Have your long-term perceptions of Jeff Jarrett changed?

[One to Remember]

I have been watchin Jeff Jarrett perform since he had the weird outfit with the built in collar top. That's going back 16 or so years. He was so so in the WWF and he was okay in WCW during the mid '90s however after his second run in the WWF during the attitude era he came back to the Russo ran WCW. I felt like he was a horrible WCW World champion, he contributed to the circus freak show like atmosphere in WCW and probably was one of the top guys not trying to improve the health of the company. He had a Triple H like grip on the upper card that had (in my opinion) more to do more with backstage politics then skills or true value to the company.

Since the declining years of WCW I have just absolutely hated Jarrett. I wonder though if there are other people here who felt strongly about him and strongly about TNA in a seperate sense.

I admit to watching TNA and while I have not completely warmed up to it I do make some type of effort to see it every thursday. I also watched Xplosion when it first came on a few years ago.

I also had the original interview about what TNA was gonna be all about when Jeff and Jerry Jarrett sat down with Pro Wrestling Illustrated.

Do you feel grateful to Jarrett for making TNA even if you hated him in the WWF and WCW?

Do you feel like you owe him nothing since TNA would had collapsed without Panda Energy and thus he was another Todd Gordon?

This thread is ONLY for people who have watched him for 10 or more years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I personally don't think anything his TNA has doe will offset the damage he did in WCW so I despise him. And yes I am a WCW guy..

 

[ABMorales787]

He has genuine faith in something that he created and feels proud about it. It's kinda like having a son and watching him grow up to be something big. You raised him and once he left your hands, he prospered. I know it sounds corny, but I believe that's how he feels. At least that's how he expresses himself. he may have had his lows in WCW, but once he had to actually care for a company, he learned. Simple as that.

 

[Chris Kennedy Himself]

While I respect Jarret for creating TNA, I dislike him for the same resaons I dislike Triple-H. All that power, but it's all self serving. Do we really need 20 minutes of Jarrett VS Nash or Jarrett Vs the shell of Sting when TNA has some of the best workers in the biz and they are not getting TV time?
He is a selfish prick.

 

[One to Remember]

[QUOTE="iMPACT! Player" Riaku;2371163]He has genuine faith in something that he created and feels proud about it...

...At least that's how he expresses himself. he may have had his lows in WCW, but once he had to actually care for a company, he learned. Simple as that.[/QUOTE]

my biggest concern was being a hypocrite. I felt kind of awkward rooting for TNA against WWE when it was created by a guy I felt like had no respect for WCW or its long history. Maybe he was bringing Tennessee wrestling back to the forefront but he wasn't as respectful to World Championship Wrestling which to me showcased and represented Carolina(s) tradition. I feel like I don't owe him a thank you or anything because he created a fed but couldn't maintain it and only after other investors came in and his power was permanently downsized did it stabilize. I feel like Dixie Carter made TNA as we know it today and its more hers then his. I mean me being grateful to Jarrett is like thanking Joel Goodhart (founder of the Tri-State Wrestling Alliance) for what ECW did.

It's kinda like having a son and watching him grow up to be something big. You raised him and once he left your hands, he prospered. I know it sounds corny, but I believe that's how he feels.

Its kinda to me like being an absentee dad, seeing your son make it big then coming back into his life one day saying "Hey sonny boy how ya been?" Kid basically raised himself, why does he even deserve a hug..

While I respect Jarret and appreciate him creating TNA, I dislike him for the same resaons I dislike Triple-H. All that power

thats kinda different though. Trips never founded a company or owned one. Vince McMahon made WWE into what it is today and in stark contrast to the WWWF. Do you think that Jarrett has the RIGHT to place himself into the top spot since unlike WCW he actually played a role in the company's foundation? Do we have the right to argue with Jarrett in this particular situation as opposed to others?

I voted option 5 on the poll.

 

[Neiler187]

I've always been a fan of him because he's great in the ring and on the mic.

 

[WRESTLINGFREAK]

well I've watched Jarrett for long years, ever since his run in wwf before going to wcw, I never really saw anything amazing in him, but with the pass of the years I've began to see him a different way, specially after he founded TNA and I saw an interview of his "KING OF THE MOUNTAIN DVD", in which he expressed all the passion he has for wrestling and the tradition of his family in the biz.

Whoever has that passion for this industry, in my view deserves some respect, just for giving his life to the industry and respecting it, did he have some backstage power in wcw? well let me tell you, if you don't have some power or good relations within a company you'll NEVER be world champion. Flair had Jim Crockett always pushing him, if not for Jim Ric wouldn't have been such a champion. Triple H with Vince and also Hogan soooo that doesn't bother me.

Jarrett good worker, Intercontinental champ, tag champ, world champ, TNA founder, I think he's made his contributions to the industry.

So yes my perceptions changed but not because I watch TNA a lot, but most because I found that interview and saw how much wrestling means to him.

 

[bookerman]

Where do I start with Jarrett? He had decent matches in WCW and his initial outfit cracked me up every time I saw it. I liked it when he had Tennessee Lee with him in the WWF, although it was a really short stint. Unlike many people, I was a big fan of the "Chosen One" gimmick, simply because it made a great heel and annoyed the piss out of me. I think he gave it his all to make it work and don't agree that this was some part of a global scheme to kill WCW. It was just weird timing in a weird time for the company. I'd like to divide my argument into 3 parts regarding his TNA years and my perception of him:

= As a wrestler - He really took it upon himself to carry the company on his back and I don't blame him. In a time that TNA wasn't that financially stable, he was the one guy who was always going to be there, plus he had the motivation for it because he founded the place and all. I'll admit that he started hogging the belt at one point and that I'm glad he had to step down (not trying to disrespect the passing of his wife in any way), but he rose to the occasion in an environment where he could rely only on himself as I mentioned before.

=As a founder - I don't give two farts and a martini who founded TNA, because it went under in a week, or two and if it weren't for Bob Carter's money, I wouldn't even be writing this. Panda Energy saved TNA...period.

=As head of Creative - 2002 - 2007 were some great years. Despite a few glitches, they managed to keep a proper direction with the storylines and completed their long-term goals. Their PPVs made 30 000 - 40 000 buys which wasn't that bad, considering the fact they were moving between networks and had no coverage at one point. 2008 was when it became weird. The product got gimmicked up to the extent of a "Mouse on a Pole match". Shark Boy got the biggest pops, there was incomplete shit flying around, Christmas trees made of barbed wire, etc. The product became nearly unwatchable and I would have to blame Jarrett because he had the final say on all the storylines that took place, good or bad. This led to 2009 where he had to return and air his personal drama of losing his wife and having to take care of his three little girls. It sickened me. They kept on repeating it, over and over again, to the point where I thought it was disrespectful to the memory of his own wife. Just as a comparison, Slammiversary 2009 made 7000 buys. The mEm storyline bombed 4 months into it's run. Foley, Jarrett, Sting and Angle were always in some 3-way or 4-way match that lasted less than 10 minutes in the ME of every PPV. I can go on and on about the mistakes TNA made that year. Then Dixie found out he was boning Angle's x-wife and suspended him, also firing Dutch Mantell, which gave us 3 months of fresh stuff and probably the best BfG card up to that point. (The PPV was one giant botch, which is a shame).

In conclusion, I hate Jeff Jarret, despite my wish not to, because he wasted a year of my life with idiot creative decisions. Those were my perceptions of him - from his highest high, to his spiralling down the toilet.

 

[holdingholder]

I dislike him for the same resaons I dislike Triple-H. All that power, but it's all self serving
I'll sya the difference between him and Triple H is that HHH actually belongs in the main event scene. Jarrett is probably the biggest reason I stopped watching WCW, that whole chosen one phase stunk big time, whenever his crappy music hit I would turn the channel. I will always see him as a self proclaimed main eventer who thinks he can draw, but can't draw shit, he's a midcarder for life. And then afterward, he went on to plague the TNA main event scene which made me stay away from their product for the first few years. I really don't care for the guy, when he was the Intercontinental champ he was respectable, because that's where he belongs.

 

[One to Remember]

the slap nuts routine grew on me after a while i will admit. I did crack some grins after i kept seeing heads go through guitars but he did not need more then 1 WCW World title reign. For the sake of experimentation just to see if they could work off his heat to elevate another guy and get the title on a face that could draw. I think it was deffenently X-Pac Heat he had though.

Holdingholder good call on the I-C title remark. At least at some point Trips did deserve his place on top of the mountain, I will always ALWAYS concede that about him,

 

[JenksIX]

Yeah, I never liked Jarrett in WWE/early WCW.

I did not really like Jarrett in WCW until the slapnuts promos. And as for TNA, I thought Jarrett was a good heel for the company. I really liked the skits/promos TNA were doing back in 06' and what not and the stables they had in place. I really would like to see a heel Jeff Jarrett now.

So yes, if it weren't for TNA I would not have appreciated Jarrett, not just b/c of him founding TNA, but also his work in TNA. I never saw a "good side" of Jarrett until TNA and while he's actually a pretty good face, he'd probably help out more being a heel, an apart of a group.

So yes, my perceptions have definitely changed, but for different reasons other then just being a TNA supporter.

 

[rondiesel2005]

i was never a fan of Jeff Jarrett, he had some good matches in the WWE especially with Shawn Michaels at In Your House, i remember that match. he had some decent matches in WCW as well till they put the world title belt around his waist. And because of that the ratings kept dropping. the only finisher move i remember him doing while in WWE was the Figure Four leglock and then in both WCW and TNA he use the Stroke, correct me but that is not really a big impact finisher for a move like the Stroke..

Since i been watching TNA Jeff Jarrett bores me everytime he goes out to wrestle, i remember the worst match that i seen was with him and mic Foley, the match was horrible. I appropriate everything he done and founded TNA, but doesnt mean he the best entertainer in the business

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I respect Jeff Jarrett for putting his money where his mouth is and taking a gamble. He had a dream, he had the means of possibly doing something great and he took his shot. Most people don't have the drive, the know-how, the means or some combo of all of the above to chase a dream so I give Jarrett props for that.

To some degree, I do like Jeff Jarrett and at the same time I don't. I like Jeff Jarrett ok as a mid-card wrestler. Jarrett was always a pretty solid mid-card worker and I think that's where he always belonged and should have stayed. As a main eventer, can't stand the guy because it's a role that he's just never been cut out for in my opinion. He always struck me as a small person, metaphorically speaking, trying to fill a role that's much too big for him in terms of being a main event wrestler. I never remotely bought into it in WCW and I never bought into it in TNA.

I think the choices listed in the poll are interesting, though I don't think any completely reflect my overall perceptions of Jarrett. I respect him, but I've never been a huge fan. I think he's overall alright, but he's far from being great. If I had to go with one, I think I'd probably have to pick the last one. Without Panda Energy or Dixie Carter, TNA would've probably gone tits up years back. I don't think that option necessarily renders any opinions on Jarrett moot, but TNA would be long since dead without the infusion of capital from Panda Energy.

 

[The Best At What I Do]

I feel like I shouldn't even respond to this since it's asking about something I did since I've become a TNA supporter and I find it quite difficult to support the foolishness I see every Thursday night. However, I do watch it (usually) so maybe I am a supporter.

Anyways, Double J sucks and he always have. He honestly strikes me as a lifelong midcard guy that has taken advantage of his pull in order to place himself in the main event. Jarrett is nothing special in the ring or on the mic and the fans have known this for a long time now. There's a reason Mike Graham said "he broke 6,000 guitars and never drew a dime." It was true. No one ever came to see JJ and I don't think anyone believes him as a main event talent. I would go as far to say that the 6 NWA championship reigns he awarded himself while running TNA should be stricken from the record books.

 

[Mr Jones]

In this day and age, it doesn't even matter anymore.

Now don't get me wrong. It takes real ambition to have a dream of owning your own promotion and seeing that dream taking shape, however, that dream can also turn into a nightmare. The fact is that nobody held down more people than Jarrett during the first years of TNA. Monty Brown was a slam-dunk, but Jarrett just had to get another senseless PPV win and that opportunity to make a new star was wasted, never even to be attempted again in the final fifteen months of Monty’s time in TNA and that promo that he did on last thursday's Impact isn't even worthy of a response. The fact is if Jarrett truly felt that A.J. and Joe were the future of the company, the aces of the company, the men he wanted to be the faces of TNA, he would’ve done everything in his power to make it happen, and had countless opportunities to do so. The reality is Jarrett barely lifted a finger for either man once Russo came in proves that. In reality, there is and always has been only one face of TNA and that is Jeff Jarrett. So in some ways I’m not too disappointed that the King Of The Mountain isn't taking up much TV time like he did in the past, but at the same time, the guy does have a greater knowledge of the business than Dixie & Russo combined, does care about the people working for him, but he just cares more about himself and his image since it is a promotion that he started from the ground up.

With the rate TNA is going with Dixie turning a blind eye while Hogan, Bischoff, and Russo run amok, that place is gonna be the breeding ground for so many wrestling industry horror stories in another few years.

 

[Derrtown]

Ive always loved JJ. Loved him when he was tag champs with Owen and winning intercontinental championships and i loved seeing him as a World heavyweight champ in WCW.

As for TNA, well ive always wanted to meet him, shake his hand, look him right in the eye, and thank him for creating TNA. I was a huge wrestling fan up until about when Austin and Rock left for good then WWE to me was unbearably bad and i stopped watching it. But a few years later i found TNA and the company Jarrett founded brought back the passion i had as a wrestling fan. He will always have a special place in my wrestling heart.

 

[Furyof5]

I like and respect Jeff Jarret. He created a wrestling company and it has grown and bloomed into TNA. That being said I can not stand him as a wrestler.

Dont get me wrong, when he was wrestling as a mid-carder I found him to be decent, and overall solid; but the moment he became a main-eventer I had disdain for him. The man is a mid-carder for life, and does not belong in the Main event, let alone winning as many titles in TNA as he did. The fact that TNA is/was his company made it even worse, and that he tries to insert himself in high profile storylines makes me dislike him even more.

I think that he at this stage would be much better off behind the scenes, not in high profile matches/fueds.

 

[One to Remember]

the majority of things i hear here express the main criticisms i have been hearing for years, that is Jarrett is a mid-carder who needed to stay there. I have heard Russo in the past comment about how WCW had needed fresh blood, the young talents like Booker T and he also included Jarrett. I was gona ask if it was possible for any mid carder to go beyond where they seemed to belong but judging by most of your remarks the WWF had him right were he belonged PERIOD. Was there not any work that could had been done on him to make him deserve a spot in the main event? Maybe like winning the WCW title at World War 3 or something?

I would go as far to say that the 6 NWA championship reigns he awarded himself while running TNA should be stricken from the record books.

That's a bit extreme. I mean Jarrett is probably not WCW title material but I think he is better then Adam Pierce, Ogawa, Severn, and Killings probably. Hes not the worse NWA champ of this past decade..

 

[It's Damn Real!]

No, not particularly. I never liked Jeff, ever. I hated him as J-E-Double F J-A-Double R-E-Double T, and I hated him as SlapNuts, and I hated him as The Founder, too. Jarrett is a self-serving hillbilly with a bloated sense of self-worth, and he always has been, really. Just because he's been seen on screen as talking about how it's "not about" him anymore, or the other veterans in the company, for that matter, and conversely that it's about the "young guys", doesn't heal his past wounds, and it doesn't take away from the fact that he still requires a set amount of press in the company he just so happened to have founded.

This is still the same man who awarded himself the NWA title on numerous occasions and the same man who generally refused to lose it at various points in his TNA career, just as Hogan did with WCW.

 

[Chris Kennedy Himself]

. I would go as far to say that the 6 NWA championship reigns he awarded himself while running TNA should be stricken from the record books.

You said it bro. He is a total ham, Jarrett does NOT care about the wrestling business, he didn't create TNA so that he could create a place for guys to work, he did it so he could put his ass back on TV because he knew all to well WWE wouldn't take him back. The fact the Double-J won the majority of his World Championships while running TNA speaks volumes. Any man who awards himself the companys top prize several times, openly insults the talent in interviews and steals wife of his companies TOP guy, that is a man who does NOT care about the wrestling business.
Jarrett was a very poor champion who DIDN'T earn it, and he was a poor business man to boot.
His only credible career accomplishment, in my opinion, was midcarding in the attitude era WWF, before jobbing to Chyna and being released.

 

[realdealasshole]

Here's the thing about Jarrett that I have always respected. He LOVES wrestling. It is in his blood and he does it to the best of his ability. That said, while he has always worked as hard, if not harder than most main eventers past and present, he just never had the ability to be a main eventer. He just didn't. Perhaps that's why people tend to not like him. However, he wasn't the one that chose to put the WCW title on himself so we can't blame him for that. As for his run in TNA as being world champ for a long time...to that I say, who else should have held it? It's good for a young company to have a recognizable name as champion, whether they've ever been a truly great main eventer or not.

Here's the greatest reason that I respect and like Jeff Jarrett though. On the final night of WCW, in the first scene when McMahon was talking to the wrestling world about his plans for WCW, the first thing he said was that Jeff Jarrett was fired and would never have a job with him again. He slapped him in the face leaving him with nothing. Now I don't know the background story to why Vince and Jeff hate each other, but it's clear Vince has no respect for Jarrett. Yet, rather than just becoming another retired wrestler, Jarrett decided to take a shot at starting his own company. Who would've thought they'd get this far? That took some balls. And he's done a great job. So yeah, I do like Jarrett.

 

[Monkey_Mania]

I've always liked Jeff Jarrett. I have thought he was a hell of a talent for any promotion he works for. I even liked him when he booked himself to be champion because I understood it. But now? It seems like everything he says and every movement seems forced. I don't know what it is. It could be because I'm still used to him as a heel. It just seems that he has really regressed, and is not as interesting anymore. That could be the nature of the business though, and nothing to do with his performance at all. But in reality. He does seem forced.

 

[sam_k7]

im at a bit of a disadvantage here because the first ever wrestling match i ever did watch and that got me hooked was a "Dubbul JAYEEE" match in WWF....i think it was the shinny hat that did it for me.
So because of this i cannot help but feel happy when i see him despite his wrestling / mic work being sub-par (imo)
so i HAD 2 vote "always liked him"

I s'pose democracy doesnt ALWAYS work.

 

[MrHashasheen]

Anyways, Double J sucks and he always have. He honestly strikes me as a lifelong midcard guy that has taken advantage of his pull in order to place himself in the main event. Jarrett is nothing special in the ring or on the mic and the fans have known this for a long time now. There's a reason Mike Graham said "he broke 6,000 guitars and never drew a dime." It was true. No one ever came to see JJ and I don't think anyone believes him as a main event talent. I would go as far to say that the 6 NWA championship reigns he awarded himself while running TNA should be stricken from the record books.

I'd add the WCW Heavyweight reigns as well, both World and United States.