Csonka Looks at Jeff Jarrett’s Unlikely Road to The WWE Hall of Fame

This time of the year is always fascinating. Not just for the build to WrestleMania, but because of WWE Hall of Fame announcements. Now to be completely clear, I think it’s cool that the WWE Hall of Fame means a lot to those going in, but to me it’s largely a big old crock of shit. It doesn’t mean anything, it’s whoever Vince likes at the moment, whoever they think they can make money with, whoever the videogame company is working with or whoever Triple H makes peace with for Vince. But for some reason, people get really worked up about it, we get some insane arguments about who should and shouldn’t be in, but it doesn’t matter, because it’s Vince’s sandbox.

And on some level it’s good fun, and does lead to some fascinating discussion. But it’s also predictable, for every woman that goes in, the Chyna argument starts up again. I suppose if the WWE Hall of Fame actually meant something I may care. It’s an event for the WWE Network, it’s a fun time for the boys and girls to get together, to tell stories and feel important again, and on that level, and it’s a fine event. And if you’re happy that one of your favorites got in, that’s awesome. Celebrate, be happy, but also recognize what the whole thing is, just another part of the show.

And then it was announced that Jeff Jarrett was the latest induction, and with all due respect, my first question was, Why? Jarrett has been in the business for 30-years, he’s been everywhere, and had some success everywhere, but he’s always been “fine” to me. He was a career midcard guy, he’s had some great matches, but even when champion in WCW & TNA, he wasn’t the guy. He didn’t draw at all, and never connected with me as a top guy. When WCW folded and was bought by WWE, he made his own company to try and will the void. For that, I am personally appreciative, because (and I have talked about this before), TNA came at a time, when as a fan, I needed them. It gave me something different and introduced me to a ton of talent I loved and some I still do. If it wasn’t for TNA, I may have dropped watching wrestling, and reviewing TNA got me my job here at 411. A job that allows me to earn a living working from home, and also allowed me to meet great people and also stay at home to raise my kids and keep them out of daycare. So while Jarrett isn’t what I’d consider an all-time great or hall of famer, I greatly appreciate the role he played in saving my fandom.

So that begs the question: Why now? Why is he going into the WWE hall of fame now? If you ask me (and I am so glad you did), this is a 100% Triple H move. It’s been no secret over the past few years that Triple H is the peacemaker, rebuilding bridges with talents that most felt were burned forever (most importantly, Bruno Sammartino, who most felt would never be back n the fold). At this rate, they should pack Triple H into a crate (ala Spies Like Us) and drop the man into war zones to negotiate peace treaties. But the latest news is that Triple H is putting together a team for when he takes more control in WWE, and that was the main reason he hired Jeremy Borash from Impact Wrestling. Now follow me here, Jarrett and Borash worked together for years and were friends. WWE wants to break into India, and Jarrett made contacts and had some mild success with Ring Ka King. WWE is also looking to allegedly still launch their UK show. Brash did a ton of working the UK for TNA/Impact Wrestling, launching British Bootcamp. Jarrett also had dealing with ITV to work on the World of Sport relaunch along with Impact wrestling, making contacts there. With his work in India and the UK, along with his history working with Borash, to me, it makes sense to bring in Jarrett as part of Triple H’s team. On top of that, I could see Jarrett working at the Performance Center as a coach, and also lecturing the younger talons, sharing his decades of experience and also warning on the dangers of alcohol abuse. When thinking about it that way, it makes total sense to me, because WWE doesn’t do anything like this without a clear plan in place. I wish they put that much effort into their main program booking. But when you consider Jarrett’s timeline, he feels like one of the most unlikely hall of fame candidates in a long time…

* 1999: Jarrett wrestled at No Mercy, losing the Intercontinental Championship to Chyna. His contract expired right before the match and he left the company alleging that WWE owed him money, and returned to WCW to work with his boy Vince Russo.
* 2001: Vince McMahon acquires WCW & fires Jarrett on live TV
* 2002: Jeff Jarrett and father Jerry Jarrett start Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.
* 2002: TNA debuts in June.
* 2002: Health South bails as an investor in August (reports of falsely inflated PPV numbers surface, which caused the company to spend beyond their means).
*2002: Panda Energy and its Chairman and CEO Bob Carter acquired a controlling interest of TNA in October; the Dixie Carter era begins while Jarrett become a minority shareholder.
* 2011: Following issues between Kurt Angle & Karen (angle’s ex-wife & Jarrett’s new wife) Jarrett is exiled from the company.
* 2012-2014: Jarrett worked for AAA, and ran Ring ka King.
* 2013: Jeff Jarrett & Toby Keith tried to buy TNA and failed (reports were that Bob Carter demanded that his daughter Dixie remain in the company as on-screen President).
* 2013: Jarrett resigned from TNA Entertainment in December (he remained an investor).
* 2014: Jeff Jarrett looks to start over again and announces Global Force Wrestling in April.
* 2014-2015: Works with NJPW to bring WrestleKingdom 9 to US PPV, fails to get them to partner with GFW.
* 2015: Jarrett returns to TNA in June, wins the KOTM Title, gets GFW on TV and feuds with TNA hoping to gain some much-needed name recognition, sells his remaining TNA stake to Dixie Carter in order to fund GFW.
* 2015: Gets access to select TNA talent, tapes 16 one-hour episodes of GFW Amped TV, which never aired.
* 2016: Global Force Wrestling exists in name alone.
* 2017: Anthem Entertainment hires Jarrett to run the newly branded Impact Wrestling.
* 2017: Brings in his wife and closest allies (Dutch Mantel, Scott D’Amore, Sonjay Dutt).
* 2017: On Jun 28th, Anthem Entertainment and IMPACT Wrestling acquires Global Force Wrestling (which ended up not being the case).
* 2017: On June 30th, Jarrett end game was complete as it was announced that Impact Wrestling was re-branding to Global Force Wrestling.
* 2017: Jeff Jarrett gets control of his company back, changes the name and makes it appear that GFW is an actual thing, becoming the new king of the carnies, the new smartest man in wrestling. Until…
* 2017: In October, Impact Wrestling posted on Twitter, announcing that they have terminated its business relationship with Jeff Jarrett and Global Force Entertainment Inc., effective immediately.
* 2017: In October, a promoter claims Jarrett was drunk and passed out at an event, following a longtime set of rumors that Jarrett was having issues with alcohol abuse.
* 2017: In late October, Jarrett checks into WWE sponsored rehab.
* 2017: In December, Jarrett completes WWE sponsored rehab.
* 2018: In February, Jarrett is announced for the WWE Hall of Fame.

– Jarrett is happy, his friends and family are happy, and that’s all that matters. I would have lost money betting against this happening, especially considering his timeline. But I refuse to forgive that Milli Vanilli motherfucker for stealing “With My Baby Tonight” from the Real Double J…

On Thing We Can All Agree On, He Had Hall Of Fame Hair

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”