Jeff Jarrett Explains Why He Demanded Payday At WWE No Mercy ’99 As Contract Was Expiring

Jeff Jarrett recently discussed the full story of how he negotiated a $200,000 payday the day of WWE No Mercy 1999 as his contract was expiring. The famous story has always alleged that Jarrett, who was the Intercontinental Champion at that time and was scheduled to lose it to Chyna, “held up” Vince McMahon for the payday on his way out of the company. McMahon was said to have held a grudge over the matter.

Jarrett appeared on the Ariel Helwani Show and told the full story of the matter from his perspective, which he’s touched on in the past but not in this detail. He denied “holding Vince up” over the matter and explained how he made the request that he get paid what he was owed, because he knew he would have no leverage for any payouts after that and was already set to go to WCW. He said that getting it to $200,000 involved him reminding Jim Ross, who was head of Talent Relations at that time, how his pay was cut because he didn’t make his downside guarantee, as he was dealing with his then-wife Jill’s breast cancer and was kept off house shows by Linda McMahon. You can see highlights below:

On the Notion That He ‘Held Vince McMahon Up’:

“It is fascinating how some people say, ‘Jeff Jarrett held Vince McMahon up.’ Really think about that. Nobody’s going to hold Vince up for — I mean, it’s outlandish. It’s ridiculous.”

On The Elements That Brought the Situation Into Play:

“October [’99] is a funky month for me, but the — let’s call it the spring of ’99, during that time. And my character — getting into the summer, I had Miss Debra, then Miss Kitty. And that’s kind of one parallel, because Owen’s passing, The Godfather, I become Intercontinental Champion. And so, one road if you will is, my contract’s coming up in October. I’m the IC champ and Debra and the puppies had gotten hot, and Miss Kitty. And so, here’s this talent over here. And then you have DX and they’re super red hot, and [the] Attitude Era. And then it was proposed, ‘Hey, Chyna’s going to have her first match.’ So there really was a collision course between the male chauvinist deal, and here comes Chyna. So that sets the course.

“One of the pieces of puzzle that people just kind of gloss over was, Vince McMahon was taking his company public. And so, the summer and early fall of that year, he was out literally going around the world. He’d go to Raw, and then he’d get on a plane and do more bank — you know, he’s out prepping to sell, take the company public. So, I was dealing with JR in my contract negotiations. And he had to put his roster right. Me and Jim, he’s worked for me and New Japan Pro Wrestling and all that kind of stuff. But in that time, he had to keep his roster happy. And I’ll just say diplomatically, it wasn’t in favor of old Double J. He was playing hardball, and [I] didn’t quite like the offer and, ‘Hey Jim, I’m a red-hot heel.’ Anyway, contract negotiations were not going well.”

On His Contract Being Up At That Point:

“And then, you know, we’re building and we’re building and we’re building and we’re building, and my contract’s up and they have a pay-per-view. And they advertise it, and my contract expires on a Saturday night, and the pay-per-view’s on Sunday. The right hand being creative and the left hand being talent relations, and Vince not there for the most part, not talking to each other. They kind of put themselves in a unique position that worked in my favor.

“And so, the pay-per-view was coming up and I had a choice. The month of September, I knew that Jim was not going to cave, he wasn’t going to move on his number in negotiation. I thought, ‘I get it.’ The business is — ’99, if you really think about it, it was red-hot. If I wasn’t going to get a bump — and I’m not going to say a considerable bump, but a bump from where I was at — I knew that JR wasn’t going to play ball with me. ‘Okay,’ I said, ‘Let me figure this out.’ So, did a deal with WCW and JJ Dylan, and off to the races and agreed on a term. And so, when I did that, I was like, ‘Okay, so I’ve got my deal done. Now I’m champ. How do I leverage this?'”

On the Day of the PPV:

“I walked into the building on Sunday… Vince called me on Thursday on my voice machine. Called me on Friday three or four times. Called me on Saturday. I didn’t [pick up]. I’d already done the deal. And I probably knew — you know, my dad and Vince go way, way back. Vince is a hell of a salesman. I also didn’t want to throw shade. The deal had already been done. If Vince wanted me so bad, he should have called a month before. Maybe he did though, maybe he did. But I know from what I’ve heard afterwards, he was pissed off.

“But that being said, go in the building that day and we’ve got a situation. And Terry Taylor and Jim Ross come up to me and said, ‘How we doing?’ And I said, ‘Well, I’ll tell you how we’re doing.’ I said, ‘You guys know this business as well as I do. I’ve got three pay-per-views in the pipeline,’ because back then you get paid on 90 days. So, I got three pay-per-views. I got a UK, I got four or five house show runs or whatever the deal was. And I said, ‘I’d like to get paid tonight. Because when I leave here tonight, I got zero leverage and you guys can shuffle paper, and you can give me zero payoffs, $1 payoff. I have nothing, no legal recourse.’ Because I had talked to my attorney.

On His Negotiation For His Pay:

“And they go, ‘Okay, then how do you want to do this?’ I said, ‘I want my money tonight.’ ‘How much is that?’ And I gave him a figure. Then Jim said, ‘Well, we got to go talk to the big man. Let me go get it approved.’ So, he goes in; talks to Vince. He comes back. ‘Jeff, come here.’ And Terry Taylor’s with him. They sit down, said, ‘All right, man. We got a deal. Why don’t you go get your bag, get ready with Chyna.'”

On Reneging On the Deal Right Away:

“I said, ‘Jim, I got one more thing to share with you.’ ‘Yeah. What’s that, Jeff?’ I said, ‘Do you remember, I signed here in ’97.’ ‘Yep.’ And I said, ‘This is ’99. Do you remember what happened between year 1 in year two of my contract?’ He looked at me, he said, ‘What are you talking about?’ I said, ‘My wife got breast cancer.’ And I said, ‘Linda McMahon — not Jeff — Linda McMahon came to you and said, ‘Jeff can be on TV, but he’s not to make one house show. Not one. I don’t want to interfere with Vince. I don’t want to interfere with TVs, but he’s not going on the road house shows. He needs to be home with his wife.”

“[JR said], ‘Yep.’ And I said, ‘So, because of that directive of Linda, I didn’t meet my downside. I did not meet my downside number. And you came to me and said, ‘Hey, Jeff, you didn’t meet your downside. We’re going to cut your pay. We’re going to cut your pay in year two.’ And I said, ‘I have a sick wife and you’re going to cut my pay.’ And it wasn’t my doing; I was willing to work.’ ‘Yeah.’ I said, ‘So, you kind of reneged on the deal.’ ‘Yeah.’ ‘Well, Jim, we just came to an agreement. I’m reneging on this.'”

On Getting His Number Doubled:

“He just sat there and I said, ‘Double that number.’ He said, ‘Ah, Jeff.’ I said, ‘I totally understand. I totally understand if you don’t want to do it.’ He goes, ‘Let me go talk to Vince.’ And you know, he never did ask me, ‘Are you telling me if you don’t get this money, you’re not going to drop the title?’ Never asked me. Because the truth be known, my dad would have kicked my ass. No, I owed it to the business. I would have dropped the title. But I told him, ‘No, I want the money doubled.’ And so he went — and this is the part that nobody wants to hear. He goes to Vince, comes back to me, Jeff, go get your s**t on, go over the match with Chyna, da da da da.’

“So I went dressed, get with Chyna, going over the match. We kind of had it laid out. Pat Patterson had a hell of a finish. We talked through it and got it all kind of in our heads and all that. I go to the back and that’s where I’m doing my real stretching. And right around a corner… Vince walked around at three-piece suit, smiling from ear to ear. Pulls up his jacket, pulls out the check from the venue. It wasn’t a Titan check. It was from Gund Arena. And gave me the check and he said, ‘I appreciate you doing business tonight. Now go kill ‘ em. Knock ’em, dead.’ Hands me the check. I ran — got the check. Road Dogg said, ‘What are you doing?’ I said, ‘I’m going to lock this damn thing in my car.’ Anyway, that’s the story. I didn’t hold him up.”

On What He Would Have Said If JR Said No to the Doubling:

“I would have said, ‘Okay, let’s go to work. Give me my money.'”

On If JR Wouldn’t Have Agreed To Initial Demand:

“Good question. Do you know I’ve never been asked that? My gut tells me that it would have taken Vince to come to me and say, ‘Jeff, you need to do what’s right with the business.’ Because of my relationship with them, [that would have] probably been enough. I would have understood you don’t hold a promoter up.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit The Ariel Helwani Show with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.