Want more wrestling news, rumors, and results? Be sure to visit PWInsider.com and PWInsiderXtra.com.
WWE announced this morning that former WWE Intercontinental champion, NWA and WCW champion and Impact Wrestling founder Jeff Jarrett would be enshrined into the WWE Hall of Fame this April over Wrestlemania weekend in New Orleans, making it the first Jarrett appearance in WWE since the Unforgiven PPV in 1999.
PWInsider.com first reported that there had been stories within WWE over the last month about Jarrett being inducted last week in our Elite section, although we could not at the time confirm 100% that the induction was set in stone. WWE made the official announcement via NBC Sports.
“I would have never dreamed that in 2018 I’d be going into the Hall of Fame,” Jarrett told NBC Sports, “but as I’ve sat back and looked I said, ‘Welp, I guess there are some things that are just meant to be.’”
The WWE Hall of Fame induction certainly represents a complete circle for Jarrett, a third-generation promoter and second-generation wrestler, 50-years old. The last several years of Jarrett's life have seen him depart Impact Wrestling, the company he founded, and create Global Force Wrestling. Although Jarrett sought a major TV and production deal for GFW, all roads led him back to Impact after it was purchased by Anthem Sports and Entertainment.
Under Jarrett, Impact sought to extricate itself from all things related to its ownership under Dixie Carter, embedding many of the GFW talents and ideals onto the company. That helped lead to many talents exiting the company and others having their storylines changed, while also bringing in many new and returning talents. The shifts in front of and behind the camera did not come without lots of pressure and lots of stress and Jarrett, after exhibiting some questionable behavior, was asked to take a break from his responsibilities with the company.
Jarrett never returned, was publicly terminated and an announced purchase of the GFW assets by Anthem was rescinded. After an appearance on an independent event in Canada that was frightening for all that watched the video, Jarrett checked himself into a WWE-sponsored rehabilitation program and was there for several months. Since exiting, Jarrett has made very few appearances publicly in professional wrestling. By walking out on the WWE Hall of Fame (and Wrestlemania stage), Jarrett very much gets a massive "happy ending" sort of moment when one considers all that he has been through in recent years.
Of course, there is far more to Jarrett's career than just the last few years. The grandson of legendary promoter Christine Jarrett and the son of equally legendary promoter and wrestler Jerry Jarrett, Jeff grew up in the wrestling business, working all sorts of menial jobs for the legendary Memphis wrestling promotion when it aired weekly on WMC channel 5 live, a broadcast that pretty much meant the entire city was shutting down for its duration.
Jarrett broke into the business in 1986, initially as a referee before blooming into a full-fledged professional wrestler, as a babyface. The storyline was Tony Falk, a heel who had a long-running losing streak challenged Jarrett, the referee to a match. Jarrett captured the win, officially becoming a star in the territory. Jarrett was a regular for the promotion in the late 1980s and early 1990s, teaming with Jerry Lawler against the Moondogs and facing off with Eric Embry in a feud for the World Class Championship Wrestling Light Heavyweight championship, among other accomplishments.
"J-E-DOUBLE-F-J-A-DOUBLE-R-E-DOUBLE-T"
By the early 1990s, the WWF had a working relationship with Memphis that saw Jarrett brought to the promotion as "Double J", reputed to be the best country music singer in the world. Jarrett was ushered into the company with a great series of vignettes filmed in Nashville, which included cameos by Memphis talents, including Jackie "Miss Texas" Moore before Jarrett came in as a heel, complete with a single "With my Baby Tonight" which he allegedly sang, although it would later be revealed that his Roadie (current day WWE Creative exec and producer Brian "Road Dogg" James) was the actual singer.
Jarrett's initial run would include a WWE Intercontinental championship run and would last until late 1995 when he exited over a contract dispute. He would sign with WCW, which at the time was poised to overtake WWF during the Monday Night Wars. He was partnered with Debra McMichael, a partnership that would see Jarrett kicked out of The Four Horsemen as she was married to Horseman Steve McMichael. During that time, Jarrett also had a run with the United States championship.
A year later, his WCW deal expired, and Jarrett made the jump back to the WWF, ignoring his previous "Double J" gimmick and doing a character more in line with the Attitude Era branding, warning opponents "Don't piss me off." Jarrett would most memorably team with the late Owen Hart, win both the European and Intercontinental championships, have a run where he was cutting wrestlers' hair (which of course led to him getting his own hair cut on PPV) and would eventually be reunited with Debra when she made her way to WWF as well.
Jarrett's second (and final) WWF run ended in 1999 when he was the reigning Intercontinental champion and his existing contract expired. Jarrett was slated to drop the belt at the Unforgiven PPV to Chyna and did so, but not until he made it clear he wasn't going to do so without being paid whatever royalties and bonuses were do him immediately. The WWF standard at the time was to pay them out months later, so Jarrett and the company were locked at a standstill until the company agreed to do so. Once the money was wired to Jarrett's bank account, he showed up and did the job to Chyna, marking his last in-ring appearance for WWF to date.
Jarrett jumped back to WCW, at the time run creatively by Vince Russo, who always pushed for Jarrett to be used in a top position in the WWF, but political forces (Steve Austin, specifically) always shot the idea down. Some would say it was harsh feelings from how Austin felt he was treated during his time in Memphis while others claimed that Austin didn't believe he could draw money against Jarrett.
With Russo now firmly in charge of WCW, Jarrett was in for the biggest career push of his life nationally up until that point. Jarrett immediately became one of the central figures in the promotion and its flagship series Monday Nitro, winning four WCW World championships between his return and the end of the company in 2001. Jarrett's run included a now often-forgotten NWO revival with Bret Hart, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall.
The internal turmoil of the last several years of WCW saw lots of management turnovers and changes. Jarrett would be a big part of the WCW title picture during that time and would be used to put over Booker T, a Russo idea, giving Booker his official launch into the top echelon of the company as well. Until March 2001, when Turner Broadcasting shut down WCW and sold it off to WWF, Jarrett was in the mix.
The night WCW was sold, Vince McMahon stood in the ring as part of a "simulcast" that aired on both Nitro and Raw. He began bringing up different WCW names and specifically mentioned Jarrett, specifically stating that Jarrett was 'G-O-DOUBLE-N-DOUBLE-E, GONE" from the company. Whether it was a line that was scripted or legitimate hard feelings, no one will ever know, but Jarrett never appeared for WCW or WWE again.
The purchase of WCW meant an implosion for professional wrestling at the time. The Monday Night War era saw more talents signed and making full-time livings than ever before since the days of WWF's national expansion in the 1980s. Now things were very quickly going in reverse, the landscape changing, wrestlers scrambling.
Jeff Jarrett was among them, leading to an infamous fishing trip on Bob Ryder's boat with Jeff and Jerry Jarrett that led to the decision to form a new promotion, one that would be featured exclusively on PPV, airing a weekly TV series on Wednesday nights, a modern take on the Memphis TV series that launched Jarrett's career.
Jarrett and founded TNA in 2002 with plans of running a weekly promotion with its TV series airing specifically as PPV. When that initial concept didn't work (specifically when initial investor HealthSouth pulled out), the majority ownership of the company was sold to Panda Energy. Jerry Jarrett was later bought out of his ownership by Panda as well.
Jarrett was the early top star for the promotion, working as the heel everything was built around. Jarrett was also heavily involved in all facets of the company, which at times left him open to criticism of how much he was featured. Jarrett would always privately state that when someone else who could handle that role came into the company, he would back off. That turned out to be true several years later when Kurt Angle came into the company and quickly became one of the top TNA attractions.
Jarrett remained on camera as an important part of storylines but began focusing more on his behind the scenes duties. Apart from a period where Jarrett took time off from the company out of respect due to then-personal issues between Kurt Angle and his ex-wife Karen (who Jarrett had begun dating and later married), Jarrett had always been one of the main cogs in the TNA machine until his surprising announcement that he was resigning from the company in December 2013.
Even when not appearing on television, prior to his resignation, Jarrett had been heavily involved with forging relationships with international promotions, including AAA in Mexico and the Great Muta's Wrestle-1 in Japan as well as trying to develop new programming, such as Ring Ka King for Endemol in India and the All Wheels Wrestling TV pilot that meshed pro wrestling and car racing.
Jarrett's decision to leave TNA (now known as Impact Wrestling) in 2013 was a major shock across pro wrestling at the time as his family, including his late wife Jill) put a lot of time and effort into launching and building the company, especially during its early infancy. From an emotional perspective, TNA was Jeff's baby. It was important enough to him that even as Jill was gravely ill with cancer, he was flying in to work the PPVs and TV tapings before heading right back home to Nashville. The original DNA of TNA in many ways came from Jeff's own DNA.
As noted, after that exit, Jarrett formed GFW, which ran events, but never really struck gold the way Jarrett likely envisioned. Its biggest awareness came from the fact that Dixie Carter brokered a deal to bring Jarrett back to Impact, inducting him into the company's Hall of Fame and giving GFW TV time as part of a storyline that also saw Jarrett's minority ownership purchased, setting the stage for Dixie to later sell the company to Anthem Sports and Media.
While Jarrett's return to the company didn't end well for any involved - and perhaps it reminds all the old saying 'You can't go home again' - it did lead to Jarrett addressing personal issues, which in turn opened the door for relations with WWE again.
In a strange way, Jarrett quitting the company he founded in 2013, one that was created because there wasn't an opportunity for him and others in the post-Monday Night Wars WWE, directly led him right back to WWE, a WWE Hall of Fame induction and a chance to walk out on the stage at Wrestlemania 34.
The latest strange twist: at the same time Jarrett is walking on stage to accept his WWE Hall of Fame induction, his former baby Impact Wrestling will be running a live event just a short walk away.
Pro wrestling is a strange, fascinating, wonderful place.
If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!
Bang On Casino
