Jeff Jarrett to be Inducted into the 2018 WWE Hall of Fame
In life you can there are takers and there are givers. When I think of Jeff Jarrett I think of someone who gave his life to the professional wrestling business. He made his debut into pro wrestling in 1986 where wrestled in WCCW and USWA. In 1993, he was hired by WWE where he began to form his first gimmick as a country music singer which followed him in both of his stints in WWE. He was so intriguing he is one of the very few who has two stints in WCW and WWE in the 90’s. Jeff Jarrett the wrestler feuded with Scott Hall, Shawn Michaels, and many others in the WWE. While in WCW he was involved with the Four Horsemen and feuded with member Steve McMichael over the United States Championship. Those were just his first runs in the respective companies. In his second run with WWE he feuded with X-Pac, D-Lo Brown and Chyna before heading back to WCW. His career can’t be talked about without mentioning his friendship and tag team with the late great Owen Hart. Jarrett and Hart had been teaming at the time of Hart’s passing. When he went to back to WCW, Jarrett became a four time WCW Heavyweight Champion. He was a part of a lot of controversial moments including screwing with Hulk Hogan on a live pay-per-view that was aired worldwide. In 2001, WCW was bought out by WWE and Vince McMahon publicly fired Jarrett on TV leaving us to wonder if we would ever see Double J again.
In 2002, Double J and his father Jerry Jarrett started the Total Nonstop Action(TNA) wrestling promotion that was backed by the National Wrestling Alliance. Under Jarrett’s leadership TNA featured new stars like AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Bobby Roode, Eric Young and so many others. He took the right veterans from his era and meshed them in with the crop of new stars that are in the spotlight in this era. As I said before, Double J has had his fair share of controversy in his career and his time in TNA was no different. He broke off from the NWA, he let Dixie Carter take over the company and he hooked up with Kurt Angle’s ex wife Karen. In fairness to Jarrett, Karen was already divorced from Kurt and Jeff’s first wife tragically passed away in 2007. Jarrett has had his fair share of demons but he’s learned from them, grown from them and has became a better person. Some critics might say Jeff Jarrett doesn’t deserve to be in the WWE Hall of Fame, but to put your mind at ease here are his list of accomplishments:
AWA Rookie of the Year(1986)
6X NWA Champion
1x TNA King of the Mountain Champion
TNA Hall of Fame(2015)
1X USWA Heavyweight Champion
9X USWA Southern Heavyweight Champion
3X USWA Unified World Heavyweight Champion
14X USWA Tag Team Champion
4X WCW Heavyweight Champion
3X WCW United States Champion
6X WWE Intercontinental Champion
1X WWE European Champion
1X WWE Tag Team Champion
The list of accomplishments speaks for itself and it so great to see someone that has given so much of himself to this business. I am happy that Jeff Jarrett has been welcomed back into the WWE family. He has a passion for this business that can rarely be matched. Whether he was in WCW, WWE, or TNA he was a smashing success. Before you could walk with Elias you had to go through guitar carrying “King of the Mountain.” Congratulation to Jeff Jarrett on becoming the newest member of the WWE Hall of Fame.