Jeff Jarrett says his 60-minute draws with Jerry Lawler in 1996 were Lawler’s idea.
Jarrett’s first match back from a back injury was a 60-minute draw with Lawler for the USWA Unified Championship in Memphis in April 1996. The two had more 60-minute matches, including one in Nashville.
On My World with Jeff Jarrett, Jarrett said the matches worked because of Lawler’s psychology.
“They were slow and methodical. But Jerry’s psychology, and again, he had been in the territory forever. At this point, I had been in there 10 years, so the people knew our personalities, and we could get mileage out of everything,” Jarrett said.
“I remember our Nashville one might have been the best of the bunch.”
“Lawler knew how to build, man. He would do some false finish spots off of punches, and obviously he can punch, and I think I can punch.”
Jarrett turned heel in his home territory around the same time.
“I definitely wanted to be a heel in my own territory because I’d seen it work for WWF.”
Transcription by Global Force Entertainment.