On the latest episode of My World, Jeff Jarrett explained the thinking behind his second jump to WCW — including why Vince Russo wasn’t the deciding factor, and the unusual contract structure he asked for. You can check out his comments below:
On why he left:
“I didn’t want to leave, because I knew corporate wrestling slash WCW ultimately doesn’t work as a concept. I was a firm believer then, firm believer now. But then I looked myself in the eye and said, yeah, he’s out selling his company and taking it public, and I understand all that. But at the end of the day, JR cutting my pay in year one, just the natural ebb and flow of the ups and downs.”
On whose responsibility it was:
“I had to say — it’s not Vince’s responsibility to make sure Jeff’s career is headed in the right direction. Not JR’s either. Now I can articulate it better today, but even in those days, when I’m in my early 30s, I’m like, Jeff’s got to take the bull by the horns and make the very best decision he can make.”
On his confidence:
“I knew I could succeed at WCW. I absolutely knew I could. I had a lot of confidence in myself, in my in-ring ability. I’d been there before. I remember vividly the conversations I had with WCW when I jumped the first time. Kevin Sullivan pulled me aside — he talked to me, and our conversations were, hey man, whether you’re singing, whatever it is, you’re a freaking heel, and you know how to get over.”
On who he actually negotiated with:
“Obviously it was a big part of it, but the bigger part was — J.J. Dillon was in the office, and him and my dad were on-again, off-again business partners going back 20-something years. Because it’s one thing to be the head writer for Vince McMahon. It’s a whole other thing to be the head writer in a corporate environment. It just was. But I didn’t negotiate my deal with Russo. I didn’t even talk to him about it. I didn’t negotiate my deal with J.J. Dillon. I negotiated my deal with Bill Busch.”
On the term he asked for:
“Having that kind of conversation and hearing back and forth on the money — what is the real reality? And I said, hey man, I know you run house shows. I want to make all of them. Let’s figure out something in my agreement where I get paid per house show. That was big to me. I’m going to go work for my money. I don’t think anybody at the time — that’d be a good question — but I don’t recall anybody had a guaranteed deal plus a house show per-appearance deal. And I wanted to do both, because I wanted to work.”
On needing the locker room’s acceptance:
“Obviously having a very good relationship with the head writer, and good relationships with — fill in the blank — Kevin, Scott, Bret. I won’t say buddies, but you have to be accepted by the current main event roster, and that was Scott, Kevin, Steiner, DDP, Savage, Hogan. Just that group. And I knew that I had Lex and Sting, I had a working relationship with all of them. So that factored in. Russo, Kevin Sullivan still there — I knew they had a quasi committee. So yes, Vince was a factor, but not the factor.”
