This McNeill's Take was originally published five years ago this week on PWTorch after Jeff Jarrett regained the NWA World Title in TNA. A PWTorch complete back issue with a cover story by Wade Keller on the Jarrett title win is available now for VIP members in PDF format.

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The Top Seven: Based on the ESPN Classic gimmick show of the same name, here are the Top Seven Reasons You Can't Blame TNA For Putting the NWA Title Back On Jeff Jarrett.

7) Jarrett's only the transition champion. This is an argument that has been thrown around ever since the move to Jarrett was announced. Sure, Jarrett is almost guaranteed to keep the belt through October, but eventually, after a few more months or so, Jarrett will do the right thing and drop the title before settling into the "permanent heel challenger" role.

6) Jarrett's got a different heel stable idea. Sure, Double J has attempted to rip off the New World Order, The Wolfpac, D-Generation X, Evolution and even the Truth Commission in his previous heel stable ideas, but not once has Jeff attempted to rip off the Four Horsemen. That's what makes his alliance with America's Most Wanted special.

5) The NWA World Title doesn't even matter any more. Jarrett has that role as a sop to the old school fans, the hundreds that are flocking to see guys like Dusty Rhodes and Terry Funk on Tony Hunter's Carolina Championship Wrestling shows. The hardcore internet fans know that the real action is in the NWA's X Division, with guys like Samoa Joe, Christopher Daniels and TNA's main man, Allen James Styles.

4) Name Recognition. Even though TNA's advertising on Spike TV has been all about insanely athletic guys performing incredibly acrobatic moves, that's not what wrestling fans want to see. Wrestling fans want to see familiar faces on their wrestling shows. That's why TNA took surveys at your finer strip malls and determined that Kevin Nash and Jeff Jarrett were the two most recognizable names on the roster, especially among people who aren't wrestling fans. Tito Ortiz scored high on the name recognition survey too, but that may have been due to older fans confusing him with "El Matador" Tito Santana.

3) The WCW Factor. World Championship Wrestling has been off the air for nearly five years, yet statistical evidence showed that most WCW fans never made the jump to WWE, or didn't stick around once they got their first taste of Raw and Smackdown. Clearly there are people clamoring to see a rebirth of WCW. TNA doesn't have Chris Benoit, Booker T, Hulk Hogan, Road Warrior Animal and Ric Flair. Scott Steiner is in no shape to wrestle, and neither is Sid Vicious. Sting, Diamond Dallas Page and Bill Goldberg want too much money. But TNA does have Kevin Nash and Jeff Jarrett, which was once a main event storyline for World Championship Wrestling. Plus, they can deliver. Jarrett and Nash had a pay-per-view match several months ago at Against All Odds which has to be considered one of the fifty or sixty best TNA matches of 2005.

2) TNA employees are loyal to Jeff Jarrett. Jeff Jarrett is the guy who originally hired most everyone in the TNA front office, including the booking committee. Plus, Jarrett and his daddy run the company and own a percentage of it. Without the Jarretts, people like Scott D'Amore, Jeremy Borash and David Sahadi would have to work at (*gasp*) regular jobs in order to make money. TNA's wrestlers would be in OVW, indy purgatory or grinding out a living under the boot of Vince McMahon. Why not show a little appreciation to the founder of wrestling's number one alternative?

1) Kevin Nash vs. Raven would just be silly.

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