WWE signing "independent contractors" to three-to-five year deals, TNA hopes to pursue contract negotiations with an eye on the future.

Jarrett also commented on Samoa Joe, who dropped the TNA World Title to Sting at Bound for Glory. He offered a complimentary, yet stern evaluation of Joe thus far in TNA.

"He came in with an extreme amount of promotion behind him, on an eighteen month winning streak and we're still behind him," Jarrett said. "Has he struck out on occasions? Yes, but he's had several grand slams too. Joe's best years are definitely in front of him."

- Daily Star article link.

Caldwell's Analysis: Jarrett muddying TV storyline with backstage dealings always makes for an interesting interview. In the interview, he has several personal attacks on Angle, which could be taken one of two ways. One way is that the Jarrett vs. Angle feud on TV "became personal" and Jarrett is simply playing into that aspect of the TV feud. The other way to look at is TNA, through Jarrett, presenting a credibility attack on Angle in print to make potential suitors for Angle's services slightly concerned about him from a personal standpoint.

Is he really like this in handling business affairs? Did he really cut a tasteless promo on his own without clearing it with Jarrett? Jarrett learned well from his father, Jerry Jarrett, on playing mind games and planting little seeds here and there. In this case, Jeff is planting seeds of doubt - even if this newspaper feud is an entire work - in the minds of financial decision-makers who will be negotiating for Angle in 2009.

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