Jeff Jarrett explains why he attacked Paul Walter Hauser.
Hauser briefly appeared on the January 11 episode of AEW Dynamite, and he was featured in a segment on the January 13 episode of AEW Rampage. On Friday night, the Golden Globe Award winner was confronted by Jarrett, Jay Lethal, Satnam Singh, and Sonjay Dutt. After Hauser insulted Jarrett, the group attacked him, and "Double J" smashed a guitar over the actor's head.
Speaking on his My World with Jeff Jarrett podcast, the WWE Hall of Famer was asked about his reasoning for attacking Hauser. He responded by emphasizing his belief that Hauser is the latest in a lobg line of "C-list actors" who have tried to step into the wrestling world. Jarrett also compared Hauser to a journeyman wrestler.
"The little dough boy known as Paul Walter-hausen? I mean, a glorified glory hound, LA scrum… another guy who’s in a long, long line of morons and imbeciles that wanna step into our industry, and I’m going with Beetlejuice, Gary Coleman. The list goes on and on [of] C-list actors who like to get up in the ring and, ‘Oh, I’m fanboy this and I’m fanboy that, and I got a lot of respect for this.’ Conrad, you know as well as I do, could you not see through [him]? He’s an actor. Can you imagine a guy that is doing pretty good for a C-list actor. He’s a journeyman. Like journeymen wrestlers, he’s a journeyman actor. He’s gonna have a nice little run and then he’ll be forgotten about. But he’s trying to step into our world and comes up with his silly one-liners and says I look like the owner of a Crunch Fitness and taking pot shots and all that. Again, he ended up the same place as Beetlejuice and Gary Coleman and Ben Stiller, and all the other C-list folks that kind of stepped their toe in our business," Jarrett said.
The legend went on to describe how he legitimately didn't know who people were talking about when he heard Hauser was coming in for AEW Dynamite. Jarrett noted that he was told Hauser was a big fan of AEW, but he wanted to know what the actor has done that he should be aware. He also brought up how there are plenty of "delusional" fans in the wrestling world.
"When I heard backstage that he was coming on Wednesday, true story here, I kept saying, ‘Who are you guys talking about?’ ‘Oh no, he’s a fan of the show. Actually, he’s been in Jacksonville, and he’s a huge AEW fan.’ I said, ‘I get all that. There’s a lot of delusional fans out there like that, and I understand that. But can you give me a heads up? What has had done that I would be aware of?’" Jarrett said.
When co-host Conrad Thompson named some of Hauser's successful movies, Jarrett fired back by saying that they don't reach the masses. He then took issue with the convenient timing of Hauser's appearance, as it came so quickly after he won his Golden Globe Award. Jarrett also claimed that he got plenty of high fives after he smashed Hauser with a guitar.
"I heard backstage about he came up with some line about, ‘Yeah, he’s worked with Clint Eastwood, so he’s kind of a one-take artist.’ I went, he’s hanging his hat on being a one-take artist. Does he understand what industry he’s in? We don’t do takes in professional wrestling. It is such a shame that he’s conned whoever it may be to get screen-time on Dynamite. Don’t you find that amusing? He won the award on Tuesday. He would have been there rain or shine. He wins the award and feels that it’s important enough that he steals a catchphrase from the wrestling industry and says [it] at the end of his speech, which was another thing that is like, can you sick anything else out of our industry? I know one thing, backstage I got a lot of high fives after that guitar shot. A lot of high fives," Jarrett said.
Thompson disagreed and called Jarrett a liar, as he stated that Hauser is a beloved person. He cited the actor's success at recent awards shows.. Jarrett responded by questioning the relevance of award shows before he had one final message, as he called Hauser a clout vampire.
"How relevant are award shows in this day and age? He’s a clout vampire, trying to get the rub from AEW. There’s no doubt," he said.
After Jarrett attacked Hauser, Lethal and Dutt stole the actor's Golden Globe Award. The group then delivered an impromptu acceptance speech. More information is available here.
Lethal will challenge Orange Cassidy for the AEW All-Atlantic Championship on the January 18 episode of AEW Dynamite. Check out the card here.
Anthony Bowens recently stated that he hopes he and Max Caster are done with Jarrett and Lethal after their recent feud. Click here to see what he had to say.
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