Jeff Jarrett

Jarrett's first involvement with World Wrestling Federation (WWF) came on August 9, 1992. Sitting at ringside along with Jerry Lawler at the WWF house show that was being held at the Pyramid in Memphis, Tennessee, he issued an open challenge to any WWF wrestler. After defeating Kamala by disqualification that night, Bret Hart accepted Jarrett's challenge for a match the next time that the WWF came to Memphis. Beginning in October, Jarrett himself began making appearances on WWF house show events, defeating Mondo Kleen (who would later debut as Damian Demento) and Barry Horowitz. At a *WWF Wrestling Challenge* taping in Louisville, Kentucky on October 28, Jarrett scored his biggest victory of his nascent WWF career by upsetting Rick Martel. However, the scheduled match between Bret Hart and Jarrett on October 31 in Memphis was cancelled due to poor weather. Eventually, Jarrett would go on to lose many WWF house show matches with Bret Hart starting in early December 1993, then again in early January 1994, but not in his hometown of Memphis.

Nearly a year later, Jarrett returned to the WWF. He made his televised debut on October 23, 1993 on *WWF Superstars* as a heel under the gimmick of "Double J" Jeff Jarrett, a country music singer who intended to elevate his singing career through his exposure as a wrestler. Jarrett's character would strut to the ring wearing flashing "Double J" hats and ring attire, while he punctuated his promos with the phrase "Ain't I great?". He ended his interviews by distinctly spelling out his name ("That's J-E-Double-F, J-A-Double-R, E-Double-T!").

Jarrett had his first televised match with the WWF on the December 20, 1993 episode of *Raw*, defeating PJ Walker. Jarrett made his pay-per-view debut in January 1994 at the Royal Rumble, entering the Royal Rumble match as the 12th participant and was eliminated less than 90 seconds later by Randy Savage. Also at the Royal Rumble, Jarrett participated in attacking The Undertaker and forcing him into the casket, an incident that would be a focal point in Undertaker's rematch later that year. Jarrett was scheduled to wrestle in a five versus five tag match at WrestleMania X, but the match did not take place due to time constraints. However, the match did take place on the April 4 episode of *Raw*, with Jarrett's team winning. During this time, Jarrett started having what would be a very long string of matches with Doink during house shows in which he usually won the match. Despite getting past Lex Luger by countout in the first round, Jarrett lost in the second round of the 1994 King of the Ring tournament, being pinned by the 1-2-3 Kid. Only weeks before SummerSlam, the WWF promoted a match as part of a "rap versus country" rivalry that pitted Jarrett against Mabel who portrayed a rapper. There was little buildup for the match until Mabel tried to provoke Jarrett into a fight, but Jarrett simply exited. At SummerSlam, Jarrett won the match by pinfall. Around this time, Jarrett began a feud with the 1-2-3 Kid's friend, Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon. Jarrett would face both men at Survivor Series, Jarrett's team competed in another five versus five tag team match, this time with elimination rules. Jarrett's team lost when all the members of the team including himself were counted out. Later during the event, Jarrett tried once again tried to illegally attack The Undertaker, but this time was stopped by Chuck Norris. In January 1995, Jarrett would once again feud with Bret Hart, ultimately losing to Hart on the January 23 episode of *Raw*.

At the Royal Rumble in Tampa, Florida, Jarrett defeated Razor Ramon to win the Intercontinental Championship. In an effort to become a dual champion, Jarrett challenged Diesel for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship in the main event of the February 20 episode of *Raw*, but lost the match. Razor Ramon received a rematch at WrestleMania XI which Jarrett lost by disqualification, but retained the Intercontinental Championship. Jarrett was then joined by The Roadie, with the duo losing to Razor Ramon in a handicap match at In Your House 1. On April 26, 1995, the Intercontinental Championship was declared vacant after a controversial ending to a match between Jarrett and Bob Holly. They had a rematch later that evening where Jarrett reclaimed the title. On May 19, Razor Ramon regained the title from Jarrett in Montreal, Quebec, but Jarrett won it back two nights later in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, making him a three-time Intercontinental Champion.

At In Your House 2: The Lumberjacks on July 23, 1995, Jarrett performed the song "With My Baby Tonight". Later that evening, Jarrett lost the Intercontinental Championship to Shawn Michaels. Following the event, Jarrett left the WWF for five months. Jarrett returned to the WWF at In Your House 5 on December 17, 1995, feuding with Ahmed Johnson. Jarrett lost to Johnson by disqualification at the 1996 Royal Rumble and left the WWF shortly thereafter due to a contract dispute. Later that year, The Roadie revealed that he had in fact sung "With My Baby Tonight" and that Jarrett had been lip synching.

In October 1996, Jarrett was hired by World Championship Wrestling (WCW), signing a one-year contract. Upon debuting in WCW, Jarrett became a "free agent" in the rivalry between The Four Horsemen and the New World Order (nWo). After defeating Chris Benoit at Starrcade, and Steve McMichael, both by cheating when the referee was distracted, Jarrett was reluctantly inducted into the Four Horsemen. On June 9, 1997, Jarrett defeated Dean Malenko to win the United States Heavyweight Championship. In mid-1997, Jarrett was kicked out of the Four Horsemen and began feuding with Horsemen member Steve McMichael. Despite aligning himself with McMichael's then-wife, Debra McMichael, Jarrett lost the United States Heavyweight Championship to McMichael on August 21. In October, Jarrett's contract expired and he opted to return to the WWF.

Jarrett returned to the WWF on the October 20, 1997 episode of *Raw is War*, delivering a worked shoot speech in which he criticized both WCW President Eric Bischoff and WWF Chairman Vince McMahon. After briefly feuding with The Undertaker, Jarrett defeated Barry Windham. In early 1998, Jarrett joined forces with Jim Cornette and his stable of "invading" wrestlers. In March, Jarrett left Cornette's stable.

Jarrett went on to reprise his country music singer gimmick on the March 2, 1998 edition of *Monday Night Raw*, introducing Tennessee Lee as his new manager. On the June 1, 1998 edition of *Raw*, Tennessee Lee introduced Southern Justice (formerly known as The Godwinns) as Jarrett's new bodyguards. On the August 9, 1998 edition of *Sunday Night Heat*, Jarrett fired Tennessee Lee after he had inadvertently cost Jarrett multiple matches in the preceding weeks. Jarrett and Southern Justice then began feuding with D-Generation X (D-X), with Jarrett losing to DX member X-Pac in a hair vs. hair match at SummerSlam. Jarrett's long hair was subsequently cut short by DX and Howard Finkel, who had himself been shaved bald by Jarrett and Southern Justice shortly before SummerSlam. Jarrett and Southern Justice were defeated by DX at Breakdown in September, and the trio separated shortly thereafter.

Jarrett briefly feuded with Al Snow before reuniting with Debra, who had left WCW for the WWF, and forming a tag team with Owen Hart. Jarrett and Hart won the WWF Tag Team Championship from Ken Shamrock and The Big Boss Man, successfully defending the titles at WrestleMania XV before losing to Kane and X-Pac on an episode of *Raw*. Eight days after Hart died in a stunt that went wrong at Over the Edge, Jarrett defeated The Godfather, who Owen was scheduled to face at the pay-per-view, for the Intercontinental Championship. As he was handed the title belt, he yelled Hart's name in tribute to his friend. In mid-1999, Jarrett exchanged the Intercontinental Championship with Edge and D'Lo Brown on two more occasions. His fifth reign broke Razor Ramon's record from 1995. He held the record until Chris Jericho's seventh reign in 2004.

In the months that followed, Jarrett became increasingly abusive towards Debra. At SummerSlam, Jarrett challenged D'Lo Brown for both the WWF European and Intercontinental Championships, with Debra accompanying Brown to the ring following an argument with Jarrett. Brown lost the match after both Mark Henry and Debra turned on him, making Jarrett the second ever "Euro-Continental Champion". On the following episode of *Raw*, Jarrett rewarded Debra and Henry by giving Debra an assistant, Miss Kitty, and Henry the European Championship. In late 1999, Jarrett began feuding with Chyna over the Intercontinental Championship. In the course of the feud, Jarrett became somewhat misogynistic, attacking numerous females, executing the figure-four leglock on them. Jarrett eventually abandoned Debra in favor of Miss Kitty after he and Debra were defeated by Stephanie McMahon and Test in a mixed tag team match. He later also turned on Miss Kitty after she lost a match that Jarrett had inserted her into in his place.

Jarrett left the WWF in October 1999. Jarrett's contract expired on October 16, 1999, one day before his scheduled match with Chyna at No Mercy. Jarrett wrestled at No Mercy nonetheless, losing the Intercontinental Championship to Chyna.

Jarrett returned to WCW on the October 18, 1999 episode of *Monday Nitro*, attacking Buff Bagwell and proclaiming himself the "Chosen One" of WCW. Jarrett took part in a tournament for the vacant WCW World Heavyweight Championship, winning his first three matches with the assistance of Creative Control. At Mayhem, he was eliminated from the tournament after losing his semi-final match to Chris Benoit following interference from Dustin Rhodes. At Starrcade, Jarrett defeated Rhodes in a Bunkhouse Brawl, then unsuccessfully challenged Benoit for the United States Heavyweight Championship in a ladder match. On the following episode of *Nitro*, Jarrett defeated Benoit in a rematch, winning the belt. In the same evening, Jarrett reformed the nWo with WCW World Heavyweight Champion Bret Hart and the reigning WCW World Tag Team Champions, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall, with the foursome calling themselves "nWo 2000".

In early 2000, Jarrett feuded with WCW Commissioner Terry Funk, who forced him to wrestle three veterans – George Steele, Tito Santana, and Jimmy Snuka – in one night. Jarrett was stripped of the United States Heavyweight Championship after suffering a concussion during his bout with Snuka, but the title was returned to him by Nash after he became WCW Commissioner. In order to help him retain the title, Jarrett drafted the Harris Brothers (formerly Creative Control) into nWo 2000. In the following months, Jarrett repeatedly challenged Sid Vicious for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, in the process clashing with Nash and winning the position of WCW Commissioner for himself. Following Bret Hart's retirement, the nWo disbanded.

In April, WCW was rebooted by Eric Bischoff and Vince Russo, with all titles vacated as a result. Bischoff and Russo also created The New Blood, a stable of younger wrestlers who feuded with The Millionaire's Club, made up of the older members of the WCW roster. Jarrett joined The New Blood, and at Spring Stampede on April 16, he defeated Millionaires Club member Diamond Dallas Page to win the vacant WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Page regained the title on April 24, and on April 25, the title was contested in a tag team match pitting Jarrett and Bischoff against Page and actor David Arquette. Arquette won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship after pinning Bischoff. Jarrett hit Page with the championship belt while special referee Kimberly Page's back was turned; WCW official Mickie Jay counted Bischoff out while Jarrett had Page pinned, who kicked out. At Slamboree on May 7, Jarrett defeated Page and Arquette in a three-way triple cage match to win his second WCW World Heavyweight Championship after Arquette turned on Page.

In May, Jarrett won and lost the WCW World Heavyweight Championship on two further occasions, regaining the title from Ric Flair both times. Jarrett feuded with Nash and Hulk Hogan throughout June 2000, and on July 9 at Bash at the Beach, he faced Hogan with the World Championship on the line; the match ended swiftly after Jarrett immediately laid down, allowing Hogan to rest a boot on his chest and win the title. Vince Russo subsequently came to the ring and delivered a profanity-laced statement, in which he accused Hogan of politicking and claimed that Hogan had used his creative control to refuse to lose to Jarrett. Russo then stated that, while Hogan was free to keep the title belt he had just won (the "Hulk Hogan Memorial Belt"), Jarrett would wrestle Booker T for the official WCW World Heavyweight Championship later that night. Booker T won the match and Hogan did not appear in WCW again.

In the following months, Jarrett briefly feuded with Booker T, Mike Awesome, Sting, Buff Bagwell, and Flair. In late 2000, he joined forces with the Harris Brothers once more, with the trio defeating The Filthy Animals at Starrcade on December 17. In the same evening, Jarrett aligned himself with WCW World Heavyweight Champion Scott Steiner by helping Steiner defeat Sid Vicious.

In 2001, Jarrett and Steiner became members of The Magnificent Seven, a large stable headed by Flair. Flair and Jarrett feuded with Dusty and Dustin Rhodes until March, when WCW was purchased by the WWF.

On February 19, 2018, WWE announced that Jarrett would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. Jarrett was inducted on April 6, by his long-time friend Road Dogg, with the two men singing a duet of Jarrett's country song "With My Baby Tonight".

In January 2019, Jarrett was hired by WWE as a producer. He appeared as a surprise second entrant in the Royal Rumble match. Jarrett proposed a duet with Elias, who seemingly accepted before smashing Jarett with his guitar as the match started leading to Jarrett's elimination by Elias. The following night on *Raw*, Jarrett, joined by his former partner, Road Dogg, interrupted Elias and the two sang "With My Baby Tonight". Elias attacked both Jarrett and Road Dogg with a guitar. On February 4, Jeff Jarrett wrestled his first match on *Raw* in nineteen years, losing to Elias. After the match, Jarrett smashed Elias with his guitar as payback for the previous week.

Jarrett made a one-off return to WWE on the January 21, 2022 episode of *SmackDown*, appearing in a backstage segment with Rick Boogs and Shinsuke Nakamura. At SummerSlam in July 2022, Jarrett served as a special guest referee for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship match between the Usos and the Street Profits.