Jeff Jarrett Recalls ‘Surreal’ Final WCW Nitro, Vince McMahon Singling Him Out On Show

Jeff Jarrett recently reflected on the final episode of WCW Nitro and being the lone person mentioned by Vince McMahon in his famous takeover promo. WWF bought the failing WCW in 2021 after Nitro and Thunder were canceled, with the final episode of Nitro coming after WWE bought WWE.

The episode aired with a segment simulcast between Raw and Nitro in which Vince McMahon talked about how he had bought his competition. Playing the evil owner character he was known for, McMahon specifically named Jeff Jarrett as fired in the segment. Jarrett reflected on that episode on the Ariel Helwani Show and whether he thought it was a dig at Jarrett for their contract situation when Jarrett left in 1999. You can see highlights below:

On McMahon Singling Him Out:

“So if you ask — look, I’ve never asked Vince…but when I really looked at it that night knowing, ‘Okay, this is March. I got a contract through the end of October. I looked at it, and Bruce Pritchard was there and the producer. And he pulled me aside. Again, Bruce produced me on the original ‘Double J’ vignettes, and me and Tom been best buds for years and so, his brother.

“So anyway, he said, ‘Hey man, just give you a heads up.’ I looked at it that night and going, ‘Okay, we got this entire roster on this simulcast. There’s a hundred guys here tonight. He picked me to put in a vignette. Of course, he’s the evil Mr. McMahon.’ I always looked at
that, as the evil Mr. McMahon that he’s going to dig one of his former talent and, ‘You’re gone.’ I never took it any more or any less.”

On the Night Being Surreal:

“I’m trying to think how to do a descriptor. I mean, you’re a TV guy, but you’re also a wrestling fan. As a lifer in this business — and I’m going to go back to TBS, 6:05 on Saturday nights. So, just that whole lineage and knowing — you know, there was people in production that were crying, that were somber. They knew, ‘Game, set, match.’ The people behind the camera, they knew, ‘Okay WWF, they don’t need us anymore.’ So, me being in tune with the production side, that kind of sucked. That’s sad.

“But then on the talent side, the surreal part. And I go — because my dad had tried to put together some financial folks, and they were going to make a run at it. And everybody heard about Bishoff and Fusion Media and all this. So, you heard all these different crazy stories and, ‘We’re going to keep,’ you know. Me and Dusty and Flair and Dustin did a story right there at the end. We’re all working. I certainly never called in a million years Vince buying. Like, ‘What?’ It was such a shock, and I’m going, ‘Boy oh boy, where is this going now?’ But you knew right away, ‘He’s got Raw and Smackdown. They’re not going to — it’s over. There is no number two anymore. He gobbled it up.’ It was more than surreal.”

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.