The NWA Invasion Angle. Two charismatic fellow Southerners Jim Cornette and Jeff Jarrett were the focal points of the NWA faction in WWE during the Attitude Era. This was the early Attitude Era so; we’re not talking about that transitional period of late 1996 when it was still a mix of New Generation and Attitude Era.
By the end of 1997, WWE was in the Attitude Era and the company was moving towards edgier content. Not exactly mature just edgy—or MTV mature at least. Anyway, here we had Jeff Jarrett and Jim Cornette with their faction The NWA. They’ve told us why they were here and there were NWA title matches on television. It was an interesting creative idea and Jarrett as the diamond of the faction wasn’t bad at all.
Actually, Jarrett pretty much did what he normally did: deliver well on the mic and wrestle a solid match. Well, at least on his end. As is always the case, sometimes a superstar can only do so much with certain opponents.
Now, Jeff Jarrett wasn’t in WWE for the whole run of The NWA faction in the company. Cornette would eventually get more talents in the group and honestly, it lasted longer than I remembered. As for Jarrett, this just wasn’t something that was going to work. The gimmick was dated by one or two years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DVJn_FqFgQ
Before looking into the stable’s run, I had the idea that this was a faction that started in 1995 or early 1996—which would’ve made sense for it to be around. However, in its form, it was around when the National Wrestling Alliance was pretty much bleeding and crawling in circles.
Salvaging NWA Invasion Jeff Jarrett
I don’t think salvaging is necessary here since he ended up going back to his country singer gimmick and moving into a team with Owen Hart eventually. It was the Owen Hart tag team deal that he should’ve been doing the whole time after his first run as a country singer.
However, let’s say Jarrett didn’t leave. I’d say that he should’ve ditched the gear, got some trunks or tights without the straps, and been a loudmouth who could back it up. Then have Cornette there to double down on the smack Jarrett is talking or introduce it.
Jarrett as a singles act with Corny as his manager would’ve been right up my alley as well. Just let Corny rip and have Jarrett attempt to calm him down sometimes before giving up. Or have Jarrett try to hype it up himself and Corny come off-camera and take it over.
Not to tout old-school Southern wrestling too much but the way promos were done then had some spontaneity in them and Cornette was a master of it.
Jarrett was more than capable of holding it down on the mic and on the mat but the mic game is what would’ve taken Jarrett to the next level and pairing him with mouthpieces that command the attention of the camera like Jim Cornette and Ol’ Robert Fuller was the way to go.
In short, as it was—Jeff Jarrett in The NWA faction was not salvageable. It was going to sink during the Attitude Era.
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