Jeff Jarrett Reflects On Returning To WWE in 2018, Taylor Swift Being a ‘Family Friend’

Jeff Jarrett came back to WWE for a bit when he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2018, and he discussed “mending fences” with the company. Jarrett was inducted into the Hall of Fame at WrestleMania 34 in 2018, and he took on a backstage role with the company until he exited in 2021.

Jarrett spoke on Insight With Chris Van Vliet about the “miunderstood” notion that he there were issues with Jarrett and Vince McMahon in the years before he returned. He also spoke about his fairly well-known status as a “family friend” of pop icon Taylor Swift, who babysat his kids when his late wife Jill was dealing with breast cancer. You can see the highlights below:

On Taylor Swift Babysitting His Kids:

“Taylor Swift stories. You know, born and raised, lived in Hendersonville since I was a kid, but Scott Swift, Taylor’s dad, in the financial services business, could work out of his house. Taylor’s got a brother, Austin, but she wanted to be a country music star from a really early age, and so they packed up, and they moved to Hendersonville. Moved down here, and you know, she went to the same high school that all my kids went, and all that. So my first wife, Jill, had gotten real sick, and so just friends among friends around town, and that album Tim McGraw had just come out, so she was just breaking, not on tour, anything is around Christmas time. So a friend of a friend asked her to come over and play for the girls and my wife, and so that’s where the relationship started.

“In that time, TNA had so much going on there. Wife who’s sick, daughters, just a real challenging time, and so in this community one thing led to another, and it started out with seven or eight of us, and Taylor just kept playing. I’ve said this, it turned into a couple-hour concert. She played everything, but that’s when the girls and her bonded. Then, tough time, and a couple of months later, my wife passed away, and Taylor was with them through it all. She would call from time to time, ‘Hey, what are the girls doing this afternoon? I’d like to come over and make cookies. I’d like to just spend time with them.’ She’d come over and there’s a picture floating around playing the piano, but that’s the side of Taylor people don’t see. The little girl’s grown up, gone to the Big Apple and tying the knot, but she just became what you call a family friend, so I can officially say she’s never been on the Jarrett payroll, so she never had a paid gig as a babysitter, but very, very good to the girls.”

On Mending His Relationship With WWE Before His Hall of Fame Induction:

“That is another truly misunderstood kind of narrative. You mentioned earlier, ‘Oh, Jeff got fired.’ No, his contract ran out. Jeff started TNA in the early years of TNA. I had multiple conversations with Vince McMahon. ‘Hey, Vince, is there any way that we can work together? Is there something there?’ There was nothing. He knew that we were all that. We were certainly not in competition, but as time went on, it was very apparent he viewed us as competition. We were the number two, whatever the gap was, we were definitely the number two. Two hours on network television, the network that he used to be on, and we were successful, 2 million viewers a week. Anyway, so that kind of relationship.

“Then the call came first week of 2018. Hey Jeff, and the words were not ‘WWE wants you in the Hall of Fame,’ [they were] ‘Vince wants to put you in the Hall of Fame.’ It’s another misunderstanding. My dad and Vince McMahon talked every Sunday afternoon before Vince had his trial, and while it was going on. So Vince knew that my dad and his father were peers, so to speak, Vince Senior being the older statesman, and my dad being the younger of the promoter territory. So a family again, me and Owen had our connection. I think Vince and myself have always had a promoter connection, and so mended fences, I just don’t think that’s probably the correct phrasing.”