Forgotten Favorites 04.09.09: SummerSlam 1999 - D'Lo Brown vs. Jeff Jarrett

Posted by Jim Grimm on 04.09.2009

Both the IC and European Titles were on the line in this SummerSlam classic. Who walked out the unified champion?

Welcome back again, wrestling fans. I hope everyone had an enjoyable WrestleMania experience; I know I sure did. I've voiced my displeasure with the "been there, done that" feeling of the card, but there's no denying that we got a solid night of some awesome wrestling action. The WWE Title match left a sour taste in my mouth, but Michaels-Undertaker was everything I had hoped for and more. All in all, it was a great night to be a wrestling fan.

Another great time to be a wrestling fan? Well, that would be every Wednesday night or Thursday morning or whenever the hell you log onto 411 for the brand NEW (in tribute to new HOFer The Fink) edition of Forgotten Favorites. And as usual, here's the reason you're reading this:

The evil master of wrestling history, who rules from his titanic towers of evil, takes great joy in robbing his followers of cherished memories. He has even gone so far as to wave his billion-dollar wand on more than one occasion in an attempt to completely erase particular pockets of time. Well, we, the people, have refused to stand for such injustices, and as a result, I have been called upon to right the wrongs of time.

The masses weren't exactly thrilled with last week's choice, but worry not, wrestling fans. I have heeded your call and searched for a suitable subject this week.

Who wants great wrestling?


SummerSlam - August 22, 1999
WWE Intercontinental & European Championships
D'Lo Brown vs. Jeff Jarrett

HOW IT WENT DOWN

As we all know, the WWE European Championship was easily the most prestigous wrestling title of its time. So when Shane McMahon retired the title after winning it at WrestleMania XV, wrestling fans the world over mourned as they had never mourned before. Mourning fans later turned to suicidal ones when the coveted championship was reinstated, only to be handed over to an insanely unworthy Phineas I. Godwinn. Er, Mideon. But all was set right in the world (or maybe just in Europe) on July 25, 1999 at the second installment of Fully Loaded, when D'Lo Brown -- the man synonymous with the European Title -- defeated Mideon to begin his third title reign.

D'Lo wasn't the only new champion walking out of Fully Loaded. Earlier in the night, Jeff Jarrett defeated Edge to reclaim the IC Title he had lost twenty four hours earlier at a house show. This was Jarrett's fifth IC Title victory, during a time when the IC division was all about the former Double J.

On the Raw after Fully Loaded, the new IC Champion came to the ring with Debra to celebrate. With Hollywood megastar (...) Ben Stiller in the audience, Jarrett invited the actor into the ring. After some conveniently timed plugs for Stiller's Mystery Men movie, Jarrett asked Stiller who his favorite WWE superstar was. Zoolander struck out on this ocassion by making the mistake of telling Jeff he had two favorite Superstars: the puppies. An infuriated Jarrett took the actor down and trapped him in the Figure Four Leglock. And just when it seemed that an epic movie career might have ended (...), D'Lo Brown made the surprise run-in to save the day, landing his trademark Frogsplash on the IC Champ.

The following week on Raw a unification match took place. Jarrett's IC Title was put on the line against D'Lo's European Title in a match where some Jarrett-Debra miscommunication resulted in D'Lo walking out with two championship belts. Further advancing the problems that Jarrett and Debra had been having for the couple of weeks prior, Jeff blamed his title loss on Debra's mistimed interference. After the match, Jarrett issued a backstage challenge to D'Lo for a rematch at SummerSlam.

Also, earlier in the night, fans were given a video update of D'Lo's recent training regimen for his friend and tag team partner Mark Henry. D'Lo had recently made it his mission to help get The World's Strongest Man back in ring shape, and although Henry didn't come across enthusiastic, he still seemed willing to act on his friend's advice.

D'Lo took the next week of Raw off, focusing on his training with Mark Henry. A clip aired on Raw showing the two men on a run together, where an encouraging D'Lo wasn't having the best luck with his partner. And when Henry disappeared into the woods to heed nature's call, D'Lo was a victim of what one late Gorilla might call the old Pearl Harbor job. Jeff Jarrett suddenly appeared from nowhere to attack the defenseless D'Lo, sending a message to him prior to their SummerSlam encounter.

Since these Pearl Harbor shenanigans were taped at an earlier time, Jarrett was live at Raw that week and in action. However, his match against Val Venis didn't turn out so well, as further miscommunication with Debra cost the former IC Champion yet another match.

So going into a double-title rematch at SummerSlam, we had the ring rivalry between Jarrett and D'Lo. We had tension mounting between Jarrett and his longtime WWE manager Debra. And then we had Mark Henry floating around in there somewhere.

So how did it all play out?





Part 1




Part 2




Part 3


WHY IT SHOULD BE REMEMBERED

Aside from his Raw title victory a couple of weeks prior, this SummerSlam match was arguably the most significant of D'Lo Brown's career. And that's unfortunate, kids. After upsetting Triple H to capture his first European Championship in July of '98, D'Lo's stock steadily rose throughout the rest of the year. The European Title was his gimmick for a while, and the fans started responding more and more. He was at the peak of his crowd popularity when he unified the European and IC Titles in '99, and it seemed that a push to the top was inevitable for D'Lo. He had the total package: charisma, mic work, and moveset. Most importantly, he involved the audience in his matches. A man violently bobbing his head from side to side is utterly ridiculous, but for some reason crowds ate it up. When he'd stand over a fallen opponent, point to the crowd, and turn into Bobblehead Brown before a quick Legdrop, I'd think, "Well, there's the new People's Elbow." Looking back now, I think we can all agree that D'Lo's leg never came anywhere close to the power of Rocky's mighty elbow, but at the time it seemed a reasonable comparison. From the Sky High to the Running Powerbomb to the Lo Down, D'Lo had all the right moves to keep the people watching and participating. Based on all that, D'Lo should have made it to the WWE main event scene, and I think the SummerSlam match with Jarrett proves it.


D'Lo was capable of much more than just being the greatest European Champion of all time

And I'm not leaving Jeff Jarrett out of this should-have-been debate. Just as D'Lo should've had his opportunity to have a go at the main event, Jarrett should've been right there with him. In the years prior to SummerSlam '99, Jeff Jarrett was always a good worker. Whether he was working for WCW or the then-WWF, Jarrett brought his A-game in the ring and had a personality that generated heat regardless of his face/heel designation. In the summer of 1999, Jarrett was at the peak of his abilities in WWE. He had completely redefined his character a year prior, and by the time of the match with D'Lo he had completely settled into his new short-haired badass self. Having become less a country musician and more an asskicker with an affinity for country music, Jarrett perfected the character that would carry him onto multiple World Championships in WCW. While this isn't such an unfortunate case as D'Lo's (considering Jarrett did win the big one in WCW), it still smells of not-right-ness. By the time Jarrett won the WCW World Title, its prestige was nowhere near what it had been just a few years prior. And while Jarrett has also (amazingly) won several TNA World Titles, the fact remains that the dude never won the title: the WWE Championship. Twenty years ago that may not have been such a big deal, but in today's wrestling world it is. The WWE Championship is now the World Championship of pro wrestling, and the biggest stars always seek it out. I realize that this is an impossibility for Jarrett at this point, but I don't think it changes anything. The fact is that Jeff Jarrett has never (and likely will never have) won the WWE Championship. Considering the quality of the man's work over the years and the impact he's made, I think that's an unfortunate circumstance.

WHY IT ISN'T REMEMBERED

You probably haven't heard this before, but guess what? Vince McMahon doesn't like Jeff Jarrett! After you've given yourself a minute or two to wrap your head around that mind bender, you might be curious as to the reasons why. Well, as with every piece of "insider info" that slips out about the business, you have to take all the details with a grain of salt, but the story goes that McMahon and Jarrett didn't see eye to eye on a couple of contracts. His departure from the E in '96 was allegedly due to a contract dispute, and the circumstances surrounding his '99 departure also center around a contract controversy. Jarrett's WWE contract was set to expire one day prior to his defense of the IC Title against Chyna at No Mercy '99. It's been said that Jarrett had worked his contract negotiations so that he could manipulate the expiration date and that he (in a plan allegedly hatched with the recently-WCW-bound Vince Russo) had blackmailed McMahon into paying him an excessive amount to work the No Mercy PPV. Jarrett has since denied these rumors, and considering the source was apparently his No Mercy opponent (and narcotics-enthusiast) Chyna, I think you can reach your own conclusion on the rumor's validity. What we do know is that Jarrett did work No Mercy. He did put Chyna over. He wrestled a decent match (decent enough for Chyna) where he wasn't concerned about protecting himself or his image. And yet all these years later, we can probably safely assume that Vince still isn't sending Jeff any Christmas cards.


Jarrett's IC division domination should've led to a WWE Title run

Whatever happened between Jarrett and McMahon, the fact remains that Jeff Jarrett is not going to be remembered by WWE. I can't say this with confidence about too many wrestlers, but I can guarantee that you will never pick up a WWE-produced Jeff Jarrett DVD collection. Of course, his greatest triumphs came while he was working for different companies, but Jarrett enjoyed numerous successes in WWE. Up until a couple of years ago, Jarrett had the record at six Intercontinental Championships to his name. He was a dominant force in both midcard singles wrestling and in the tag team division, reigning as Tag Team Champion alongside Owen Hart. And yet, as far as WWE is concerned, Jeff Jarrett never existed. Therefore no matter how golden his feud and SummerSlam match with D'Lo were, WWE will still never feel the need to go back and highlight it.

D'Lo's star was never able to shine on the WWE's big stage, but that happened for a different reason. There's no denying that D'Lo was steadily building steam throughout '99, his fanbase gradually growing and growing. And with his unification of the European and IC Titles, it looked like we had a future star on our hands. But just two months after SummerSlam, D'Lo had a match that forever altered the course of his career. At a SmackDown taping in Uniondale, NY, D'Lo inadvertently injured Darren Drozdov while executing a Powerbomb. Drozdov was paralyzed, his wrestling career brought to a halt at a tragically young age. D'Lo was apparently an emotional train wreck following the incident and even considered stepping away from the business altogether. Although that didn't happen, it's clear by watching D'Lo's matches shortly after the incident that the man's heart was simply not all in it anymore. I can't even imagine what he was going through at the time, what with his own personal guilt on top of the potential distrust of his own peers. Whether or not it was related to the Droz incident, D'Lo's career never got back to the heights it had reached in mid-1999. He spent his last couple of years in the E tagging with The Godfather and Chaz before a short run as Teddy Long's Rodney Mack 1.0. D'Lo has since wrestled in Japan, TNA, and made a return to WWE programming, but he has still not been able to recapture the magic he had as the first ever Euro-Continental Champion. As great as his program with Jarrett was, it has become essentially forgotten by wrestling history.

WILL IT BE REMEMBERED?

I have my doubts. It's not so much regarding D'Lo's lackluster career post-SummerSlam as it is Vince McMahon's apparent hatred of all things Jarrett. While wrestling fans who were watching at the time will fondly remember the work D'Lo and Jarrett did in 1999, newer fans are probably completely in the dark as to the existence of their matches at all. And, unfortunately, I don't see WWE going out of its way to change that anytime soon.

- -

I know I said feedback would return this week, but I'm a filthy, filthy liar. Again I'll say, feedback returns next week, although I'm not very good at making promises apparently. As far as all of the less-than-happy readers from last week, I stand by my Backlash selection. I never claimed (and still won't) that it was any five-star Steamboat classic, but I think it was far from the catastrophe that many suggested it was. The point here is to highlight matches that have slipped past the radar of WWE and the casual fan over the years, and I think Austin-Taker at Backlash satisfies that. And on top of that, I still think it was an entertaining match with three overwhelmingly over personalities.

Anyways, that'll do it for this week. As usual, keep the discussion going. Until next time, stay safe and out of jail.