Jeff Jarrett On Why He Looks Back At WCW’s End Days With ‘Incredible Fondness’

Jeff Jarrett says he has fond memories of the final couple years of WCW, despite the company’s decline and the wild things going on backstage. 1999 and 2000 saw the rapid decline of the formerly dominant wrestling company as backstage egos, creative disasters, the Time Warner/AOL merger, and the rise of WWF sealed its fate.

Jarrett was one of the creative focuses of the company during that time, winning the WCW World Heavyweight Championship for the first time at Spring Stampede 2000 in Chicago’s United Center. He reflected on that period during his appearance on the Ariel Helwani Show, and you can see highlights below:

On How He Looks Back At that Era of WCW:

“With incredible fondness. And the reason I say that is… and again, this is something that I believe, and I’m glad to hear you say that. But I have a different set point in that, there’s a ton of examples. But one right off the top of my head — everybody remembers the empty arena match between Funk and Lawler with amazement. It was a disaster at the box office during the time. So, it’s the narrative that to me gets started on so many things.

“Did we do some crazy stuff at WCW? Absolutely. Has WWF done [crazy stuff], has TNA? It’s all, yes. But that time frame in my career — you know, I’m a basketball junkie. That’s my sport, I love it… the house that Jordan built, the United Center. So, a kid who grew up on basketball that got to win his first world title in the United Center; are you kidding me? It was a personal thing inside of me. So yeah, I love late [’90s], I love the WCW era.”

On the Problems in WCW At the Time:

“It was crazy, and you have to really experience it — you know, Hogan, Hall, Nash, the legit Millionaires Club. And they were dealing with their own set of — just, Vince [and WWE] got on fire and here’s these seven, eight, nine guys that are getting paid a fortune, and they’re getting ass kicked in ratings. And then here’s this New Blood group.

“And I’m looking around saying, ‘Hey, man, all we can control is what we do and get out there and bust our ass.’ So, I really focused during that time of my career. I did a conscious mentality that, ‘Jeff, go out and perform for these fans.’ That’s all you can do. You can’t control any of the insanity backstage.”

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.