(This article was originally posted on the 'GetRealWrestling' website in July 2014, but was moved here after that site closed.)
Yesterday it was reported on various wrestling news sites that Jeff Jarrett has been added to the alumni section of WWE’s website for the first time. While Jarrett has appeared in clips, on DVD’s and in other WWE media in the last few years, his involvement with WWE (including WCW & other promotions included in WWE’s video library) has always been downplayed or even ridiculed. The last time he was seen on WWE TV was the infamous Raw & Nitro simulcast, on the final night of WCW when it was purchased by Vince McMahon’s then-called WWF. Vince even appeared on TV during a backstage segment and famously ‘fired’ Jeff Jarrett live during the show.
Of course, in reality, Jeff wasn’t actually being fired. Like the vast majority of WCW’s talent, Jarrett was signed to a very lucrative contract with AOL / Time Warner (the owners of WCW), and although the WWF/E had the option to buy out the contracts of WCW talents as part of purchasing the company, they opted instead to wait until the contracts expired before deciding which talents they would want to pursue. This is completely understandable, as some of those contracts were for insane sums of money and included terms that Vince himself would never allow in a WWE contract. It also meant that the talents would continue to be paid by AOL / Time Warner for the duration of their contracts, and then McMahon would be able to offer his own contracts, under his own terms, to the performers he wanted as and when they became available. Unfortunately for the fans, this resulted in a lacklustre representation of the WCW roster being used for the 2001 Invasion storyline, where WCW, ECW and WWF would all go head to head on WWF programming. While there was undeniably a lot of great and outstanding talent amongst the group, one could not help feel that a WCW roster that didn’t include Ric Flair, Sting, Bill Goldberg, the nWo, Rey Mysterio Jr, etc. was not a true representation of the WCW that the fans had wanted to see clash with WWF when the two companies had been at their apex, fighting it out for TV ratings in a heated head-to-head battle throughout the late 1990s. The missing talents (for the large part) would all be brought onto WWF/E television over the next couple of years, except for Sting, who has only recently become part of the WWE, and has (at time of writing) yet to make his WWE television debut.
There were also talents who had burned bridges with Vince McMahon (such as Shane Douglas, Konnan, etc.), or would not be considered for employment, even after the lucrative contracts with AOL / Time Warner had expired. Jeff Jarrett feared that he may be one of them, and also had several friends, colleagues and acquaintances from WCW who he was worried would not be able to find steady, full time work now that there was only one major wrestling company in the entire western world. This prompted Jarrett, as well as his father and some friends, to contemplate options for creating a new alternative place to showcase their talents, and the groundwork was laid for the birth of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).
Of course, in reality, Jeff wasn’t actually being fired. Like the vast majority of WCW’s talent, Jarrett was signed to a very lucrative contract with AOL / Time Warner (the owners of WCW), and although the WWF/E had the option to buy out the contracts of WCW talents as part of purchasing the company, they opted instead to wait until the contracts expired before deciding which talents they would want to pursue. This is completely understandable, as some of those contracts were for insane sums of money and included terms that Vince himself would never allow in a WWE contract. It also meant that the talents would continue to be paid by AOL / Time Warner for the duration of their contracts, and then McMahon would be able to offer his own contracts, under his own terms, to the performers he wanted as and when they became available. Unfortunately for the fans, this resulted in a lacklustre representation of the WCW roster being used for the 2001 Invasion storyline, where WCW, ECW and WWF would all go head to head on WWF programming. While there was undeniably a lot of great and outstanding talent amongst the group, one could not help feel that a WCW roster that didn’t include Ric Flair, Sting, Bill Goldberg, the nWo, Rey Mysterio Jr, etc. was not a true representation of the WCW that the fans had wanted to see clash with WWF when the two companies had been at their apex, fighting it out for TV ratings in a heated head-to-head battle throughout the late 1990s. The missing talents (for the large part) would all be brought onto WWF/E television over the next couple of years, except for Sting, who has only recently become part of the WWE, and has (at time of writing) yet to make his WWE television debut.
There were also talents who had burned bridges with Vince McMahon (such as Shane Douglas, Konnan, etc.), or would not be considered for employment, even after the lucrative contracts with AOL / Time Warner had expired. Jeff Jarrett feared that he may be one of them, and also had several friends, colleagues and acquaintances from WCW who he was worried would not be able to find steady, full time work now that there was only one major wrestling company in the entire western world. This prompted Jarrett, as well as his father and some friends, to contemplate options for creating a new alternative place to showcase their talents, and the groundwork was laid for the birth of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).
Being the founder (and in the preliminary stages, at least, the franchise main-event player) of a rival wrestling company, it was inevitable that Jarrett’s past contributions would go largely ignored by WWE, but Jeff’s heat with Vince McMahon dates back to long before the formation of his own wrestling company. In Jeff’s first WWF run, he was asked (like many other talents at the time) to take a cut in pay as a cost saving measure during the Monday night wars with WCW. Jeff then went to work for WCW from 1996 to 1997, returning to WWF again in October 1997. He would stay with WWF until 1999, when he would go back to WCW again, along with Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara from WWF’s creative team. When he was due to leave, he was Intercontinental champion, and allegedly the two sides had a dispute over money owed to Jeff for his time under contract, and so Jeff refused to perform and drop the title until he received the money he was owed. The details of this remain unclear, as Jeff explains his side on his 2009 TNA DVD set, but other versions of this story indicate that Vince took umbrage to being ‘held up’ by Jarrett and held a grudge as a result.
Jarrett is a third generation wrestler and has held 74 championships altogether in his career, including being World Heavyweight Champion in WCW, the NWA (as part of TNA), AAA, WWA & AWF, as well as multiple time WWF Intercontinental Champion, former WWF European & Tag-Team champion, WCW United States champion and many more championships throughout the world. His father was the co-promoter of the Memphis wrestling territory (along with Jerry Lawler), one of the most successful and influential territories in the history of professional wrestling, and this is where, like many other big name performers, Jarrett got his start in the business. With the announcement of a Jerry Lawler / Memphis wrestling DVD project being in the works, and with WWE looking to add the footage from Memphis to its tape library, we could, and should, see a lot more of Jarrett on the WWE network and in other upcoming releases. Apart from the fact that Jarrett will go down in history as a huge part of pro wrestling by virtue of his work outside of the ring, his in-ring contributions during his time in both WWE and WCW are certainly worth exploring, recognising and celebrating. Hopefully this will be the start of other such figures in the wrestling world, who may have been excluded for various reasons, starting to be included and celebrated also.
Jarrett is a third generation wrestler and has held 74 championships altogether in his career, including being World Heavyweight Champion in WCW, the NWA (as part of TNA), AAA, WWA & AWF, as well as multiple time WWF Intercontinental Champion, former WWF European & Tag-Team champion, WCW United States champion and many more championships throughout the world. His father was the co-promoter of the Memphis wrestling territory (along with Jerry Lawler), one of the most successful and influential territories in the history of professional wrestling, and this is where, like many other big name performers, Jarrett got his start in the business. With the announcement of a Jerry Lawler / Memphis wrestling DVD project being in the works, and with WWE looking to add the footage from Memphis to its tape library, we could, and should, see a lot more of Jarrett on the WWE network and in other upcoming releases. Apart from the fact that Jarrett will go down in history as a huge part of pro wrestling by virtue of his work outside of the ring, his in-ring contributions during his time in both WWE and WCW are certainly worth exploring, recognising and celebrating. Hopefully this will be the start of other such figures in the wrestling world, who may have been excluded for various reasons, starting to be included and celebrated also.
To
keep up to date with details of other interviews, reviews &
articles from Eye On Wrestling, as well as news and trivia, please
follow on Twitter and like the Facebook page.
(This article was originally posted on the 'GetRealWrestling' website in July 2014, but was moved here after that site closed.)