On the latest episode of Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Jeff Jarrett addressed the long-running story that he held up Vince McMahon for money before dropping the WWF Championship to Chyna in 2002, and clarified what actually happened, along with how his WWE Hall of Fame induction came about. You can check out his comments below:
“Another misunderstood narrative — oh, Jeff got fired. No, my contract ran out. In the early years of TNA, I had multiple conversations with Vince McMahon: hey, is there any way we can work together? There was nothing. As time went on, it was very apparent he viewed us as competition. We were the number two, two hours on network television, the network he used to be on, and we were successful, two million viewers a week. Then the call came, first week of 2018 — Vince wants to put you in the Hall of Fame. My dad and Vince McMahon talked every Sunday afternoon. Vince knew my dad and his father were peers, Vince Senior being the older statesman and my dad the younger promoter, so there was a family, promoter connection. So ‘mended fences’ isn’t the correct phrasing.”
“You read your Reddits and your X and online blogs, and it’s a fun story: Vince McMahon was held up by Jeff Jarrett. I’d love to tell you that’s exactly what I did, but really, what I did was get the money that was owed to me in the best position of leverage. Truth be known, when I went out and dropped the title to Chyna, Vince cut me a check, and I was off his radar. Does anybody in their right mind think that if Vince McMahon did not want to pay Jeff Jarrett, he had to pay Jeff Jarrett? That’s the real story. And as we’re sitting there, he’s got his three-piece suit on, and as he’s pulling that check out, I figured, screw it, I’m going to ask him — because the company was going public two days later. I said, hey Vince, do I still get those stock options, pal? He said, of course you do, call Beth in the morning. He could have stopped payment on the check, and he didn’t have to give me stock options. People love a good story, a heel and a babyface, Jeff screwed Vince and Vince screwed Jeff. It’s fun, but man, is it totally misunderstood.”
