Jeff Jarrett made multiple jumps during the Monday Night Wars, going from WWE to WCW and then back to WWE finally back to WCW in the span of five years.
When he jumped from WWE to WCW in 1999, he did so after getting a big paycheck from Vince McMahon.
Appearing on Stories with JBL and Gerald Brisco, Jarrett was asked to tell the story of holding Vince up for money.
"As I was leaving WCW, I signed a one-year deal, October 96 to October 97. I go back to WWF in October 97. Signed a two-year deal. Here we are in October 99. The Attitude Era is red hot, it's blowing and going. I had a couple of misfires. Our buddy Stone Cold [Steve Austin] wasn't real happy with me during the timeframe. We hadn't quite mended fences like we have now. Things, for the first year of my contract, from 97 to 98, stutter started. Robert Fuller came back. I hadn't quite gotten traction. I cut the hair, 'Don't Piss Me Off,' started using the guitar and things just started picking up momentum. I'll never forget Pat Patterson looked at me in his nice accent, 'What the fuck took you so long? You should've cut that hair three years ago.' It improved the look. That was SummerSlam 98. Get a little traction. Vince was like, 'I can do something with this,'" recalled Jarrett.
He continued, "As I said, the Attitude Era is blowing and going. DX was hitting on all cylinders. Yes, you had Rock, Stone Cold, Kane, [Undertaker], but in a lot of ways DX defined the era. Hunter [Triple H], Billy [Gunn], Road Dogg, and X-Pac, but Chyna kept building the entire momentum. My storyline was over here and me and Owen [Hart] were the tag team champions in the first part of the year, then the accident [Owen dying], then they decided to go with me as the Intercontinental Champion. All the dominoes just happened and the natural story with Chyna getting that build."
Jarrett won the WWE Intercontinental Championship from D'Lo Brown at WWE SummerSlam 1999.
"With all this going on and Vince making a boatload of money, he's going to take the company public. He's doing Raw and SmackDown, then he's flying to Germany; investment bankers. All he's thinking is taking the company public. As far as the negotiations going on, it was me and JR [Jim Ross]. I get it, as Coach Bill Parcells said famously, 'If I'm coaching this team and making this meal, I get to go to the grocery store and pick my groceries to cook my meal.' I didn't fit into JR's plans. I get it, he wants to keep the team happy. The negotiations didn't really proceed the way I thought they should have, at all. They were going south. I would be safe to say, I don't think anybody on the roster was taking a paycut. Most were getting bumps in pay because everyone was making money. Jim was playing hardball with me, and I got that. When it got down to nutcutting time, Vince was off doing his deal, I'm like, 'Man, I'm going to be doing myself a disservice because I'm a red hot heel. I'm rocking. I have to at least explore my options.' JJ [Dillon] was down (at WCW), and I started putting feelers out and they were like, 'What? You're not...' 'No, I'd like to get a number from you guys.' It kept getting down and getting down. I was like, 'Jim, are you not going to give me any kind of new offer?' Water under the bridge, but no one will ever know what the agenda was, but he didn't pursue. I had to do what's best for Jeff. 'WCW, send me the paper.' It was a hell of a substantial raise, quite a bit. I agonized over that. Made the deal. The pay-per-view was on a Sunday. My contract expired on Saturday. This is where it gets sticky," recalled Jarrett.
He then explained how he got more money from Vince and WWE.
"The word got to, 'Jeff is not renewing.' I let them know. Vince started calling me on Thursday and on Friday, leaving me voicemails, 'Let's talk.' By that point, there was nothing left to talk about. I had already signed. Wasn't completely comfortable with the Jeff-Vince relationship, but I knew JR was the head coach and he's running the show. I let Vince know, 'I will be at your house show on Saturday night and I'll be at the pay-per-view on Sunday, and we will cut a deal and make this thing right or we won't make it right.' Get to the building on Sunday. None of it set right because I knew how it worked in WCW. I had been under the corporate umbrella. I knew things were done differently. I was never happy there for the one year in that you didn't know who the boss was. Eric [Bischoff] was the boss, then he wasn't. Even in '96, he was the tip-top boss, but Kevin Sullivan was the booker, and this guy was the assistant booker. It's a different environment. I come from the territory days where you knew who your boss was. When I got there, in year one of that last contract with WWF, about halfway into it, because my wife was sick, I didn't make all the dates. Linda [McMahon] stepped in early in Jill's battle and said, 'Leave him off. Let him come to TV. No house shows.' I'm like, 'No, no, no.' Jill said, 'No, you have work.' Linda kind of mandated it. On my payoffs, after year one, I was just under my downside. I didn't meet my downside. So, JR, being the good businessman, after year one, said, 'Hey man, you're going to blow way above it because year two you're going to get the bookings, but we're going to lower your downside.' 'We're changing the deal, JR?' 'Yeah, you didn't really meet it and I have to do what's best for the business. Don't worry about it, Jeff. You're going to get booked and you're going to blow through it,' which I did.
"When I got to the building, that perked back up into my brain and I was not really happy about any of it, about the contract, and why are we doing this? Road Dogg wasn't happy with the circumstances and I guess he let JR know it a couple of times. It was a mess, in so many ways. I was there. Under no circumstances was I not going to drop the title. That's the deal. JR was playing hardball, and rightly so, [Vince] Russo and [Ed] Ferrara, Pat, Vince, and creative was the other side. They're writing Jeff as IC Champion and we have a red hot program, male against female, Jeff is going to tear the house down. It's the perfect guy to drop it to the female. All that storyline. 'Vince, let's make this easy on both of us.' 'What do you propose?' 'I think we need to get all cleaned up in pay.' 'Okay, talk to JR.' I went out and talked to Jim. 'Jim, how do you think we solve this?' 'I don't know.' 'We have to figure it out because once I drop this title, I have zero leverage. You could write me a check for $5 and we'll shuffle paper for the next ten years and I'm further in debt. I have to cut a deal before the match, not after.' 'Okay, that makes sense.' I think there were three or four pay-per-views in the pipeline. I said, 'Let's figure a pay off. Whatever it may be, we need to come up to that number. If you want to think of this and come back to me.' He came back to me and I said, 'We have to factor in tonight's pay-per-view too. That's going to be a separate issue, but let's figure all this out.' He did that. I assume he went back in, 'Hey Vince, this is what he wants. He wants to get cleaned up tonight. What do you think?' Apparently Vince was fine with that, understood all that, came back, and at this time, Terry Taylor has been told he has to join the conversation. 'Terry, what do you have to say?' 'I'm just here.'
"Jim throws out a number and I said, 'Okay, Jim, you remember last year when I got cut and I didn't have to? I want some of that money back. Whatever that number you came up with is, we're going to double that.' I said, 'It's your call. It's totally your call. If ya'll don't want to do it, I completely understand. This is your belt. It's not mine.' Went back in to Vince. 'Here is tonight's payoff, here's the number.' We agreed on a number. I said, 'I guess it's okay for me to go get my bag.' JR said, 'Yeah, let's have a good match.' I said, 'One last thing, I want the check written from Gund Arena. From the venue.' 'No problem.' All of it went down, I went and got dressed. Bless Chyna's heart, it was a big night for her. In the back of my mind, the night before, I had gone through the match in my mind and it was going to be great. Pat Patterson, he's always thinking business. The finish was, I go over, and the word had gotten out it was my last night, and we do a finish where I go over. 'We swerved them.' There is a technicality, restart the match, she beats me. Before the match happened, I'm warming up, and here comes Vince, opens up his shirt pocket, hands the check, Gund Arena. Shook hands. He looks at me, and he was the one who initiated the big hug. He said, 'I really appreciate you doing business tonight. Go have fun out there.'"
Jarrett would lose the WWE IC Title to Chyna at the event, then leave for WCW.
Jarrett closed by stating, "Had I not done that. I don't believe Vince would have respected me."
Jarrett would eventually work for Vince again in 2019, signing on to be a producer.
He is currently signed to AEW.
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