Jeff Jarrett

[Exposer]

I've been reading some Jarrett discussion in the top 10 U.S. workers thread. Let's get more in depth and talk about him here. Was he only good in Memphis? Like him elsewhere? Personally, I haven't seen hardly any of his Memphis work but love the HBK match and actually enjoy some of his TNA work. So, let's talk Jarrett.

[Loss]

I'm open to the idea that Jarrett was only good in Memphis, but I wonder how much of that perception is just based on him having an extremely grating personality in the WWF and WCW, not so much on his ring work. I'll admit that the persona made him borderline unbearable at times.

[Matt D]

I hate Jarrett in 93 in Memphis.

 

They were giving him the "I have superstar friends" and the "New Fabulous One" push and it was downright painful. He turns heel at the end of the year and instantly becomes more interesting.

[Loss]

He is definitely someone who always felt like he was pandering for heat too much, both as a babyface and a heel, in both of the Big Two.

[Exposer]

Yeah, he did seem to be overacting a lot in character especially as a heel.

[Matt D]

I don't really see how his career survived 98, except for through his friendship with Russo. It's the combination of going on TV decrying the Double J gimmick and then slipping back into it a short time later and then getting shit on by Austin who was happy to stun him a few times but refused to work with him.

 

Those are two of the most damaging things I can think of this side of Mark Henry and Mae Young.

[NintendoLogic]

The Stunners weren't Austin's idea. They were booked by Jarrett's buddy Vince Russo so he could then claim that Austin owed Jarrett. Austin still refused on the grounds that Jarrett wasn't a main event level talent, and Vince McMahon and Jim Ross agreed.

[Grimmas]

I bet Jarrett has a bunch of forgotten or hidden gems over the WWF/WCW years. He certainly had some of the better TNA matches out there. Might be worth a re-visit.

[jpchicago23]

His series with Angle was actually very good. I think he had a good ppv match with Christian as well.

[Dylan Waco]

He's had plenty of good matches in TNA and even more good performances that were ruined on some level by dogshit booking.

 

I like Jarrett and don't think there was ever a point where he was less than solid. But it's a very hard sell because there is no question that he never reached the potential of his early yeas and his character work was so annoying/poor it's virtually impossible to disconnect that from what he was able to do in the ring.

[Bix]

He's probably always been a great worker.

 

But he's always been a much more entertaining one as a face working a modernized Memphis style. I think it comes down to that. He's had some exceptions as a heel (like the stuff with Angle and Michaels), but the vast majority of his best work is from '86-92 or his random face runs afterwards.

[goodhelmet]

When working on the Death of WCW I found no great Jeff Jarrett matches in the Russo era or later. There were some decent matches like the Booker T title change but nothing great. The guitar gimmick is a killer and the bad booking puts it over the top. What a lame heel.

[tomk]

You didn't like Dusty/Dustin v Flair/Jarrett from Greed?

[Dylan Waco]

You didn't like Dusty/Dustin v Flair/Jarrett from Greed?

Speaking for myself, but I fucking love that match.

[goodhelmet]

You didn't like Dusty/Dustin v Flair/Jarrett from Greed?

Fun match but I don't fucking love it. I also watched it in context when I built up the Death of WCW set. At that point, everything felt so stupid, you just want to stop watching WCW.

[Dylan Waco]

My memory is that Greed was a very good ppv and that match was the best match on it.

 

But I did not sit through late-99/2000 WCW to get to that point either.

[flyonthewall2983]

The misogynist guy he was in WWE before he left for WCW was the low point of the Attitude Era for me.