In one of the most surprising Hall of Fame announcements, WWE today announced that Jeff Jarrett has been selected to be part of the 2018 class, marking his first connection with WWE since 1999.
Jeff Jarrett started his WWE career in August 1992 where he had a run of four years, including winning the Intercontinental title. In 1996 he left WWE to go to WCW but his first run there only lasted a year and returned to WWE in October 1997.
His second WWE run was more successful than his first, winning different titles including the Tag Team ones with the late Owen Hart. He left in 1999 to join WCW again but his departure from the company turned ugly. Jarrett was supposed to drop his IC title to Chyna at No Mercy that year but his contract expired a day before the pay-per-view and extorted Vince McMahon for $300,000 in order to wrestle and drop the title.
Jarrett returned to WCW in October 1999 and stayed there until the company was bought by WWE in 2001. His contract was not picked up by WWE and on the simulcast episode of Raw and Nitro, Vince McMahon mocked Jarrett on live television, saying that Jarrett would be gone.
In June 2002, Jeff Jarrett launched Total Nonstop Action Wrestling with his father to compete with WWE. He eventually sold the company to Dixie Carter and in December 2013, he resigned from his position within the company but remained a minority shareholder.
Jarrett created Global Force Wrestling in 2014 but the company failed to gain traction and he returned to TNA in 2015, selling his minority stake in return for some promotion for his GFW company.
After Anthem bought Impact Wrestling in 2017, Jarrett returned to the fold to run the day-to-day operations in the company but his stint lasted less than a year and was fired in October due to several personal issues.
Jarrett was admitted to a rehab clinic shortly thereafter and WWE picked up the tab for his stay after his wife Karen, the ex-wife of Kurt Angle, reached out to the WWE for help.
During his long career, Jarrett won the WWE Intercontinental title six times, the WWE European title once, the WWE Tag Team titles once, the WCW World title four times, the WCW United States title three times, the TNA World title six times, and the TNA King of the Mountain title once, apart from several other titles in AAA, CWA, and USWA.
