After years of success in WWE and WCW, Jeff Jarrett paved his own path in professional wrestling as a co-founder of TNA. But had he not stood his ground in contract negotiations, one of wrestling's most pivotal promotions might never have been born.
Jarrett's departure from WWE (formerly known as WWF) is an infamous story, often told as the moment when Jarrett "held up" WWE Chairman Vince McMahon ahead of his final match with the company in 1999. The story goes that Jarrett demanded $200,000 without a contract for his final match against Chyna — an Intercontinental Championship match — at that year's No Mercy pay-per-view. However, that isn't the whole truth, as Jarrett clarified on Monday's edition of "The Ariel Helwani Show."
"It is fascinating how some people say, 'Jeff Jarrett held Vince McMahon up.' Really think about that. **** ody's going to hold Vince up for — I mean, it's outlandish, it's ridiculous," Jarrett told Uncrowned.
"It was proposed, 'Hey, Chyna's going to have her first match,' or whatever it may be. So there really was a collision course between the male chauvinist deal [many characters were portraying] and 'here comes Chyna.' So that sets the course.
"One of the pieces of the puzzle that people just kind of gloss over was that Vince McMahon was taking his company public. And so the summer and early fall of that year, he was out literally going around the world. He'd go to 'Raw,' and then he'd get on a plane and do more bank — he's out prepping to sell and take the company public. So I was dealing with J.R. [Jim Ross] in my contract negotiations."
Jarrett's departure from WWE (formerly known as WWF) is an infamous story, often told as the moment when Jarrett "held up" WWE Chairman Vince McMahon ahead of his final match with the company in 1999. The story goes that Jarrett demanded $200,000 without a contract for his final match against Chyna — an Intercontinental Championship match — at that year's No Mercy pay-per-view. However, that isn't the whole truth, as Jarrett clarified on Monday's edition of "The Ariel Helwani Show."
"It is fascinating how some people say, 'Jeff Jarrett held Vince McMahon up.' Really think about that. **** ody's going to hold Vince up for — I mean, it's outlandish, it's ridiculous," Jarrett told Uncrowned.
"It was proposed, 'Hey, Chyna's going to have her first match,' or whatever it may be. So there really was a collision course between the male chauvinist deal [many characters were portraying] and 'here comes Chyna.' So that sets the course.
"One of the pieces of the puzzle that people just kind of gloss over was that Vince McMahon was taking his company public. And so the summer and early fall of that year, he was out literally going around the world. He'd go to 'Raw,' and then he'd get on a plane and do more bank — he's out prepping to sell and take the company public. So I was dealing with J.R. [Jim Ross] in my contract negotiations."
3 months ago
