AEW Star Addresses ‘Mending Fences’ With Vince McMahon Ahead Of WWE Hall Of Fame Induction

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An AEW star has addressed ‘mending fences’ with Vince McMahon ahead of his WWE Hall of Fame induction in 2018.

Having debuted in AEW back in November 2022, Jeff Jarrett joined the company after a storied career that had seen him undertake two runs in WWE and WCW, along with forming TNA Wrestling and continuing an impressive international in-ring career.

With reports that his first WWE (then the WWF) came to an end due to a dispute back in 1996 and his second also being centered around contract expiry that saw the star return to WCW in 1999, Jarrett has cleared up many details surrounding the narrative during an appearance on Insight with Chris Van Vliet.

Inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 2018, Jarrett would address how that all came to be and the relationship he had with the company leading up to it, saying:

“That is another truly misunderstood kind of narrative. You mentioned earlier, Oh, Jeff got fired. No, his contract ran out. Jeff started TNA in the early years of TNA. I had multiple conversations with Vince McMahon. ‘Hey, Vince, is there any way that we can work together? Is there something there?’ There was nothing. He knew that we were all that.

“We were certainly not in competition, but as time went on, it was very apparent he viewed us as competition. We were the number two, whatever the gap was, we were definitely the number two. Two hours on network television, the network that he used to be on, and we were successful, 2 million viewers a week. Anyway, so that kind of relationship.

“Then the call came first week of 2018. Hey Jeff, and the words were not ‘WWE wants you in the Hall of Fame,’ (they were) ‘Vince wants to put you in the Hall of Fame.’ It’s another misunderstanding.

“My dad and Vince McMahon talked every Sunday afternoon before Vince had his trial, and while it was going on. So Vince knew that my dad and his father were peers, so to speak, Vince Senior being the older statesman, and my dad being the younger of the promoter territory. So a family again, me and Owen had our connection.

“I think Vince and myself have always had a promoter connection, and so mended fences, I just don’t think that’s probably the correct phrasing.”

Addressing being fired on television by Vince McMahon on the final episode of WCW Nitro (that was simulcast with that night’s Raw), Jarrett would dive into that situation, saying:

“Being fired, and I’ve been let go, fired numerous times. But the reality was Vince did “fire” me on TV, but I was still going to have a contract for the next seven or eight nine months. So that was a storyline that has grown that Jeff got fired, started TNA. The reality was I was paid through the end of October, and when that was over, I kind of sat back and said, okay. I never made a call to say, ‘Hey JR, Vince, you got a job for me?’

“You just kind of look back and know your place in the industry and go, you have no leverage, none. It certainly wasn’t a wrestler’s market. Vince, without a number two, there is no number one. It was Vince owning the entire game, and so that is really the thought process that went through my mind is there’s a real opportunity here. So it’s just one of those things that TNA, just the narrative that is out there, as you say, it built out of desperation. I believe it was built out of an opportunity.”

The relationship between WWE and TNA is stronger than ever, with the two companies working in a long-term partnership.

Jeff Jarrett Was Never Going To Be ‘Capital G, Double-O, Double-N, Double-E – GOONNEE!’

Despite what Vince McMahon said on the March 26 Raw/Nitro simulcast where he “bought his competition”, Jeff Jarrett was never going to be gone from the wrestling business.

The son of the legendary Jerry Jarrett, the wrestling business at all levels was in the WWE Hall of Famer’s veins from a very young age, and he’s seen the ebbs and tides of the industry first-hand across a number of positions that he’s held.

A wrestler, a champion, a promoter and a businessman, Jarrett has practically seen it all, and been the sharp end on many occasions throughout his career, yet continues to work at the highest level, being Director of Business Development in AEW.

Having turned 58 in July of this year, Jarrett shows little interest in stepping back from the business, having started as a referee in his teenage years.

Jarrett’s business acumen has also seen him go beyond the wrestling world, being named as a member of the advisory board of Acclaim Entertainment, the video game publisher that was revived in March of last year.

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• wwe
• hall of fame
• jeff jarrett
• AEW

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