Mid 20th Century
195-407: Jeffrey Leonard Jarrett (born July 14, 1967) is an American professional wrestler and promoter . He is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he also serves as Director of Business Development. Beginning his career in his father Jerry Jarrett 's Continental Wrestling Association (CWA) in 1986, Jarrett first came to prominence upon debuting with a country music star gimmick in
390-661: A Border City Wrestling (BCW) event. He lost the title to Rhino at Bound for Glory on October 23, but regained it on the November 3 episode of Impact! . Jarrett's reign lasted until Against All Odds on February 12, 2006, when he was defeated by Christian Cage . In the following months, Jarrett feuded with Sting, who had declared that Jarrett was a " cancer " in TNA. In the course of the feud, Scott Steiner debuted in TNA as an ally of Jarrett. At Slammiversary on June 18, 2006, Jarrett won his sixth NWA World Heavyweight Championship in
585-547: A Bunkhouse Brawl , then unsuccessfully challenged Benoit for the United States Heavyweight Championship in a ladder match . On the following episode of Nitro , Jarrett defeated Benoit in a rematch, winning the belt. In the same evening, Jarrett reformed the nWo with WCW World Heavyweight Champion Bret Hart and the reigning WCW World Tag Team Champions , Kevin Nash and Scott Hall , with
780-401: A Lethal Lockdown match. The following episode of Impact! , he delivered his first promo in months, stating it's not all about Jeff Jarrett and he returned to give back to the wrestlers and fans, officially completing his face turn. He then entered into a feud with Robert Roode , losing a match to him at Sacrifice . Jarrett was then scheduled to take on Styles with the winner to earn a spot in
975-450: A baton , following interference from Gunner and Murphy , his security officers. On the following episode of Impact! , Jarrett assaulted Joe after he had defeated Gunner and Murphy in a handicap match, but was then chased away by the returning Kurt Angle. At Final Resolution , Jarrett faced Joe in a submission match; after a pre-match assault and later an interference by Gunner and Murphy, Jarrett forced Joe to submit with an ankle lock. On
1170-435: A bona fide athletic contest or competition. Professional wrestling is not a combative sport. Wrestling constituting bona fide athletic contests and competitions, which may be professional or amateur combative sport, shall not be deemed professional wrestling under this Part. Professional wrestling as used in this Part shall not depend on whether the individual wrestlers are paid or have been paid for their performance in
1365-415: A performing art evolved from the common practice of match-fixing among American wrestlers in the 19th century, who later sought to make matches shorter, more entertaining, and less physically taxing. As the public gradually realized and accepted that matches were predetermined, wrestlers responded by increasingly adding melodrama, gimmickry, and outlandish stunt work to their performances to further enhance
1560-415: A professional wrestling exhibition. All engagements of professional wrestling shall be referred to as exhibitions, and not as matches. In the industry's slang, a fixed match is referred to as a worked match, derived from the slang word for manipulation, as in "working the crowd". A shoot match is a genuine contest where both wrestlers fight to win and are therefore "straight shooters", which comes from
1755-549: A referee in March 1986 and trained as a wrestler under his father and Tojo Yamamoto . Jarrett made his in-ring debut at the age of 18 on April 6, 1986, when jobber Tony Falk attempted to end his lengthy losing streak by challenging Jarrett, then a referee, to a match. Jarrett accepted the challenge, wrestling Falk to a 10-minute draw. Jarrett is a third-generation wrestler: his father wrestled, as did his maternal grandfather, Eddie Marlin , while his paternal grandmother, Christine,
1950-624: A "fan's revenge" lumberjack match at No Surrender , with Joe winning the match. At the Bound for Glory pay-per-view on October 22, Sting defeated Jarrett for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship after Jarrett was forced to submit to Sting's signature finisher, the Scorpion Death Lock . On the following episode of Impact! , Jarrett announced in an interview that he was leaving TNA indefinitely. For
2145-459: A 15-year-old girl, though charges were dropped when the alleged victim recanted her story. As a result, the feud between Lawler and Vince McMahon back in the USWA was also abruptly discontinued. Lawler did not face Bret Hart at another pay-per-view until the first In Your House , when he beat Hart after Hakushi and his manager Shinja interfered. This set up a "Kiss My Foot" match at King of
SECTION 10
#17327919610572340-503: A King of the Mountain match when referee Earl Hebner tipped over a ladder that Christian Cage and Sting were simultaneously climbing. He retained the title in a bout with Sting at Hard Justice after Cage turned on Sting, hitting him with one of Jarrett's guitars. After a polygraph proved that Jarrett had cheated to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, Director of Authority Jim Cornette forced Jarrett to wrestle Samoa Joe in
2535-413: A background in authentic wrestling no longer mattered. After this time, matches became more outlandish and gimmicky and any semblance professional wrestling had to catch wrestling faded. The personas of the wrestlers likewise grew more outlandish. Gorgeous George , who performed throughout the 1940s and 1950s, was the first wrestler whose entrance into the arena was accompanied by a theme song played over
2730-422: A brief feud with The Ultimate Warrior , Lawler began feuding with Jake Roberts after making fun of Roberts' real life drug and alcohol problems. The two met in a match at SummerSlam 1996 , which Lawler won. After the match, Lawler poured Jim Beam whiskey down Roberts' throat. Afterwards, he feuded with Mark Henry , which the two meet at In Your House 10: Mind Games which Henry won. In early 1997, Lawler
2925-532: A carny term for a shooting gallery gun whose sights were not deliberately misaligned. Wrestling in the United States blossomed in popularity after the Civil War , with catch wrestling eventually becoming the most popular style. At first, professional wrestlers were genuine competitive fighters, but they struggled to draw audiences because Americans did not find real wrestling to be very entertaining, so
3120-519: A central authority. Nor could any of them stomach the idea of leaving the NWA themselves to compete directly with McMahon, for that would mean their territories would become fair game for the other NWA members. McMahon also had a creative flair for TV that his rivals lacked. For instance, the AWA's TV productions during the 1980s were amateurish, low-budget, and out-of-touch with contemporary culture, which lead to
3315-585: A champion that Curley put forth: Dick Shikat . The National Wrestling Association shut down in 1980. In 1948, a number of promoters from across the country came together to form the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). The NWA recognized one "world champion", voted on by its members, but allowed member promoters to crown their own local champions in their territories. If a member poached wrestlers from another member, or held matches in another member's territory, they risked being ejected from
3510-408: A clean pin and briefly held the belt, being stripped on the same card. The championship was returned to Jarrett and the change was not recorded as official by TNA or the NWA. Despite his efforts to hold on to the title, however, he lost it to long-time rival A.J. Styles at Hard Justice on May 15, 2005. Jarrett won his fourth NWA World Heavyweight Championship on September 15, 2005, defeating Raven at
3705-665: A contract dispute. Later that year, The Roadie revealed that he had in fact sung "With My Baby Tonight" and that Jarrett had been lip synching . After leaving WWF in January 1996, Jarrett returned to USWA in Memphis. He won the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship for the third time defeating Jerry Lawler on April 20. He dropped the title back to Lawler in August and left USWA before
3900-494: A controlling interest in TNA in 2002, although Jarrett remained a minority owner. On the inaugural TNA pay-per-view on June 19, 2002, Jarrett took part in a Gauntlet for the Gold with the NWA World Heavyweight Championship on the line, but was eliminated by country singer Toby Keith. In the following months, Jarrett feuded with Scott Hall, Brian Lawler, and Brian Girard James. On November 20, 2002, Jarrett defeated Ron Killings to win
4095-492: A deal with WWF Chairman Vince McMahon for $ 200,000 in order to wrestle at No Mercy without a contract. In 2006, Jarrett asserted that he had been paid only what he was owed by the WWF. In a 2008 interview for a TNA special, Jarrett stated that not only were his negotiations cordial and in good faith, but that he also got stock options in WWF's initial public offering , which occurred two days after he left. Jarrett returned to WCW on
SECTION 20
#17327919610574290-419: A degree. Vince Russo, the boss of WCW in 2000, completely disregarded kayfabe by routinely discussing business matters and office politics in public, which alienated fans. I watch championship wrestling from Florida with wrestling commentator Gordon Solie . Is this all "fake"? If so, they deserve an Oscar . Jerry Lawler Jerry O'Neil Lawler (born November 29, 1949), better known as Jerry "
4485-404: A distinct vernacular . It has achieved mainstream success and influence within popular culture , with many terms, tropes , and concepts being referenced in everyday language as well as in film , music , television , and video games . Likewise, numerous professional wrestlers have become national or international icons with recognition by the broader public. In the United States, wrestling
4680-517: A dominant stable known as Planet Jarrett with Monty Brown , Kip James , and, later, Rhino . Jarrett also used the phrase "Planet Jarrett" to refer to TNA as a whole, reflecting his real-life stake in the company and his prominent role within the promotion. On April 3, 2005, Jarrett defended the championship outside NWA territory, wrestling Ray González in the International Wrestling Association . González won with
4875-649: A dual champion, Jarrett challenged Diesel for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship in the main event of the February 20 episode of Raw , but lost the match. Razor Ramon received a rematch at WrestleMania XI which Jarrett lost by disqualification , but retained the Intercontinental Championship. Jarrett and The Roadie lost as a duo to Razor Ramon in a handicap match at In Your House 1 . On April 26, 1995,
5070-410: A fee, a visitor could challenge the wrestler to a quick match. If the challenger defeated the champion in a short time frame, usually 15 minutes, he won a prize. To encourage challenges, the carnival operators staged rigged matches in which an accomplice posing as a visitor challenged the champion and won, giving the audience the impression that the champion was easy to beat. This practice taught wrestlers
5265-850: A feud against The Moondogs . The feud between Jarrett/Lawler and The Moondogs was voted the 1992 PWI Feud of the Year by Pro Wrestling Illustrated . He won the USWA World Tag Team Championship with Jarrett four times and twice with Bill Dundee . Lawler dropped the USWA Unified World Heavyweight for the last time to Dutch Mantel on August 8, 1997, in an All Body Hair match. The promotion closed in November 1997. Lawler began his WWF career in December 1992 as an announcer on Superstars , while still working in USWA. He made his in-ring debut at
5460-557: A feud with Tazz. At SummerSlam , Lawler wrestled Tazz in defense of Ross, and defeated him. At Unforgiven , he lost to Tazz in a Leather Strap match. Also, Lawler feuded with Tazz's partner Raven until January 2001. With the creation of the XFL in 2001, Lawler was given the job as an announcer for the new football league. Lawler claims that he never wanted to announce for the XFL (he would admit on-air that he knew and cared almost nothing about
5655-401: A fight, but Jarrett simply exited. At SummerSlam , Jarrett won the match by pinfall. Around this time, Jarrett began a feud with the 1-2-3 Kid's friend, WWF Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon . Jarrett would face both men at Survivor Series 1994 , Jarrett's team competed in another five vs. five tag team match, this time with elimination rules. Jarrett's team lost when all the members of
5850-487: A hair vs. hair match at SummerSlam . Jarrett's long hair was subsequently cut short by DX and Howard Finkel , who had himself been shaved bald by Jarrett and Southern Justice shortly before SummerSlam. Jarrett and Southern Justice were defeated by DX at Breakdown: In Your House in September, and the trio separated shortly thereafter. Jarrett briefly feuded with Al Snow before reuniting with Debra, who had left WCW for
6045-405: A legitimate sport. Firstly, wrestling was more entertaining when it was faked, whereas fakery did not make boxing any more entertaining. Secondly, in a rigged boxing match, the designated loser must take a real beating for his "defeat" to be convincing, but wrestling holds can be faked convincingly without inflicting injury. This meant that boxers were less willing to "take dives"; they wanted to have
Jeff Jarrett - Misplaced Pages Continue
6240-687: A match against Gus Sonnenberg in January 1929. Bowser then broke away from the trust to form his own cartel, the American Wrestling Association (AWA), in September 1930, and he declared Sonnenberg to be the AWA champion. This AWA should not be confused with Wally Kadbo's AWA founded in 1960. Curley reacted to this move by convincing the National Boxing Association to form the National Wrestling Association , which in turn crowned
6435-625: A match between the two at King of the Ring 1994 which Lawler lost. In the fall of 1994, Lawler initiated a feud with Doink the Clown. Lawler popped the balloons carried by Doink's midget sidekick, Dink . After Doink and Dink retaliated, Lawler introduced a midget sidekick of his own, who he named Queasy. In the following weeks, Doink added two more sidekicks, Wink and Pink, while Lawler introduced Sleazy and Cheesy. This led to an elimination match at Survivor Series 1994 , which Lawler's team won. After
6630-521: A match the next time that the WWF came to Memphis. Beginning in October, Jarrett himself began making appearances on WWF house show events, defeating Mondo Kleen (who would later debut as Damian Demento ) and Barry Horowitz . At a WWF Wrestling Challenge taping in Louisville, Kentucky , on October 28, Jarrett scored his biggest victory of his nascent WWF career by upsetting Rick Martel . However,
6825-424: A more literal meaning in those places. A notable example is India's Pro Wrestling League . In numerous American states, professional wrestling is legally defined as a non-sport. For instance, New York defines professional wrestling as: Professional wrestling means an activity in which participants struggle hand-in-hand primarily for the purpose of providing entertainment to spectators and which does not comprise
7020-440: A new city, attendance was high because there was a waiting fanbase cultivated in advance by the cable TV shows. The NWA's traditional anti-competitive tricks were no match for this. The NWA attempted to centralize and create their own national cable television shows to counter McMahon's rogue promotion, but it failed in part because the members of the NWA, ever protective of their territories, could not stomach submitting themselves to
7215-478: A new enemy in Kevin Nash, who claimed that Jarrett himself, and not Sting, was what was wrong with TNA. Sting returned from his suspension on the August 5 episode of Impact! , wearing a new red face paint, and, together with Nash, beat down Jarrett, Bischoff and Hogan. On the August 26 episode of Impact! , Jarrett attempted to recruit Samoa Joe to help him against Nash and Sting, but was turned down. Thus Jarrett
7410-476: A pinfall in seconds over his bloodied opponent. Jarrett was sidelined for a month before making his return at Slammiversary VIII , where he cost Sting his TNA World Heavyweight Championship match against Rob Van Dam. On the June 24 episode of Impact! , Sting assaulted Jarrett to the point that TNA president Dixie Carter suspended him for 30 days without pay the following week. During Sting's suspension, Jarrett found
7605-462: A result. Bischoff and Russo also created The New Blood , a stable of younger wrestlers who feuded with The Millionaire's Club , made up of the older members of the WCW roster. Jarrett joined The New Blood, and at Spring Stampede on April 16, he defeated Millionaires Club member Diamond Dallas Page to win the vacant WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Page regained the title on April 24, and on April 25,
7800-461: A singles match and as a result Angle was forced to walk Karen down the aisle, when she and Jarrett renewed their wedding vows on the March 3 edition of Impact! . On March 3, Angle proceeded to destroy the wedding set with an axe and forced wedding guest, New York Jet Bart Scott to tap out with the ankle lock. On April 17 at Lockdown , Jarrett defeated Angle in an "Ultra Male Rules" two-out-of-three Falls steel cage match, with help from Karen. It
7995-463: A steel cage after Russo—who had returned as the new TNA Director of Authority —chose Styles to replace the injured Chris Harris . Jarrett would get revenge on May 19, however, by hitting Styles with a guitar during a title match, which enabled Ron Killings to win the title. Jarrett then defeated Killings, Styles, Raven and Harris in a King of the Mountain match on June 2 to win his third NWA World Heavyweight Championship. In early 2005, Jarrett formed
Jeff Jarrett - Misplaced Pages Continue
8190-563: A three-time WCWA World Heavyweight Champion : he unified the titles by defeating Kerry Von Erich at Superclash III , forming the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship , a championship which he held 28 times. He is also known for his feud with comedian Andy Kaufman , and for portraying himself in the 1999 Jim Carrey film about Kaufman, Man on the Moon . In 2007, Lawler was inducted into
8385-549: A three-way triple cage match to win his second WCW World Heavyweight Championship after Arquette turned on Page. In May, Jarrett won and lost the WCW World Heavyweight Championship on two further occasions, regaining the title from Ric Flair both times. Jarrett feuded with Nash and Hulk Hogan throughout June 2000, and on July 9 at Bash at the Beach , he faced Hogan with the world championship on
8580-646: A titular contest to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. However, his reign was short, being stripped on the same event and at the time the title change was unrecognized by the NWA, with Jarrett returning to TNA with the belt. Starting in 2015, the NWA recognizes Gonzalez's championship reign. In February 2010, TNA restarted their working relationship with AAA and in early May 2011, Jarrett made his return to AAA television, announcing his and TNA's alignment with Dorian Roldán and his heel stable La Sociedad and their participation in Triplemanía XIX . Konnan,
8775-422: A two-on-three handicap match after Hulk Hogan, who was scheduled to team with Joe and Jarrett, was forced to pull out due to a back surgery; at the end of the match, Jarrett abandoned Joe and left Joe behind to be pinned by Nash, thus Jarrett turned heel for the first time since 2007. At the end of the event, Jarrett aligned himself with Hulk Hogan, who ended up making a surprise appearance, Eric Bischoff, Abyss and
8970-503: A typical American household only received four national channels by antenna, and ten to twelve local channels via UHF broadcasting . But cable television could carry a much larger selection of channels and therefore had room for niche interests. The WWF started with a show called All-American Wrestling airing on the USA Network in September 1983. McMahon's TV shows made his wrestlers national celebrities, so when he held matches in
9165-586: A victory for all the pain to which they subjected themselves. In the 1910s, promotional cartels for professional wrestling emerged in the East Coast (outside its traditional heartland in the Midwest ). These promoters sought to make long-term plans with their wrestlers, and to ensure their more charismatic and crowd-pleasing wrestlers received championships, further entrenching the desire for worked matches. The primary rationale for shoot matches at this point
9360-591: A wrestler in 1970, and won his first championship in September 1971 by winning a battle royal . He soon won the NWA Southern Tag Team Championship under the managerial service of Sam Bass with partner Jim White . In 1974, Lawler began feuding with Jackie Fargo , who had been his trainer and mentor. This led to a match for the NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship . On July 24, 1974, Lawler won
9555-466: A wrestler. Jarrett's character would strut to the ring wearing flashing "Double J" hats and ring attire, while he punctuated his promos with the phrase "Ain't I great?". He ended his interviews by distinctly spelling out his name ("That's J-E-Double-F, J-A-Double-R, E-Double-T!"). He would often win matches by smashing opponents with an acoustic guitar , which was nicknamed "El Kabong" after the cartoon character Quick Draw McGraw . The "Double J" character
9750-423: A wrestling ring, and should be cooking, cleaning and making babies". He would attack Chyna with frying pans and even dump her in a laundry basket . Jarrett eventually abandoned Debra in favor of Miss Kitty after he and Debra were defeated by Stephanie McMahon and Test in a mixed tag team match. He later also turned on Miss Kitty after she lost a match that Jarrett had inserted her into in his place. Jarrett left
9945-408: Is a fine storyteller and keeps fans well-versed with current storylines, whereas he provides reaction and emotion to liven the commentary. In 2003, Raw's announce team of Lawler and Jim Ross feuded with Sunday Night Heat ' s team of Jonathan Coachman and Al Snow . At Unforgiven , Lawler and Ross lost a match against Coachman and Snow, thus losing their right to do commentary on Raw . In
SECTION 50
#173279196105710140-436: Is a form of athletic theater that combines mock combat with drama , with the premise that the performers are competitive wrestlers. Professional wrestling is distinguished by its scripted outcomes and emphasis on entertainment and showmanship . The staged nature of matches is an open secret , with both wrestlers and spectators nonetheless maintaining the pretense that performances are bona fide competitions, which
10335-410: Is a true sport. Wrestlers would at all times flatly deny allegations that they fixed their matches, and they often remained in-character in public even when not performing. When in public, wrestlers would sometimes say the word kayfabe to each other as a coded signal that there were fans present and they needed to be in character. Professional wrestlers in the past strongly believed that if they admitted
10530-427: Is generally practiced in an amateur context. No professional league for competitive wrestling exists due to a lack of popularity. For example, Real Pro Wrestling , an American professional freestyle wrestling league, dissolved in 2007 after just two seasons. In other countries, such as Iran and India , wrestling enjoys widespread popularity as a genuine sport, and the phrase "professional wrestling" therefore has
10725-470: Is likened to the suspension of disbelief employed when engaging with fiction . Professional wrestlers perform as characters and usually maintain a " gimmick " consisting of a specific persona , stage name , entrance theme , and other distinguishing traits. Matches are the primary vehicle for advancing storylines, which typically center on interpersonal conflicts, or feuds , between heroic " faces " and villainous " heels ". A wrestling ring , akin to
10920-569: The Copa Antonio Peña gauntlet match. After working together for the entire match, Park eventually turned on Jarrett and eliminated him. After a distraction from the Jarretts, Park was attacked by another masked El Zorro, costing him the match. Professional wrestling 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s Professional wrestling (often referred to as pro wrestling , or simply, wrestling )
11115-567: The 1993 Royal Rumble when he participated in the namesake match, which was won by Yokozuna . From 1993 to 1995, he feuded with Bret Hart and the rest of the Hart family . The feud began at King of the Ring when Lawler interrupted Hart's victory ceremony and attacked Bret. Lawler claimed that he was the only true king in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), and the two were scheduled to wrestle at SummerSlam to settle
11310-706: The AWA International Championship by defeating Austin Idol . On May 30, 1983, Bill Dundee defeated Jerry Lawler for the AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship . The feud quickly escalated and on June 6, 1983, the two met in a Loser Leaves Town Match for the title, in which Lawler won. Lawler defeated Ken Patera on July 25 to begin his second reign as the International Champion. Lawler became
11505-699: The Continental Wrestling Association . Lawler—Gulas' biggest star—opted to join Jarrett. The CWA quickly outperformed NWA Mid-America, which ultimately folded in 1981. Lawler was both a co-owner of the CWA and its top star. On November 12, 1979, while working in the CWA, Lawler defeated Superstar Billy Graham to become the CWA World Champion . In 1980, coming off the back end of a feud with The Fabulous Freebirds , his career
11700-619: The JAPW Heavyweight Championship in Secaucus, New Jersey . He lost the title a month later to Dan Maff . Also made appearances in Ohio Valley Wrestling , International Wrestling Cartel, and other promotions. On November 11, 2005, he teamed with Brad Armstrong and Jeff Hardy to defeat The Midnight Express and Jim Cornette for CCW A Tribute for Starrcade. On November 7, 2008, a tribute show
11895-677: The NWA Mid America Champion on April 12, 1984, when he defeated Randy Savage for the title. He later returned to the United States , where he defeated Bill Dundee on July 29, 1986, to begin a new reign as the AWA International Champion. Lawler feuded with Tommy Rich , Austin Idol, and Paul E. Dangerously throughout early 1987. The animosity began after controversy over an AWA World Championship title shot involving Nick Bockwinkel . During
SECTION 60
#173279196105712090-709: The NWA World Heavyweight Championship ( six times ), WCW World Heavyweight Championship ( four times ), and AAA Mega Championship (twice). He was inducted into the TNA Hall of Fame in 2015 and the WWE Hall of Fame in 2018. Born in Hendersonville, Tennessee , Jarrett became involved with basketball while attending Goodpasture Christian School, but he worked for his father Jerry Jarrett 's Continental Wrestling Association as
12285-624: The New Jersey State Athletic Control Board that professional wrestling is not a real sport because its matches have predetermined outcomes. Shortly thereafter, New Jersey deregulated professional wrestling. The WWF then rebranded itself as a " sports entertainment " company. In the early years of the 20th century, the style of wrestling used in professional wrestling matches was catch wrestling . Promoters wanted their matches to look realistic and so preferred to recruit wrestlers with real grappling skills. In
12480-509: The TNA World Tag Team Championship . In October, Jarrett began feuding with the returning Jeff Hardy. On November 13 at Turning Point , Jarrett lost to Hardy three times in a row, first in six seconds, then in six minutes and finally in ten seconds. On December 11 at Final Resolution , Jarrett was defeated by Hardy in a steel cage match. As per stipulation of the match, Jarrett was, in storyline, fired from TNA on
12675-535: The WWE Hall of Fame . Lawler was born November 29, 1949, in Memphis, Tennessee , where he graduated from Treadwell High School. When he was 19, his father, Jerome Lawler, died. While working in Memphis, Tennessee , as a disc jockey , Lawler's artistic ability attracted the attention of local wrestling promoter Aubrey Griffith. The two made an agreement in which Lawler would give Griffith free publicity in exchange for free wrestling training. Lawler debuted as
12870-596: The casket , an incident that would be a focal point in Undertaker's rematch later that year. Jarrett was scheduled to wrestle in a five vs. five tag match at WrestleMania X , but the match did not take place due to time constraints. However, the match did take place on the April 4 episode of Raw , with Jarrett's team winning. During this time, Jarrett started having what would be a very long string of matches with Doink ( Ray Apollo ) during house shows in which he usually won
13065-495: The independent circuit , to internationally broadcast events at major arenas. The largest and most influential promotions are in the United States , Mexico , Japan , and northwest Europe (the United Kingdom , Germany/Austria and France ), which have each developed distinct styles, traditions, and subgenres within professional wrestling. Professional wrestling has developed its own culture and community , including
13260-431: The spectacle . By at least the early 20th century, professional wrestling had diverged from the competitive sport to become an artform and genre of sports entertainment . Professional wrestling is performed around the world through various " promotions ", which are roughly analogous to production companies or sports leagues . Promotions vary considerably in size, scope, and creative approach, ranging from local shows on
13455-452: The "final battle" between the two. However, on the following episode of Impact Wrestling , Jarrett challenged Angle to a Parking Lot Brawl and agreed to sign a contract that would force him to move to Mexico without Angle's children; Angle ended up winning the fight after choking Jarrett with a shirt, forcing him to say "adiós", thus ending the long feud in the process. The following week on Impact Wrestling , Bischoff forced Jarrett to obey
13650-584: The 1920s, a group of wrestlers and promoters known as the Gold Dust Trio introduced moves which have since become staples of the mock combat of professional wrestling, such as body slams, suplexes , punches, finishing moves, and out-of-ring count-outs. By the early 1930s, most wrestlers had adopted personas to generate public interest. These personas could broadly be characterized as either faces (likeable) or heels (villainous). Native Americans, cowboys, and English aristocrats were staple characters in
13845-400: The 1930s and 1940s. Before the age of television, some wrestlers played different personas depending on the region they were performing in. This eventually came to an end in the age of national television wrestling shows, which forced wrestlers to stick to one persona. Wrestlers also often used some sort of gimmick, such as a finishing move, eccentric mannerisms, or out-of-control behavior (in
14040-460: The 1990s, WCW became a credible rival to the WWF, but by end it suffered from a series of creative missteps that led to its failure and purchase by the WWF. One of its mistakes was that it diminished the glamor of its World Heavyweight Championship . Between January 2000 and March 2001, the title changed hands eighteen times, which sapped fan enthusiasm, particularly for the climactic pay-per-view matches. In professional wrestling, two factors decide
14235-565: The AWA, most notably Lawler claiming that he was never paid for the match at Superclash. Lawler continued feuding with Kerry Von Erich in WCCW. He lost to Von Erich in a steel cage match on November 25, 1988. He would defeat Von Erich by disqualification to retain the WCCW heavyweight title. He wrestled Mil Mascaras to a draw on July 28. In 1981, Lawler wrestled for Championship Wrestling From Florida feuding with Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk . In 1985, Lawler traveled to Hawaii , where he won
14430-653: The Atlantic Athletic Corporation (AAC). The AAC shut down in 1960. In 1958, Omaha promoter and NWA member Joe Dusek recognized Verne Gagne as the world champion without the approval of the NWA. Gagne asked for a match against the recognized NWA champion Pat O'Connor. The NWA refused to honor the request, so Gagne and Minneapolis promoter Wally Karbo established the American Wrestling Association in 1960. This AWA should not be confused with Paul Bowser's AWA, which ceased operations just two months prior. Gagne's AWA operated out of Minnesota . Unlike
14625-443: The December 11, 2008, episode of Impact! . Angle said that they would become orphans after Genesis and that "Uncle Kurt" may find it in his heart to adopt them and make them his. Jarrett came out to confront him but was held back by his longtime friend, BG James, TNA Personnel Terry Taylor , referee Earl Hebner, and Scott D'Amore . On January 11 at Genesis, Jarrett lost to Angle. Jarrett suffered some injuries, but able to compete on
14820-511: The Edge , Jarrett defeated The Godfather , who Owen was scheduled to face at the pay-per-view, for the Intercontinental Championship. As he was handed the title belt, he yelled Hart's name in tribute to his friend. In mid-1999, Jarrett exchanged the Intercontinental Championship with Edge and D'Lo Brown on two more occasions. His fifth reign broke Razor Ramon 's record from 1995. He held the record until Chris Jericho 's seventh reign in 2004. In
15015-544: The Harris Brothers once more, with the trio defeating The Filthy Animals at Starrcade on December 17. In the same evening, Jarrett aligned himself with WCW World Heavyweight Champion Scott Steiner by helping Steiner defeat Sid Vicious. In 2001, Jarrett and Steiner became members of The Magnificent Seven , a large stable headed by Flair. Flair and Jarrett feuded with Dusty and Dustin Rhodes until March, when WCW
15210-453: The Impact! Zone, such as flipping burgers and cleaning restrooms, while also booking him in unfavorable matches, such as surprise Falls Count Anywhere and handicap matches. On the March 22 episode of Impact! , after Jarrett broke a guitar over Bischoff's head, Bischoff placed him and Mick Foley, another wrestler he had had problems with, against each other in a No Disqualification match, where
15405-592: The Intercontinental Championship was declared vacant after a controversial ending to a match between Jarrett and Bob Holly . They had a rematch later that evening where Jarrett reclaimed the title. On May 19, Razor Ramon regained the title from Jarrett in Montreal, Quebec , but Jarrett won it back two nights later in Trois-Rivières, Quebec , making him a three-time Intercontinental Champion. At In Your House 2: The Lumberjacks on July 23, 1995, Jarrett performed
15600-605: The International Wrestling Cartel and with Maryland Championship Wrestling , where he held the promotion's world title after defeating The Bruiser on November 2. He would return to WWF after a nine-month absence. On March 31, 2002, he reunited with his son, Brian , to defeat David Flair and Jim Cornette at the Tojo Yamamoto Memorial Show. On November 8, 2003, in a match refereed by Mick Foley , Lawler defeated Al Snow for
15795-507: The January 6, 2011, episode of Impact! , Angle interrupted Jarrett's $ 100,000 mixed martial arts (MMA) challenge and signed a contract to face him at Genesis in an MMA exhibition match, since he had promised not to wrestle again. The match was thrown out in the third round after Jarrett blinded Angle; after the match, Jarrett bloodied Angle, before announcing that he was ending his mixed martial arts career and promised that his current (and Angle's former) wife, Karen Jarrett , would be joining
15990-520: The June 1, 1998, edition of Raw , Tennessee Lee introduced Southern Justice (formerly known as the Godwinns ) as Jarrett's new bodyguards. Jarrett grew a goatee at that time. On the August 9, 1998, edition of Sunday Night Heat , Jarrett fired Tennessee Lee after he had inadvertently cost Jarrett multiple matches in the preceding weeks. Jarrett and Southern Justice then began feuding with D-Generation X (DX), with Jarrett losing to DX member X-Pac in
16185-465: The King " Lawler , is an American color commentator and professional wrestler currently signed to WWE under a Legends contract. Prior to joining the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) in 1992, he wrestled in numerous territories , winning many championships , including multiple World Heavyweight Championships, throughout his career. Lawler is a one-time AWA World Heavyweight Champion and
16380-539: The King of the Mountain match but could not compete due to "personal issues". In 2008, Jarrett was featured in the promotion of TNA's "Maximum Impact!" tour of the United Kingdom. At Hard Justice , Samoa Joe defeated Booker T using the Acoustic Equalizer, the trademark move of Jarrett, setting up for his return to in-ring action, as quoted by the website, "Obviously, we all know who used a guitar in
16575-492: The Moon ; the film revealed that Lawler's feud with Kaufman had been staged. Lawler later claimed that not only was his entire feud with Kaufman staged, but also the two were actually very good friends. In 1988, Lawler feuded with Dutch Mantel . In 1989, the CWA merged with World Class Championship Wrestling to form the United States Wrestling Association . On March 7, 1983, Lawler won
16770-785: The NWA Polynesian Pacific title on January 25, 1986, defeating Lars Anderson . He dropped the title to Tui Selinga on March 26 in Honolulu, Hawaii. In March 1989, he wrestled for New Japan Pro-Wrestling . He lost to IWGP Heavyweight Champion Tatsumi Fujinami on March 16, 1989. In 1989, Lawler made his debut in the Memphis brand United States Wrestling Association , where he won the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship 28 times from 1989 until its doors closed in 1997. While champion, he feuded with The Soultaker , Jimmy Valiant , Kamala , Eddie Gilbert , and Jeff Jarrett . In 1992, Lawler teamed with Jeff Jarrett in
16965-571: The NWA World Heavyweight Champion, Robert Roode , Konnan and Shawn Hernandez to compete on its behalf. At Golpe de Estado , Jarrett defeated Shane Sewell to retain the NWA title and help the heels gain an advantage in the series. However, González lost with Capitol and IWA tied, ending the angle. Following a face turn, González's association with Jarrett soon concluded, leading to a feud between them. This angle concluded on April 3, 2005, when González defeated Jarrett in
17160-485: The NWA World Heavyweight Championship with the assistance of Vince Russo. After Jarrett refused to join Russo's Sports Entertainment Xtreme stable, Russo turned the members of SEX, including the debuting Raven , against Jarrett. The rivalry continued until February 2003, when Russo parted ways with SEX. In the following months, Jarrett feuded with the remaining members of SEX, then began feuding with Raven and Raven's Nest ,
17355-408: The NWA, at which point his territory became fair game for everyone. The NWA would blacklist wrestlers who worked for independent promoters or who publicly criticized an NWA promoter or who did not throw a match on command. If an independent promoter tried to establish himself in a certain area, the NWA would send their star performers to perform for the local NWA promoter to draw the customers away from
17550-488: The NWA, which only allowed faces to be champions, Gagne occasionally allowed heels to win the AWA championship so that they could serve as foils for him. In August 1983, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), a promotion in the north-east , withdrew from the NWA. Vince K. McMahon then took over as its boss. No longer bound by the territorial pact of the NWA, McMahon began expanding his promotion into
17745-576: The North American Heavyweight Championship on WWF television. In March, Jarrett left Cornette's stable, and Cornette stripped him of the title and awarded it to Windham. Jarrett went on to reprise his country music singer gimmick on the March 2, 1998, edition of Monday Night Raw , introducing Tennessee Lee as his new manager . At Unforgiven: In Your House on April 26, 1998, Jarrett once again sang alongside Sawyer Brown with their hit single, "Some Girls Do". On
17940-481: The October 18, 1999, episode of WCW Monday Nitro , attacking Buff Bagwell and proclaiming himself the "Chosen One" of WCW. Jarrett took part in a tournament for the vacant WCW World Heavyweight Championship , winning his first three matches with the assistance of Creative Control . At Mayhem , he was eliminated from the tournament after losing his semi-final match to Chris Benoit following interference from Dustin Rhodes . At Starrcade , Jarrett defeated Rhodes in
18135-417: The Ring 1995 , which Bret won. As a result, Lawler was forced to kiss Bret's feet. The feud took one final turn when Lawler introduced his " dentist " Isaac Yankem, D.D.S. . After Hart defeated Yankem by disqualification , however, the feud quickly disappeared. Following the end of his legal troubles which kept him out of Survivor Series 1993, Lawler eventually returned to the WWF at WrestleMania X , which
18330-521: The TNA Maximum Impact Tour, by facing against Angle in two singles and a few tag team matches with A.J. Styles against Angle and Scott Steiner. Then on February 12, 2009, Jarrett returned to Impact! to stop Angle from forcing Sting to lay down and gain an easy championship victory. The next week, Jarrett allowed Angle to have another match against Sting, and on February 26, 2009, Jarrett announced Angle versus Sting at Destination X for
18525-768: The TNA World Heavyweight Championship. At Lockdown Jarrett captain a team against Angle's team in Lethal Lockdown which his team won. Jarrett would then enter a feud with Mick Foley, who attacked him while shooting his DVD at the TNA Asylum . The two would meet in a four-way match at Sacrifice involving Kurt Angle and Sting with Jarrett putting his voting shares in TNA on the line, Angle putting his leadership of The Main Event Mafia , Sting putting his career, and Foley putting
18720-749: The TNA World Heavyweight Championship; Sting would go on to pin Angle for the victory and leadership of the Main Event Mafia. Jarrett later pinned Eric Young in order to qualify for the King of the Mountain match, however, Young attacked Jarrett after the match in the storyline. The following week, Jarrett called out Young and offered to turn the other cheek, but instead Young provoked him by saying that he pays more attention to wrestling than his own daughters just like his father Jerry which resulted in Jarrett slapping Young and assaulting him. Jarrett also would accidentally punch referee Earl Hebner while Hebner
18915-459: The USWA. There, Lawler played the babyface to his hometown Memphis audience, whereas McMahon (who had always played face in the WWF) was being portrayed as a smug heel intent on dethroning Lawler as the king of professional wrestling. As part of the cross-promotion, McMahon, Bret and Owen Hart , Giant González , Tatanka , and "Macho Man" Randy Savage would begin appearing on USWA television to further
19110-575: The WWF and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). In interviews and commentary, he referred to the promotion as "Extremely Crappy Wrestling". His frequent insults toward ECW eventually led to the promotion "invading" Monday Night Raw in February 1997. He wrestled in two matches. The first on July 19 at Heat Wave 1997 in a steel cage match with Rob Van Dam and Sabu in a no contest against Rick Rude , The Sandman , and Tommy Dreamer . He wrestled against Dreamer at ECW's Hardcore Heaven pay-per-view in August, which Dreamer won. During his absence from
19305-413: The WWF for the first time and left the announce position, to which Lawler began praising McMahon's name on commentary as part of his own heel persona, much to the chagrin of Jim Ross . It was McMahon's departure from the commentary team which led to the strong on-screen chemistry between Lawler and Ross in subsequent years. This played a key role in a change of Lawler's character; although he still supported
19500-493: The WWF in October 1999, right after WWF head writer Vince Russo resigned from the WWF in order to join WCW. Jarrett's contract expired on October 16, 1999, one day before his scheduled match with Chyna at No Mercy . Jarrett wrestled at No Mercy nonetheless, losing the Intercontinental Championship to Chyna. Chyna later alleged that Jarrett and Russo had colluded in order to delay Jarrett's title defense until after Jarrett's contract had expired, and that Jarrett had subsequently made
19695-711: The WWF now ruled out as employment options, Jarrett resurfaced in World Wrestling All-Stars (WWA) in late 2001, wrestling throughout Australia and Europe. Jarrett won the WWA World Heavyweight Championship , but was later stripped of the title. Jarrett returned to the WWA during his first NWA World Heavyweight Championship reign; he defeated Sting for the WWA World Heavyweight Championship at
19890-466: The WWF, Lawler made appearances on the independent circuit in both Australia and the States, as well as joining the fledgling Xcitement Wrestling Federation (XWF) promotion alongside WCW veteran Tony Schiavone as a color commentator. On October 26, 2001, he appeared on WWA The Inception as a commentator alongside Jeremy Borash, as well as wrestling in a battle royal. He also made appearances with
20085-504: The WWF, and forming a tag team with Owen Hart . Hart and Jarrett were close friends and travel partners for years, so the team jelled almost immediately. Jarrett and Hart won the WWF Tag Team Championship from Ken Shamrock and Big Boss Man , successfully defending the titles at WrestleMania XV before losing to Kane and X-Pac on an episode of Raw . Eight days after Hart died in a stunt that went wrong at Over
20280-573: The WWF, despite the dominance of WCW in the ongoing " Monday Night War ". Jarrett returned to the WWF on the October 20, 1997, episode of Raw is War , delivering a worked shoot speech in which he criticized both WCW President Eric Bischoff and WWF Chairman Vince McMahon . After briefly feuding with The Undertaker , Jarrett defeated Barry Windham to win the vacant NWA North American Heavyweight Championship . In early 1998, Jarrett joined forces with Jim Cornette and his stable of "invading" National Wrestling Alliance wrestlers, and began defending
20475-430: The World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE ) in 1993. Over the next nine years, he alternated between the WWF and its main competitor, World Championship Wrestling (WCW). After WCW was purchased by the WWF in 2001, Jarrett joined the upstart World Wrestling All-Stars (WWA) promotion. In 2002, Jarrett and his father together founded NWA: Total Nonstop Action (NWA-TNA now Total Nonstop Action Wrestling). After departing
20670-515: The aftermath of the Alliance's loss at the previous night's Survivor Series . As he had been before his departure, Lawler once again became color commentator on Raw and pay-per-view events alongside Jim Ross and SmackDown! with Michael Cole , until the brands were separated and Lawler became exclusive to Raw . Lawler stated that his well-worked chemistry with Jim Ross has been a result of their different styles; according to Lawler, Jim Ross
20865-401: The arena's loudspeakers, his being Pomp and Circumstance . He also wore a costume: a robe and hairnet, which he removed after getting in the ring. He also had a pre-match ritual where his "butler" would spray the ring with perfume. In the 1980s, Vince McMahon made entrance songs, costumes, and rituals standard for his star wrestlers. For instance, McMahon's top star Hulk Hogan would delight
21060-418: The art of staging rigged matches and fostered a mentality that spectators were marks to be duped. The term kayfabe comes from carny slang. By the turn of the 20th century, most professional wrestling matches were "worked" and some journalists exposed the practice: American wrestlers are notorious for the amount of faking they do. It is because of this fact that suspicion attaches to so many bouts that
21255-561: The audience by tearing his shirt off before each match. The first major promoter cartel emerged on the East Coast, although up to that point, wrestling's heartland had been in the Midwest. Notable members of this cartel included Jack Curley , Lou Daro, Paul Bowser and Tom and Tony Packs. The promoters colluded to solve a number of problems that hurt their profits. Firstly, they could force their wrestlers to perform for less money. As
21450-550: The belt and the title of "King of Wrestling." During 1975, Lawler teamed with a variety of partners such as Mr Wrestling II, Don Greene, and Bob Orton, Jr . He won the NWA Macon Tag Team Championship twice during this period. While Lawler began his career as a heel , he became a face after splitting from Bass at the end of 1974. In 1977, promoter Jerry Jarrett broke away from Nick Gulas' NWA Mid-America promotion and formed his own promotion,
21645-496: The career of Kurt Angle, who had proclaimed that he would retire from professional wrestling if he failed to win the TNA World Heavyweight Championship at Bound for Glory. Jarrett then attacked Angle, when he was being restrained by TNA's security officers. The following week, Samoa Joe attempted to avenge what had happened at Bound for Glory, but was restrained by the security officers, before being beat down by Jarrett. At Turning Point , Jarrett defeated Joe after choking him out with
21840-424: The cartel grew, there were fewer independent promoters where independent wrestlers could find work, and many were forced to sign a contract with the cartel to receive steady work. The contracts forbade them from performing at independent venues. A wrestler who refused to play by the cartel's rules was barred from performing at its venues. A second goal of the wrestling cartels was to establish an authority to decide who
22035-418: The case of heels). The matches could also be gimmicky sometimes, with wrestlers fighting in mud and piles of tomatoes and so forth. The most successful and enduring gimmick to emerge from the 1930s were tag-team matches. Promoters noticed that matches slowed down as the wrestlers in the ring tired, so they gave them partners to relieve them. It also gave heels another way to misbehave by double-teaming. Towards
22230-625: The championship to Jerry Lawler on December 20, 1993, but return sporadically for future dates. Jarrett's first involvement with World Wrestling Federation (WWF) came on August 9, 1992, when he participated in the kick-off to the first cross-promotional angle between the WWF and the USWA. Sitting at ringside along with Jerry Lawler at the WWF house show that was being held at the Memphis Pyramid , he issued an open challenge to any WWF wrestler. After defeating Kamala by disqualification that night, Bret Hart accepted Jarrett's challenge for
22425-423: The character in shows must be considered fictional, wholly separate from the life of the performer. This is similar to other entertainers who perform with a persona that shares their own name. Some wrestlers also incorporate elements of their real-life personalities into their characters, even if they and their in-ring persona have different names. Kayfabe is the practice of pretending that professional wrestling
22620-589: The co-leader of La Sociedad and former TNA worker, however, was against the idea of his former employer coming to AAA and believed that Roldán had made a mistake by inviting him to the promotion. Jarrett and Abyss arrived to AAA on May 18 for a confrontation with Konnan and La Sociedad . In the end, Jarrett and Konnan revealed that they were in fact on the same page with each other and turned on AAA Mega Champion El Zorro with Konnan announcing that Jarrett would be challenging for his title at Triplemanía XIX. On June 18 at Triplemanía XIX, Jarrett defeated El Zorro to become
22815-461: The commission. The Commission did on very rare occasions hand out such authorizations, such as for a championship match between Jim Londos and Jim Browning in June 1934. This decree did not apply to amateur wrestling, which the commission had no authority over. Wrestling fans widely suspected that professional wrestling was fake, but they did not care as long as it entertained. In 1933, a wrestling promoter named Jack Pfefer started talking about
23010-537: The company as on-screen President. Jarrett and Keith decided to create their own company. On December 22, 2013, Jarrett resigned from TNA Entertainment. Jarrett remained an investor in TNA Wrestling after his resignation came in effect on January 6, 2014. Jarrett made his debut for Mexican promotion Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide on March 21, 2004, defeating Latin Lover to win the 2004 Rey de Reyes tournament. Over
23205-506: The company. The following week, Jarrett started showing signs of a heel turn as he threatened Hogan with legal actions; however, on the January 28 episode of Impact! , he changed his mind and agreed to fight for his spot. In the main event of the show, he came out to no entrance music or pyrotechnics and was defeated by Mr. Anderson after a low blow. This started an angle of Hogan's business partner Eric Bischoff, acting on his own without Hogan, having Jarrett work humiliating jobs backstage at
23400-473: The course of the match, Lawler delivered two piledrivers to Kaufman, the second after the bell rang, sending him to the hospital and nearly breaking his neck. On July 29, Lawler slapped Kaufman in the face on an episode of Late Night with David Letterman . Kaufman responded by shouting profanities and throwing his coffee at Lawler. Years later, Lawler appeared as himself in the Kaufman biopic Man on
23595-540: The current fashion of wrestling is the universal discussion as to the honesty of the matches. And certainly the most interesting phrase of this discussion is the unanimous agreement: "Who cares if they're fixed or not—the show is good." Newspapers tended to shun professional wrestling, as journalists saw its theatrical pretense to being a legitimate sport as untruthful. Eventually promoters resorted to publishing their own magazines in order to get press coverage and communicate with fans. The first professional wrestling magazine
23790-469: The current respect angle that Sting was involved in was actually a matter of the veterans refusing to pass the torch to the young guys. Angle came out and challenged Jarrett to a match at Bound for Glory IV , but Jarrett refused, saying he had nothing left to prove, and instead pointed to the screen to reveal the debuting Mick Foley . On the next episode of Impact! , Jarrett relented to verbal cheap shots taken by Angle regarding Jarrett's children and accepted
23985-465: The dispute. At the event, however, Lawler came to the ring on crutches and claimed that he could not wrestle because of injuries suffered in a car accident. Hart faced Lawler's "court jester", Doink the Clown instead, and beat him by submission . Lawler then attacked Hart, revealing that he was not injured. Hart defeated Lawler by submission but refused to release the Sharpshooter . As a result,
24180-405: The end of the 1930s, faced with declining revenues, promoters chose to focus on grooming charismatic wrestlers with no regard for their skill because it was charisma that drew the crowds, and wrestlers who were both skilled at grappling and charismatic were hard to come by. Since most of the public by this time knew and accepted that professional wrestling was fake, realism was no longer paramount and
24375-603: The facade of kayfabe as best as they could. In 1989, Vince McMahon testified before the New Jersey government that professional wrestling was not a true sport and therefore should be exempted from sports-related taxes. Many wrestlers and fans resented McMahon for this, but Lou Thesz accepted it as the smart move as it gave the industry more freedom to do as it pleased, and because by that point professional wrestling no longer attempted to appear real. The demise of WCW in 2001 provided some evidence that kayfabe still mattered to
24570-642: The feud, the trio defeated Lawler in a steel cage match and cut his hair, which caused a riot in the Mid-South Coliseum . Lawler won the AWA World Heavyweight Championship from Curt Hennig on May 9, 1988. During his reign, Lawler feuded with World Class Championship Wrestling 's Champion Kerry Von Erich . He defeated Von Erich on December 15, 1988, at Superclash III to unify the two titles. Soon after, Lawler's issues with Verne Gagne led to his departure from
24765-424: The feud. While the program continued in the USWA, the feud between Lawler and McMahon would not be acknowledged on WWF television. The Hart family ( Bret , Owen , Bruce , and Keith ) was scheduled to face a team captained by Lawler in an elimination match at Survivor Series . However, Shawn Michaels had to take Lawler's place because Lawler was facing legal troubles. He was indicted for raping and sodomizing
24960-470: The first place. "Double-crosses", where a wrestler agreed to lose a match but nevertheless fought to win, remained a problem in the early cartel days. At times a promoter would even award a victorious double-crosser the title of champion to preserve the facade of sport. But promoters punished such wrestlers by blacklisting them, making it quite challenging to find work. Double-crossers could also be sued for breach of contract, such as Dick Shikat in 1936. In
25155-547: The following episode of Impact Wrestling . In reality, he was written off television to oversee Ring Ka King , a new promotion based in India that is a subsidiary of TNA. After Ring Ka King, Jarrett wrestled for AAA without work in TNA. In 2013, Jarrett assumed the backstage role of Executive Vice President of Development/Original Programming. In 2013, Jarrett and Country star Toby Keith tried to buy TNA; however, when both met Bob Carter, he demanded that his daughter Dixie remain in
25350-536: The following episode of Raw , Jarrett rewarded Debra and Henry by giving Debra an assistant, Miss Kitty , and Henry the European Championship. In late 1999, Jarrett began feuding with Chyna over the Intercontinental Championship. Over the course of the feud, Jarrett would develop a misogynistic character, attacking numerous women such as Jacqueline , Stephanie McMahon and Cindy Margolis , while insinuating women like Chyna "had no business being in
25545-446: The following six months, Jarrett did not appear on TNA television, instead focusing on his role as Vice President of TNA Entertainment. Jarrett, however, temporarily returned to TNA television on the April 12, 2007, episode of Impact! , and aligned himself with Samoa Joe, by helping him defeat A.J. Styles, turning face. On April 15, 2007, at Lockdown , Jarrett, making his in-ring return, and the rest of Team Angle defeated Team Cage in
25740-549: The following years, Jarrett won the USWA Southern Heavyweight Championship on 10 occasions and the USWA World Tag Team Championship on 15 occasions. Jarrett also wrestled on the independent circuit for seven years, appearing in Japan and Puerto Rico . In 1990, he wrestled his first tour of Japan for Super World Sports (SWS). Jarrett would continue wrestling for USWA full-time until losing
25935-451: The foursome calling themselves "nWo 2000". In early 2000, Jarrett feuded with WCW Commissioner Terry Funk , who forced him to wrestle three veterans – George Steele , Tito Santana , and Jimmy Snuka – in one night. Jarrett was stripped of the United States Heavyweight Championship after suffering a concussion during his bout with Snuka, but the title was returned to him by Nash after he became WCW Commissioner. In order to help him retain
26130-610: The game is not popular here. Nine out of ten bouts, it has been said, are pre-arranged affairs, and it would be no surprise if the ratio of fixed matches to honest ones was really so high. The wrestler Lou Thesz recalled that between 1915 and 1920, a series of exposés in the newspapers about the integrity of professional wrestling alienated a lot of fans, sending the industry "into a tailspin". But rather than perform more shoot matches, professional wrestlers instead committed themselves wholesale to fakery. Several reasons explain why professional wrestling became fake whereas boxing endured as
26325-404: The government. They pledged to stop allocating exclusive territories to its promoters, to stop blacklisting wrestlers who worked for outsider promoters, and to admit any promoter into the Alliance. The NWA would flout many of these promises, but its power was nonetheless weakened by the lawsuit. Paul Bowser's AWA joined the NWA in 1949. The AWA withdrew from the Alliance in 1957 and renamed itself
26520-414: The group of wrestlers that Raven controlled. On June 11, 2003, Jarrett faced Raven and A.J. Styles in a 3-way match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Styles pinned Jarrett to win the title after the returning Russo struck Jarrett with a guitar. Jarrett regained the title from Styles on October 22, 2003, turning heel. Jarrett was unable to escape Styles, losing the title to him on April 21, 2004, in
26715-649: The heels, he showed a sense of right and wrong, and would condemn actions of heels when they went too far. Lawler during this period would continue commentating and rarely wrestled for the WWF. He wrestled between 1999 and 2001 mainly in house shows. On June 22, 2000, he made an appearance on SmackDown! teaming with The Kat to defeat Dean Malenko and Terri Runnels . This would be the first time in two years he wrestled on WWF television. A week later, he defeated Malenko on Raw. He would turn face by 2000 (while wrestling). This began when Lawler surprisingly attacked Tazz when Tazz started bullying Jim Ross, thus beginning
26910-526: The independent. By 1956, the NWA controlled 38 promotions within the United States, with more in Canada, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. The NWA's monopolistic practices became so stifling that the independents appealed to the government for help. In October 1956 the US Attorney General's office filed an antitrust lawsuit against the NWA in an Iowa federal district court. The NWA settled with
27105-480: The industry was anything but a competitive sport. The first wrestling promoter to publicly admit to routinely fixing matches was Jack Pfefer . In 1933, he started talking about the industry's inner workings to the New York Daily Mirror , resulting in a huge exposé. The exposé neither surprised nor alienated most wrestling fans, although some promoters like Jack Curley were furious and tried to restore
27300-496: The industry's inner workings to the New York Daily Mirror , maintaining no pretense that wrestling was real and passing on planned results just before the matches took place. While fans were neither surprised nor alienated, traditionalists like Jack Curley were furious, and most promoters tried to maintain the facade of kayfabe as best they could. Not the least interesting of all the minor phenomena produced by
27495-621: The last WWA event on May 25, 2003, unifying the two titles. In June 2002, Jarrett and his father created a limited-liability company , J Sports and Entertainment and opened a new pro wrestling promotion, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). TNA aired in a weekly pay-per-view format until May 2004, when the promotion negotiated a television deal with Fox Sports Net and began broadcasting Impact! . In November 2004, TNA began airing monthly pay-per-views instead of weekly pay-per-views, and in October 2005 Impact! moved to Spike TV . Panda Energy and its chairman and CEO, Robert Carter, acquired
27690-488: The line; the match ended swiftly after Jarrett immediately lay down, allowing Hogan to rest a boot on his chest and win the title, with Hogan commenting, "That's why this company is in the damn shape it's in—because of bullshit like this!". Vince Russo subsequently came to the ring and delivered a profanity -laced statement, in which he accused Hogan of politicking and claimed that Hogan had used his creative control to refuse to lose to Jarrett. Russo then stated that, while Hogan
27885-413: The loser would get fired from the company. Jarrett won the match, refereed by Beer Money, Inc. , and with Foley fired from the company, Hogan ordered Bischoff to lay off of Jarrett. The following week, Hogan, prior to leaving on a business trip, apologized to Jarrett for Bischoff's behavior and gave him a chance to earn the number one contendership to the TNA World Heavyweight Championship in a match against
28080-460: The match at No Way Out . The next night, Lawler teamed with the APA ( Bradshaw and Faarooq ) as they defeated Right to Censor members Bull Buchanan , The Goodfather and Val Venis on Raw. This would be Lawler's last WWF match. After No Way Out, The Kat was released by the WWF and Lawler quit the company in protest. In 1997, Lawler became heavily involved in the working relationship between
28275-466: The match at Bound for Glory. The feud got more personal due to Angle mentioning Jarrett's wife, which led to Foley being named the special enforcer for their match. At Bound For Glory Jarrett returned to the ring after a 17-month absence, and defeated Angle using his Acoustic Equalizer. On the November 20, 2008, episode of Impact! , Kurt Angle threatened Mick Foley and wanted another match against Jarrett at Final Resolution after Foley announced that it
28470-679: The match stipulations and exiled him to Mexico. Jarrett returned to TNA on the July 14 episode of Impact Wrestling , showing off the "Mexican Heavyweight Championship" belt, playing off the AAA Mega Championship he had won during his stay in Mexico. On the August 18 episode of Impact Wrestling , Jarrett aligned himself with the Mexican America stable by helping its members Anarquia and Hernandez defeat Beer Money, Inc. for
28665-506: The match, however, Lawler's team turned on him, joining with Doink's team to attack Lawler. In late 1994 and early 1995, Lawler wrestled briefly in Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW) while still continuing to commentate sporadically for the WWF. During his absences, Shawn Michaels filled in for him as color commentator on Monday Night Raw . He defeated Tony Anthony for the promotion's top title in January 1995. Lawler
28860-422: The match. Despite getting past Lex Luger by countout in the first round, Jarrett lost in the second round of the 1994 King of the Ring tournament, being pinned by the 1-2-3 Kid. Only weeks before SummerSlam, the WWF promoted a match as part of a "rap versus country" rivalry that pitted Jarrett against Mabel who portrayed a rapper . There was little buildup for the match until Mabel tried to provoke Jarrett into
29055-498: The members of wrestling cartels as the champion drew big crowds wherever he performed, and this would occasionally lead to schisms. By 1925, this cartel had divided the country up into territories which were the exclusive domains of specific promoters. This system of territories endured until Vince McMahon drove the fragmented cartels out of the market in the 1980s. This cartel fractured in 1929 after one of its members, Paul Bowser , bribed Ed "Strangler" Lewis to lose his championship in
29250-495: The months that followed, Jarrett became increasingly abusive towards Debra. At SummerSlam , Jarrett challenged D'Lo Brown for both the WWF European Championship and WWF Intercontinental Championships, with Debra accompanying Brown to the ring following an argument with Jarrett. Brown lost the match after both Mark Henry and Debra turned on him, making Jarrett the second ever "Euro-Continental Champion". On
29445-574: The new AAA Mega Champion. On July 31 at Verano de Escándalo , Jarrett successfully defended the title in a three-way elimination match against Dr. Wagner, Jr. and L.A. Park , when someone wearing El Zorro's old mask interfered and hit Park with a guitar . This person was later revealed as La Sociedad member Chessman , whom Konnan had sent to interfere in the match in order to have Park go after El Zorro instead of continuing to chase his stablemate's title. The storyline continued on October 9 at Héroes Inmortales , where both Jarrett and Park took part in
29640-419: The new TNA World Heavyweight Champion Jeff Hardy , all of whom made heel turns with the exception of the already heel Abyss, in the process revealing themselves as the "they" Abyss had referred to. On the following episode of Impact! , Jarrett explained that he had joined the stable, now known as Immortal , in order to get back at Dixie Carter for taking away his backstage power in TNA, while also wanting to end
29835-684: The next two years, Jarrett would make several sporadic appearances for AAA as a member of the heel stable La Legión Extranjera , before the working relationship between AAA and TNA was ended. In 2004, the International Wrestling Association (IWA) ran an angle that satirized its main competition, the World Wrestling Council (WWC), by having a heel stable led by Ray González adopt its former name of "Capitol Sports" during an invasion angle. On October 9, 2004, González announced that Capitol had formed an alliance with TNA for Golpe de Estado and that this move would bring in Jarrett, then
30030-575: The past!" referring indirectly to Jarrett. After numerous weeks of Jarrett's theme song playing and his guitar appearing on TNA programming, Jarrett returned to Impact! on September 11, 2008. At No Surrender , he would help Joe defeat Kurt Angle and Cage and assist Joe in retaining the TNA World Heavyweight Championship by hitting Angle with a guitar, keeping him a face . The following Thursday on Impact! , Jarrett cut his first promo since Slammiversary, claiming that
30225-437: The platform used in boxing , serves as the main stage ; additional scenes may be recorded for television in backstage areas of the venue, in a format similar to reality television . Performers generally integrate authentic wrestling techniques and fighting styles with choreography , stunts , improvisation , and dramatic conventions designed to maximize entertainment value and audience engagement. Professional wrestling as
30420-465: The promotion folded in November 1997. In October 1996, Jarrett was hired by World Championship Wrestling (WCW), signing a one-year contract. Upon debuting in WCW, Jarrett became a "free agent" in the rivalry between The Four Horsemen and the New World Order (nWo) . After defeating Chris Benoit at Starrcade , and Steve McMichael , both by cheating when the referee was distracted, Jarrett
30615-493: The promotion in 2014, Jarrett founded another new promotion, Global Force Wrestling (GFW). After a failed merger of TNA and GFW, he cut ties with Impact. Jarrett then wrestled in Mexico for Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide before returning to WWE in January 2019 as an on-screen talent and producer . He departed WWE once more in August 2022, making his debut with AEW that November. A third-generation wrestler, Jarrett has had over 80 championship reigns throughout his career, among them
30810-717: The promotion's closing in 1991. In the spring of 1984, the WWF purchased Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW), which had been ailing for some time due to financial mismanagement and internal squabbles. In the deal, the WWF acquired the GCW's timeslot on TBS . McMahon agreed to keep showing Georgia wrestling matches in that timeslot, but he was unable to get his staff to Atlanta every Saturday to fulfill this obligation, so he sold GCW and its TBS timeslot to Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP). JCP started informally calling itself World Championship Wrestling (WCW). In 1988, Ted Turner bought JCP and formally renamed it World Championship Wrestling. During
31005-508: The referee reversed the decision and awarded the title of "Undisputed King of the World Wrestling Federation" to Lawler. The two would continue to work throughout the fall on the house show circuit, including in steel cages. Simultaneously, in a form of cross-promotion, Lawler engaged in a bitter feud with Vince McMahon (who at the time was never advertised as the actual owner of the World Wrestling Federation) back in
31200-447: The retirement party. On the January 13 episode of Impact! , Karen made her return and stopped Angle just as he was about to attack Jarrett, telling him that she would not allow him to ruin their personal lives and promised to tell all about their divorce the following week. The following week, Karen slapped Angle, providing a distraction which allowed Jarrett to beat him down. On February 13 at Against All Odds , Jarrett defeated Angle in
31395-471: The scheduled match between Bret Hart and Jarrett on October 31 in Memphis was cancelled due to poor weather. Following the cancelled Memphis show, he returned to the USWA. Nearly a year later, Jarrett returned to the World Wrestling Federation. He made his televised return on October 23, 1993, on WWF Superstars as a heel under the gimmick of "Double J" Jeff Jarrett, a country music singer who intended to elevate his singing career through his exposure as
31590-419: The song "With My Baby Tonight". Later that evening, Jarrett lost the Intercontinental Championship to Shawn Michaels . Following the event, Jarrett left the WWF for five months and returned to the USWA. Jarrett returned to the WWF at In Your House 5 on December 17, 1995, feuding with Ahmed Johnson . Jarrett lost to Johnson by disqualification at the 1996 Royal Rumble and left the WWF shortly thereafter due to
31785-616: The sport), but that he agreed to it after McMahon and Kevin Dunn asked him. In February 2001, Lawler's then-wife Stacy "the Kat" Carter was involved in a storyline where Right to Censor (RTC), a group of wrestlers purportedly wanting to rein in the vulgarity of the "Attitude Era," during which she demanded equal time for the "right for nudity". RTC's leader Steven Richards offered a match with Lawler at No Way Out. If Lawler won, Kat got naked and if Richards won, Kat became RTC property. Richards won
31980-440: The stamina for an hours-long fight. Audiences also preferred short matches. Worked matches also carried less risk of injury, which meant shorter recovery. Altogether, worked matches proved more profitable than shoots. By the end of the 19th century, nearly all professional wrestling matches were worked. A major influence on professional wrestling was carnival culture. Wrestlers in the late 19th century worked in carnival shows. For
32175-644: The team including himself were counted out. Later during the event, Jarrett once again tried to illegally attack The Undertaker, but this time was stopped by Chuck Norris . In January 1995, Jarrett would once again feud with Bret Hart, ultimately losing to Hart on the January 23 episode of Raw . At the 1995 Royal Rumble in Tampa, Florida , Jarrett defeated Razor Ramon to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship thanks to interference by his assistant, The Roadie . In an effort to become
32370-426: The territories of his former NWA peers, now his rivals. By the end of the 1980s, the WWF would become the sole national wrestling promotion in the U.S. This was in part made possible by the rapid spread of cable television in the 1980s. The national broadcast networks generally regarded professional wrestling as too niche an interest, and had not broadcast any national wrestling shows since the 1950s. Before cable TV,
32565-447: The title was contested in a tag team match pitting Jarrett and Bischoff against Page and actor David Arquette . Arquette won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship after pinning Bischoff. Jarrett hit Page with the championship belt while special referee Kimberly Page 's back was turned; WCW official Mickie Jay counted Bischoff out while Jarrett had Page pinned, who kicked out. At Slamboree on May 7, Jarrett defeated Page and Arquette in
32760-439: The title, Jarrett drafted the Harris Brothers (formerly Creative Control) into nWo 2000. In the following months, Jarrett repeatedly challenged Sid Vicious for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, in the process clashing with Nash and winning the position of WCW Commissioner for himself. Following Bret Hart's retirement, the nWo disbanded. In April, WCW was rebooted by Eric Bischoff and Vince Russo, with all titles vacated as
32955-519: The trial, witnesses testified that most of the "big matches" and all of the championship bouts were fixed. By the 1930s, with the exception of the occasional double-cross or business dispute, shoot matches were essentially nonexistent. In April 1930, the New York State Athletic Commission decreed that all professional wrestling matches held in the state had to be advertised as exhibitions unless certified as contests by
33150-471: The truth, their audiences would desert them. Today's performers don't "protect" the industry like we did, but that's primarily because they've already exposed it by relying on silly or downright ludicrous characters and gimmicks to gain popularity with the fans. It was different in my day, when our product was presented as an authentic, competitive sport. We protected it because we believed it would collapse if we ever so much as implied publicly that it
33345-399: The victory, effectively ending his feud with Jarrett. Just before Lockdown, Jarrett said that he was going to find out the answers to Sting's behavior, which led into a brawl on Impact! , with Sting leaving a beaten Jarrett in the ring, which in turn led to their match at Sacrifice . At Sacrifice, Sting assaulted Jarrett prior to their match and then dragged him in to the ring, where he scored
33540-535: The way of proceedings: the "in-show" happenings, presented through the shows; and real-life happenings outside the work that have implications, such as performer contracts, legitimate injuries, etc. Because actual life events are often co-opted by writers for incorporation into storylines of performers, the lines between real life and fictional life are often blurred and become confused. Special discern must be taken with people who perform under their own name (such as Kurt Angle and his fictional persona ). The actions of
33735-555: The world champion A.J. Styles. With Hogan out of the building, Bischoff and Styles' manager Ric Flair interfered in the match and cost Jarrett the number one contendership. Later in the evening, Jarrett was announced as the second member of Abyss ' Team Hogan in the annual Lethal Lockdown match , where they would meet Team Flair, led by Sting. At Lockdown , Team Hogan (Abyss, Jarrett, Rob Van Dam and Jeff Hardy ) defeated Team Flair (Sting, Desmond Wolfe , Robert Roode and James Storm), when Bischoff turned face and helped Team Hogan pick up
33930-420: The wrestlers quietly began faking their matches so that they could give their audiences a satisfying spectacle. Fixing matches was also convenient for scheduling. A real ("shoot") match could sometimes last hours, whereas a fixed ("worked") match can be made short, which was convenient for wrestlers on tour who needed to keep appointments or share venues. It also suited wrestlers who were aging and therefore lacked
34125-425: Was Wrestling As You Like It , which printed its first issue in 1946. These magazines were faithful to kayfabe . Before the advent of television, professional wrestling's fanbase largely consisted of children, the elderly, blue-collar workers and minorities. When television arose in the 1940s, professional wrestling got national exposure on prime-time television and gained widespread popularity. Professional wrestling
34320-682: Was Angle versus Rhino at Final Resolution. Angle continued to demand a match with Jarrett and he said if he could not get him at Final Resolution, he would wrestle Foley. Angle then slapped Foley causing Jarrett to come out and talk about what Angle wanted and then what Jarrett wanted (Angle to be fired). Because of Angle's contract clause, Jarrett could not fire him, so he made this stipulation: if Angle lost to Rhino, he would be fired from TNA; if Angle beat Rhino, he would get Jarrett at Genesis . Angle defeated Rhino at Final Resolution, allowing him to face Jarrett at Genesis. The feud got even more personal when it started involving Jarrett's three daughters during
34515-591: Was a country music version of The Honky Tonk Man . Jarrett had his first televised match with the WWF on the December 20, 1993, episode of Raw , defeating PJ Walker . Jarrett made his pay-per-view debut in January 1994 at the Royal Rumble , entering the Royal Rumble match as the 12th participant and was eliminated less than 90 seconds later by Randy Savage . Also at the Royal Rumble, Jarrett participated in attacking The Undertaker and forcing him into
34710-478: Was also his first appearance as a commentator on a WWF pay-per-view. During the main event of the night, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper served as special guest referee for the second WWF World Heavyweight Championship match. During this Lawler began making disparaging remarks about him. Lawler would continue to berate Piper on later episodes of Monday Night Raw , including bringing a skinny kid into the ring dressed as Piper and forcing him to kiss his feet. This ultimately led to
34905-488: Was challenges from independent wrestlers. But a cartelized wrestler, if challenged, could credibly use his contractual obligations to his promoter as an excuse to refuse the challenge. Promotions would sometimes respond to challenges with "policemen": powerful wrestlers who lacked the charisma to become stars, but could defeat and often seriously injure any challenger in a shoot match. As the industry trend continued, there were fewer independent wrestlers to make such challenges in
35100-638: Was employed by Nashville-based wrestling promoters Nick Gulas and Roy Welch . He also wrestled with the American Wrestling Association (AWA) and the Continental Wrestling Federation (CWF) in the late 1980s. In 1989, his father Jerry purchased the Texas -based World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) promotion and merged it with the CWA to create the United States Wrestling Association (USWA). Over
35295-493: Was free to keep the title belt he had just won (the "Hulk Hogan Memorial Belt"), Jarrett would wrestle Booker T for the official WCW World Heavyweight Championship later that night. Booker T won the match and Hogan did not appear in WCW again. It is disputed whether the situation was a shoot , a work , or some combination of the two. In the following months, Jarrett briefly feuded with Booker T, Mike Awesome , Sting , Buff Bagwell , and Flair. In late 2000, he joined forces with
35490-527: Was held for Lawler called Lawler 35 - A Tribute Fit For The King. it was held in Nashville. In the main event match, he defeated Sid Vicious . On March 16, 2012, he defeated Tommy Dreamer at Wrestle War 2012. On November 19, 2001, after a nine-month hiatus from the company, Lawler returned to the WWF. He was reintroduced by Vince McMahon on Raw as the replacement for color commentator (and Alliance member) Paul Heyman , who had been (kayfabe) fired in
35685-427: Was involved in a working relationship between the WWF and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). In June, Lawler entered the King of the Ring tournament for the first time and advanced to the semi-final round where he was defeated by Mankind . By the fall, the WWF introduced a new "light-heavyweight division" to compete with World Championship Wrestling (WCW)'s cruiserweight division. Lawler's son, Brian Christopher ,
35880-456: Was later reported that Jarrett had severely bruised his ribs in the match. On the May 12 episode of Impact Wrestling , Angle revealed a name from Jarrett's past, Chyna, as his backup in taking care of him and Karen. At Sacrifice , Angle and Chyna defeated the Jarretts in a mixed tag team match. With Karen out of the picture, Angle defeated Jarrett on June 12 at Slammiversary IX in what was billed as
36075-499: Was left alone for a match, where he was defeated by Nash, after an interference from Sting. The following week, Sting defeated Jarrett in a singles match, after an interference from Kevin Nash. After the match, Samoa Joe joined Jarrett and drove Sting and Nash away. At No Surrender , Jarrett and Joe defeated Sting and Nash in a tag team match, after Jarrett hit Sting with his own baseball bat. At Bound for Glory , Jarrett and Joe faced Sting, Nash and their newest ally D'Angelo Dinero in
36270-415: Was one of the major superstars in the division, although the WWF played up an angle where both Lawler and Christopher would deny their family relationship, even though the two would aid each other in matches and so on. USWA folded in November of that year. By 1998, Lawler rarely wrestled in the WWF and focused on commentary. Despite their feud in the USWA in 1993, by 1998, Vince McMahon had turned heel in
36465-571: Was previously considered a niche interest, but the TV networks at the time were short on content and thus were willing to try some wrestling shows. In the 1960s, however, the networks moved on to more mainstream interests such as baseball, and professional wrestling was dropped. The core audience then shrunk back to a profile similar to that of the 1930s. In 1989, Vince McMahon was looking to exempt his promotion (the World Wrestling Federation ) from sports licensing fees. To achieve this, he testified before
36660-499: Was purchased by the WWF. Uninterested in Jarrett, the WWF neglected to acquire his contract, leaving him without a job. On the March 26 episode of the WWF's Raw program (which coincided with the final episode of Nitro ), company owner Vince McMahon was seen watching Jarrett within the WCW venue on a television set. Mocking Jarrett's trademark of distinctly spelling out his name, McMahon stated that Jarrett would be "Capital G, Double-O, Double-N, Double-E – GOONNEE!" With both WCW and
36855-501: Was put on hold due to a broken leg suffered in a game of touch football, but he returned to the ring after several months. In 1982, Lawler began a notorious feud with comedian Andy Kaufman . At the time, Kaufman wrestled women as part of his skits and had declared himself the Intergender Heavyweight Champion. On April 5, Lawler, who had taken exception to the skits, wrestled Kaufman in Memphis. During
37050-650: Was reluctantly inducted into the Four Horsemen. On June 9, 1997, Jarrett defeated Dean Malenko to win the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship . In mid-1997, Jarrett was kicked out of the Four Horsemen and began feuding with Horsemen member Steve McMichael. Despite aligning himself with McMichael's then-wife, Debra McMichael , Jarrett lost the United States Heavyweight Championship to McMichael on August 21. In October, Jarrett's contract expired and he opted to return to
37245-560: Was reported that Jarrett had lost all of his backstage power in TNA and would return only as a wrestler. On the December 3 episode of Impact! , Jarrett made his first appearance in months via telephone, refusing to help Mick Foley regain control over TNA after Dixie Carter had announced that Hulk Hogan was coming to TNA. On the December 10 episode of Impact! , Foley met with Jarrett, who agreed to return and help him deal with Carter and Hogan. On January 4, 2010, Hogan made his debut, confronted Jarrett and claimed that he had to earn his spot in
37440-415: Was something other than what it appeared to be. I'm not sure now the fear was ever justified given the fact that the industry is still in existence today, but the point is no one questioned the need then. "Protecting the business" in the face of criticism and skepticism was the first and most important rule a pro wrestler learned. No matter how aggressive or informed the questioner, you never admitted
37635-417: Was the "world champion". Before the cartels, there were multiple wrestlers in the U.S. simultaneously calling themselves the "world champion", and this sapped public enthusiasm for professional wrestling. Likewise, the cartel could agree on a common set of match rules that the fans could keep track of. The issue over who got to be the champion and who controlled said champion was a major point of contention among
37830-409: Was the last SMW Heavyweight Champion defeating Brad Armstrong on Boxing Day 1995. The promotion closed its doors on December 30. By 1996, Lawler wrestled occasionally on WWF Superstars where he would take on jobbers while holding a microphone in the ring to, essentially, "do the commentary on (his) very own matches" while occasionally serving as the official cornerman for Isaac Yankem D.D.S. After
38025-556: Was trying to separate the two. On the June 11 episode of Impact! , Mick Foley kayfabe fined and suspended Jarrett and threw him out of the arena as a punishment. The following week, Foley threw a party for Jarrett and welcomed his return to TNA in order to have him on his side at Slammiversary . At Slammiversary, Jarrett refused to give Foley the belt in the King of the Mountain match, which was won by Kurt Angle after assistance from Samoa Joe. Shortly after Slammiversary, Jarrett once again disappeared from TNA programming. During his hiatus, it
#56943