Jeff Jarrett was a busy making this day in wrestling history moments in 1999, and after he lost to Chyna at No Mercy he headed back to WCW for he following night’s WCW Nitro.
This was also Vince Russo’s first Nitro since leaving the WWE, and both of them looked to make a splash.
So, Jarrett entered the arena with the flair we’ve all come to love of hate over the years as he’s just that good at getting to us no matter how prepared we are.
He made his mark by attacking Buff Bagwell and then proclaimed himself the “Chosen One of WCW.” Jarrett then entered into the world championship picture by taking part in the tournament for the vacated title.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJQP94mCXyY
While we know how this story ends, how it began is even better.
Clean break, fresh start
While all of this had the feeling of a fresh start, it wouldn’t have been possible had Jarrett not pushed to get the money he was allegedly owed by the WWE the day before.
He explained what happened during his negotiation with the WWE that closed that door to him forever, and we want to thank @awrestlinghistorian for the transcript.
“This story has been speculated about many, many times. The truth of the matter is I had one upped, not on Vince McMahon, on the company. Came in and I said ‘Let’s make a deal. You all got about 5 or 6 PPVs money in the pipeline that you’re going to pay me and that’s going to take months to get. Let’s clean all that up today.’ So we went back and forth on each payoff and I was trying to be fair. That’s my nature. What goes around, comes around. I believe in karma and you truly reap what you sow. So I made a deal. Worked it out with Jim Ross. Came to an agreement. Terry Taylor was there at the time.
“’I still got your (Intercontinental) belt and you can have it back if that’s what you want. I’ll leave the building now. It’s your call. I do not have to perform. You guys know it better than I do. Ross walks off. About 30 minutes go by. I’m walking around, walking around and I don’t know if JR was in the back talking to Vince or hiding or whatever the situation was and I like JR. I think he was a pawn at times and a pawn for Steve Austin to be quite frank.
“He had a team to run and he was doing it the best he could so we all have to make decisions sometimes that we don’t like so it came time, JR came out. We’re working on it and I said ‘Hey Jim, let’s go for a little walk.’ and I walked him out into the arena about three or four rows back on ringside. Had Terry with me and I said ‘Jim, do you remember the deal I signed when I came here two years ago? And last year in the middle of my contract when you cut me? You guys made a deal with me and shook on it, but halfway through, you changed it. I agreed on a price. That’s what we came to about an hour ago. Well, guess what? I’m changing my price. Double that figure.” – Jeff Jarrett, King Of The Mountain documentary.
Nothing like a pair of disgruntled former WWE employees looking to turn the page and make this day in wrestling history one to remember.
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