From the Bowery: Jeff Jarrett: King of the Mountain (Disc III)

Posted by Robert Leighty Jr. on 04.26.2009

"Independent promotions are built on money and greed."
-Jeff Jarrett

From the Bowery: King of the Mountain: Jeff Jarrett (Disc III)

-Jarrett and Borash discuss the summer of 2001 where they sat at home and collected checks from WCW. It was during this summer they were able to recharge their batteries, clear their heads, and think about what they wanted to do in a world where the WWF dominated the wrestling landscape.

NWA Title: Jeff Jarrett © vs. “The Alpha Male” Monty Brown
-TNA Impact: Dec 3, 2004

-Jarrett has been NWA champ since May 26, 2004 at this point. Jarrett was part of the Kings of Wrestling with Hall and Nash, and this match is days before the Turning Point PPV. That was the show where Randy Savage teamed with Styles and Hardy to take on the Kings of Wrestling. Thankfully, the XXX/AMW six sides of steel cage match made most people forget that 6 man tag match. This is from the period when Impact was on FSN. I enjoyed the show being on FSN because of the graphic they always had at the top of the screen that counted down the time limit. In this case this match has a 30 minute limit. The crowd was way into Brown, and he is soaking up every minute of it. Brown is coming into the match with taped ribs, and that’s where Jarrett is trying to attack. The power of Brown is way too much early as he tosses Jeff all over the ring. Jarrett is able to control with a few punches for a short time, but Brown uses his power again with a press slam. Brown misses a charge and flips over the rope to the floor. They take a commercial break with 3:11 gone by and return with 5:50 expired. Jarrett is in control when they return, and continues to work over the injured ribs. Brown gets stuck in the tree of woe, and Jarrett pulls to put all the pressure on his ribs. Jarrett applies a bearhug to continue the damage to the ribs. Brown is able to escape and drops Jarrett with a double underhook suplex to leave both men down. The crowd counts along with the ref, but both men get to their feet at 8. Brown wins the exchange of punches, and gets a hot near fall of a running powerslam. A headbutt to the midsection follows and that gets a two count. Jarrett eats a powerbomb and again only a two count. Jarrett tries a cross body after ducking a punch, but Brown catches him. The fall away slam kills the ref, so Jarrett grabs the guitar. Brown no sells the guitar shot and the crowd pops huge. Jarrett shits his pants, before firing of the stroke. That only gets two, and Jarrett has no clue what to do. Hall comes down to run interference after Jarrett gets pounced. Hall eats a pounce of his own, but that gives Jarrett the chance to grab a chair. He kills Brown with two chair shots and that’s enough to get the pin at 13:03 (10:24 shown).

Winner and Still NWA Champion: Jeff Jarrett via pin @ 13:03
- A good TV match here, and the crowd was begging for a title change. Brown looked great, and most figured he was a lock to be a future champion. For some reason it just never happened. The man should have gotten a run at some point. **1/2

-Jarrett has no answer for starting TNA. He just thinks it was meant to be. Angle pops up to let us know Jarrett has more passion about this business than any other person he knows. Jeff is excited to think about where this company can go

NWA Title: Jeff Jarrett © vs. Kevin Nash
-Against All Odds 2005

-The stipulation here is that if Jarrett uses the guitar, he loses the title. I thought a DQ cost someone their title anyway, but that’s TNA for you. Tenay and West mention that Nash has had 14 knee surgeries, and that’s where Jarrett will be trying to attack. Nash buries a knee before they can lock up. Jarrett moves out of the way of a clothesline on three different occasions, but ends up eating a back elbow. Nash tosses Jarrett half way across the ring, and then works him over in the corner. He throws his patented elbows in the corner, and chokes with his boot. Jarrett catches a break when the ref tries to stop the illegal choke, and he takes advantage by kicking Nash in the knee. It doesn’t last long though as Nash hits the running clothesline in the corner and another clothesline sends Jeff to the floor. They brawl on the floor and Nash drops Jarrett with snake eyes on the announce table. Jarrett gets back in the ring first, and catches Nash as he slowly makes his way into the ring. The only offense Jarrett is using at this point is some right hands. He tries to quicken the pace, but Nash casually tosses him over the top rope. Jarrett tries to run through the crowd, and that gives them the excuse to brawl backstage. They destroy the catering table and West is pissed. That’s actually pretty funny. Nash rams the table into Jarrett, and then cracks him in the back with a chair. He chokes Jeff with the chair and the ref actually counts for him to break the choke. How the fuck does that even make sense? They are brawling in the back, and Nash has used a table and chair, but the ref is going to give him a 5 count for using the chair to choke? Jarrett is bleeding now as Nash beats him back to the ringside area. Some good blood flow from Jeff. Nash peels the padding off the floor and sets up for the jackknife, but a timely shot to the balls stops that. Jarrett pulls a guitar case from under the ring, but instead of a guitar he has a cello. Awesome! That is so stupid, but at the same time has a charm to it that you can’t deny. The knee gets abused with the cello, and the cello case. He continues to work the knee as Nash does nothing more than lay on the ground to sell the pain. He applies the figure four on the wrong leg, but that’s par for the course. The ref counts a few times, but Nash is able to get his shoulders off the canvas at two each time. He is able to break the hold by getting to the bottom rope. Thankfully, the ref doesn’t count for him to break the hold, and instead just breaks the hold himself. Jarrett ducks a clothesline, but runs flush into a big boot. The sidewalk slam follows, and that gets two. Nash is limping, but is still strong enough to drop Jarrett with snake eyes on two different occasions. He goes for it a third time, but Jarrett slips of his back and clips the knee. Jarrett goes for the cello, but Nash hits him in the balls. Nash tries to use the cello, but the ref stops him. Why? The ref gets hit when Nash tries for a jackknife, and he is out. Nash does get the jackknife and drops Jarrett on the cello. Billy Gunn makes his TNA debut, and drops Nash. Jarrett covers and it only gets two. Waltman comes down after Gunn is thrown out, and he gives Jarrett the broncobuster, and X-factor. Nash covers as the ref comes to, but it only gets two. Gunn returns to use the title belt, but BG James stops him from using it. Tenay is creaming himself because 3 former member of DX are in the building. Calm down there Mike. Jarrett finally gets the belt shot, and it only gets two. He goes to the stroke next, and that only gets two. Holy hell, Nash is superman it seems. Jarrett heads up top but Nash catches him. He tries for the chokeslam, but Jarrett blocks with a kick to the balls and the stroke finally finishes things at 19:47.

Winner and Still NWA Champion: Jeff Jarrett via pin @ 19:47
-Here is a case where overbooking helped. Nash has no business going twenty minutes, so they used every booking technique they had to keep this as entertaining as possible. The crowd was jacked towards the end, and they were buying into Nash huge. Nothing real fancy here as they basically brawled for twenty minutes and that was fine by me. My main problem was the officiating flaws. ***

-Borash was hired by McManus to do his international tours, and Borash brought in the biggest star he could in Jarrett. Jeff saw the mistakes McManus was making, and around Christmas he realized there was no future in the Indys. The Jarretts and Bob Ryder went fishing, and they talked about doing a weekly PPV to fill the revenue loss of the PPV companies with WCW and ECW going out of business. Jeff says Ron Harris is the first employee of the company. I guess that makes him their Fink. They discuss the opening PPV and the fact that the ring broke during the dark match. They were able to fix the ring seconds before the pyro went off to start the show.

NWA Title: Jeff Jarrett © vs. Rhino
-TNA Turning Point 2005

-This was the rubber match between the two. Rhino defeated Jarrett at Bound for Glory to win the title, but days later Jarrett recaptured the title on Impact. A feeling out process to start before Rhino starts running Jarrett down with shoulder blocks. Jarrett ducks a clothesline and hits his sweet dropkick for a one count. He takes Rhino down and scissors the arm on a wristlock. The crowd starts chanting for Rhino, and he does the Bob Backlund spot where he dead lifts Jarrett off the mat. He uses the power game with a military press slam, and then hangs him out to dry on the top rope. A stiff boot sends Jarrett to the floor. Rhino flies with a slingshot crossbody. Fucking air Rhino, yo! As expected they start brawling in the crowd. Jarrett escapes a suplex and sends Rhino off the bleachers to the floor. Not extremely impressive because it was only a 3 foot drop, but still, the effort was there. The brawl continues to the backstage area. Jarrett gets thrown into an aluminum wall, and he is split open. They fight on the entrance ramp as the crowd seems dead for some reason. Rhino smells blood and just pounds away to open the cut some more. They head back to the ringside where Rhino grabs a chair from the crowd. He waffles Jarrett with a shot to the back, and decides to grab another chair to hit him with again. They brawl away from ringside, and Rhino sets up a table. Jarrett tries to run away, and can only climb up a scaffold. Rhino chases and they brawl while the crowd starts to realize what’s coming. Sure enough Rhino gets blasted with a chair and falls around 6 feet to the table below. A second chair shot only pisses Rhino off, so he responds by suplexing Jarrett on the ramp. Rhino disappears to the bowels of the building and returns with another table. The table gets set up against the entrance tunnel, and Jarrett gets gored through the table. Both men go flying down the tunnel, and that spot became a big part of Impact’s opening video for a long time. Now it’s announced both men have a count of 10 to get back in the ring. Seriously, what the hell is the point of that? They just brawled for nearly 10 minutes outside the ring, and now the ref wants to enforce the rules. Team Canada comes out and tosses Rhino down the tunnel. They carry Jeff to the ring, but Rhino comes charging to beat the 10 count. Rhino is mighty pissed and he destroys each member of Team Canada. A spinebuster gets a two count. He heads up top, but Petey Williams prevents him from coming off the ropes. That sets up a superplex for Jarrett, but that only gets two. The ref gets gored when Jarrett moves out of the way. Rhino hits a belly to belly suplex, but we got no ref. The crowd starts chanting gore, but Team Canada returns. A1 eats a gore, but Roode delivers the Northern Lariat. The ref comes back to life, but Jarrett is only able to get a two count. Jarrett kills Rhino with a guitar shot, but the ref is still selling the gore and the delay gives Rhino the chance to kick out at two. Jackie Gayda makes her way down and she slaps the piss out of Jarrett. He staggers back into a gore, but Jarrett is able to kick out due to the ref taking too long to get in position. Security removes Gayda, and Rhino sets two chairs up in the ring. Rhino tries to hit a piledriver from the middle rope, but a well timed kendo stick shot from Scott Demore stops that. The stroke from the middle rope to the two chairs ends things at 17:31.

Winner and Still NWA Champion: Jeff Jarrett via pin @ 17:30
-All these matches are starting to run together as they are following a very similar formula. I actually liked the Nash match better due to the story of Jarrett working the knee, and the absurd guitar storyline. Rhino barely sold anything in this match, and that hurt things a lot. **1/4

-Jarrett never looked at TNA as an independent promotion. Indy promotions are built on money and greed. TNA was never built like that. He says real wrestling promoters don’t have egos. He says Vince may claim to have a big ego, but at the end of the day real promoters only focus on red ink and blank ink. Cornette puts over that TNA has grown faster in 6 years of existence than any other company. Jarrett says he laughs at those that call TNA an independent promotion.

Planet Jarrett (AMW w/ Jackie Gayda, Jeff Jarrett w/ Gail Kim, and Abyss w/ Jim Mitchell) vs. Rhino, Ron Killings, Team 3D
-Destination X 2006

-Jarrett is still your NWA Champ and the tag titles belonged to AMW at this time. Just a massive brawl to start as everyone pairs off on the floor. Killings and Jarrett fight up the aisle. On the opposite entrance Ray suplexes Storm on the ramp. Abyss and Rhino brawl in the stands. Rhino teases a gore off the stands, but Abyss gets a boot up to kill that noise. Killings and Jarrett do battle on the Spanish table. D-Von and Storm fight in another section of the crowd. Rhino destroys Abyss with two sick chair shots to the head. This is just total chaos, and those in the production truck have no clue what to show. Rhino and Storm make it back in the ring while everyone does battle on the arena floor. I guess things are settling back to a tag match because Rhino makes a tag to Devon. Storm works Devon over in the corner, but Ray makes the save. They go for the Doomsday device, but Harris uses Mitchell’s cane to blast Devon off the top rope. Jarrett gets the tag, and he gets in a few shots before tagging out to Abyss. Abyss doesn’t do much of note and tags back to Storm. He gets caught by Devon and the tag is made to Brother Ray. He dominates the tag champs by himself, and stacks them in the corner. He tags in Rhino who charges with a shoulder to both members of AMW in the corner. Jarrett makes the save before a 3 count can be made. Jarrett and Rhino have a go and that doesn’t work out well for Jeff. Rhino tosses Jeff with a press slam, and prepares for the gore. Gail Kim blocks, and slaps Rhino in the face. Rhino goes to piledrive her in the non-sexual way, but Abyss makes the save. Abyss gets a two count of a corner splash before making the tag to Jarrett. He hits his signature dropkick, but Rhino is able to kick out at two. Now Storm has a go with Rhino as he has become your endangered species in peril. A “Brokeback Mountain” chant breaks out from the crowd. AMW are less than thrilled with that chant. Harris wears Rhino down with a chinlock, and cuts off his comeback before he can make the tag. The heels make frequent tags as they continue to beat the hell out of Rhino. Brother Ray shows he should have been a motivational speaker as he screams “kick out” to Rhino. I’ll give him points for effectiveness, and simplicity there. Abyss goes airborne and splashes Rhino, but it only gets a two count. Jarrett comes back in and we get the double clothesline spot. Jeff is still the fresher of the two and makes the tag. AMW double team Rhino, but he is able to move out of the way of a spear. He finally makes the hot tag to Killings. He fires away on any heel that gets in his way and he drops Abyss with a spin kick. Abyss tries for a splash, but Killings moves and Storm has to eat the splash. All hell breaks loose again as everyone jumps into the battle. Jarrett gets the guitar from Mitchell, but Killings ducks and Rhino gores Jeff as he spins. Abyss comes back to give Rhino the black hole slam. Killings throws himself at Abyss and they go flying over the top rope. We get a double “What’s Up” spot as Devon drops onto Jarrett’s balls, and Killings drops onto Gail’s vag. Killings wins that battle every time I’d say. Devon gets nailed with the Death Sentence from AMW, but no cover as Killings breaks. They try to handcuff Killings, but he is able slip away so that Harris gets cuffed. Killings dives over the top rope onto Jarrett as the crowd starts chanting “TNA.” They head back in the ring, and Storm hits Killings from behind. The stroke finishes things as Jarrett gets the pin at 20:11.

Winner: Planet Jarrett via Jarrett pin on Killings @ 20:11
-I think this would have worked better if they continued the crazy ass brawl that the match started as. It slowed down when they went back to a normal tag match. Still, a fine match that never got boring because of all the men involved. This was a pretty clean match too for this DVD. Not a single ref bump and nobody outside the 8 men and their managers got involved. ***

-Mantel laughs off the armchair quarterbacks who think they know what TNA should do, but won’t put their money where their mouth is to start their own promotion. The first investors immediately pull out within the first 3 months. That’s when Dixie Carter came to the rescue. Jarrett says it was meant to be when he found out Dixie’s mother’s maiden name was Jarrett. We get words from Dixie who grew up a wrestling fan and approached TNA as a business. Panda Energy became the new partners with Jarrett, and TNA was saved.

Lethal LockDown: Team Jarrett (Jarrett, AMW, Scott Steiner) vs. Team Sting (Sting, AJ Styles, Ron Killings, Rhino)
-LockDown 2006

-TNA decided they needed to try their own version of War Games. The rules are basically the same, but it only takes place in 1 ring. The other difference is that there is no roof on the cage until all 8 men are in the ring. Once all 8 men are in the cage the roof with weapons lowers from the ceiling. One last difference is that a pin is as good as a submission in this version of War Games. Harris starts things for Team Jarrett and AJ Styles is the man for Team Sting. Good choices to start this thing. All is right with the world as the heels have already been announced as the winners of the coin toss. The opening period between these two will go five minutes before another man enters the cage. Harris dominates early as the crowd chants “pussycat.” Heh! AJ gets rammed back first into the cage on multiple occasions. Harris tries to ram him headfirst, but AJ slides off to block. He now takes control, and sets Harris up on the top rope. Gail screams at AJ and he screams “shut up hooker.” Fucking awesome! Harris gets caught between the cage and ropes with no place to go. AJ takes advantage by Stinger splashing Harris over and over again. AJ goes for the superman punch, but gets caught with the catatonic. Harris has been split open as he goes for the catatonic again, but AJ counters to the Styles Clash. The opening 5 minutes ends and Storm makes his way to the ring. AJ dropkicks the door, but Storm moves out of the way. Gail wasn’t as lucky as she got nailed with the cage. AJ is fucked at this point as the Tag Champs have their way with him. AJ joins the juice climb and starts fighting back, but it is useless. Rhino is the second man to join the fight for Team Sting, and he dominates the moment he steps in the cage. Harris gets dropped with a spinebuster, but Storm is able to step away from a gore attempt. There’s some great teamwork from the champs as they baseball slide Rhino’s head into the cage. Jarrett’s music hits as he is the third man, but that tips off who is coming so Rhino charges out of the ring and mauls Jarrett on the ramp. It doesn’t last long and the heels control once everyone gets back in the ring. Jarrett gives AJ a suplex into the side of the cage. The fans count down as things are about to be even once again. Ron Killings makes his way down to the ring, but the heels are waiting. That doesn’t stop the Truth though as he runs through Jarrett and Storm. Harris gets a slight advantage, but it doesn’t last long as Killings drops him with a suplex. AJ climbs to the top of the cage. Everyone heads up and we get the Tower of Doom spot where AJ takes the worst of it. Holy shit from the fans on that one, and I agree. Steiner is the last man in for Team Jarrett (this was Steiner’s in ring debut for TNA). He controls everyone in the ring, and does some pushups to show off. Killings gets set up on the top rope and Steiner tosses him across the ring with a release overhead belly to belly. Nice! Sting is the final man in the match, and he starts tossing every member of Team Jarrett into the steel. All four members of Team Jarrett get stacked in one corner and Sting gives all of them a Stinger splash. With a lull in the action, the roof finally lowers complete with pyro. Lethal Lockdown officially begins as a pin or submission can win the match now. Rhino grabs a kendo stick to choke out Steiner. Killings uses a trash can lid to blast anything that moves. James Storm and AJ find there way to the roof of the cage. For some reason there is a ladder and table up there. Gail climbs, but Jackie Gayda pulls of her down and in the process pulls of Gail’s pants. Jackie just became the most popular person in the Impact Zone. Storm sets up the table on the roof the cage as his battle with Styles continues. Jarrett and Sting each grab a guitar and they have a show down. Sting says fuck this guitar shit and grabs a bat. Yes, that would be more effective. Steiner stops Sting’s momentum with a shot to his little scorpions. AJ climbs the ladder to hang from the lighting rig and he drops off through Storm and the table. That was pretty insane, and thankfully the roof was able to support them. Back down in the ring Jarrett hits Killings with a stroke on a chair. Everyone starts firing off finishers now as things start to wind down. Harris is the last man standing and he locks Sting in the scorpion. He fights through the pain and is able to reverse to a scorpion of his own. That’s enough for Harris to tap at 23:49.

Winners: Team Sting via Harris tapping out @ 23:49
-Just a crazy, mindless brawl. There was nothing really special outside AJ being his normal crazy ass self. It was just a fun brawl, but at no point did I feel any sense of hatred between the men involved. ***1/4

-Booker, Kurt, and Mick discuss their feelings about TNA starting. All three of them were skeptical another promotion could really be a viable option to the WWF. Cornette said he had hope because it had a Jarrett behind it. Tenay bashes the internet journalists who said they company would not last more than a few months. Jarrett never heard one person outside the organization say this would work. You do have to give Jarrett credit for this company lasting as long as it has.

Jeff Jarrett (w/ Gail Kim) and Scott Steiner vs. Sting and Samoa Joe
-Sacrifice 2006

-Sting hyped a mystery partner for weeks on Impact and after teasing Luger, Bagwell, and others, he brought out Samoa Joe. This was seen as Joe’s first shot at the Main Event in TNA. To this point he had worked with the X-Division guys, and now was in there with 3 Former WCW Champions. Joe made it clear he was just here to complete a task, and wasn’t coming in as best friends with Sting. Jarrett and Sting start, and wrestle to a stalemate. Jarrett decides it would be a smart move to slap Sting. That doesn’t go so well, and after no selling some punches, Sting repeatedly rams Jeff headfirst into the mat. Jarrett bails to the floor and regroups with Steiner. Jarrett makes the tag and Steiner buries a knee in Sting’s midsection. He charges in the corner, but Sting gets up a boot. Sting actually breaks out a Vader bomb (nice touch there) and splashes Steiner. The crowd starts chanting for Joe and Sting obliges. The crowd erupts as Steiner and Joe prepare to meet for the first time. Joe pie faces Steiner to a large roar from the crowd. Steiner fires off some chops and starts clubbing on Joe. That just pisses Joe off and he starts pounding down Steiner in the corner. That pisses Steiner off so he throws Joe across the ring with a belly to belly. This is just a manly exchange as each one gets pissed at what the other is doing and answers with something a bit better. Jarrett gets a knee into the back of Joe. Jarrett tries a blind charge, but Joe drops him with the STO. Sting gets the tag and he drops Steiner with a clothesline before locking him the scorpion. Jarrett makes the save and catches Sting with the DDT to break. Steiner hooks the leg, but only gets a two count. Steiner snaps off a belly to belly for another two count. He makes the tag, and Jarrett breaks out the Garvin stomp. Sweet! Things start to die down when Jarrett hooks a front face lock. Sting is able to make the tag, but the ref was distracted with Steiner, so no tag. Sting and Steiner collide mid ring. That leaves Steiner laying, and Sting does the delayed sell so he can fall head first onto Steiner’s nuts. Each man tags their partner, and Joe destroys Jarrett. He goes for a pin, but Steiner saves. Steiner receives the running boot and back splash, and then gets a middle finger for his trouble from Joe. Sting gives both men a Stinger splash and flies over the top rope with a cross body to Steiner. Joe gets a cover, but Gail puts Jeff’s foot on the ropes to break the count. Jarrett is able to hit Joe with the stroke, but kicks out at two. Sting and Steiner continue to brawl on the floor. Joe rolls out off a middle rope stroke attempt and he plants Jeff with the muscle buster for the pin at 13:27. Sting offers his hand to Joe, and he reluctantly shakes. As Joe leaves Steiner kills Sting with a chair. The crowd starts chanting for Joe, but he ignores them and walks off. Sting eats a guitar shot, and Joe heard that. He starts heading down the ramp, but decides he has done enough tonight and leaves to many boos.

Winners: Sting and Samoa Joe via Joe pin on Jarrett @ 13:27
-An okay tag match that did what it needed to do and that’s show case Joe with talent outside the X-Division. Joe going over Jarrett clean as a whistle was pretty damn impressive for Joe at the time too. Sadly, it didn’t lead anywhere as Sting was getting the title shot at Bound for Glory. **1/2

-We get footage of Jarrett’s emotional promo with Borash after losing the NWA title to Sting at Bound for Glory 2006. Jarrett calls Sting the better man, and says he is going home. Jarrett, back at home, talks about stepping away from the ring. He knew it was time for him to go home and be a father and husband. The talk shifts to his wife Jill and her battle with breast cancer. She fought for well over a year and passed away in May 2007. Borash says everyone was affected by it and he is still not sure how Jeff was able to handle everything. The Christmas before her passing an relatively unknown country talent, Taylor Swift, played her first album for the Jarrett family, and to this day she is a friend of the Jarrett family. That Christmas what she played and sang uplifted the spirits of Jill and the Jarrett family. Jeff says he would do anything for that girl to this day. Jeff says Jill won the race that matters and that’s when she beat him to Heaven. Jeff gets very emotional at this point, and starts to break down when thinking about the fans chanting “Thank You Jeff,” at the TNA PPV. I will admit that this was tough to watch as even I started to get a little emotional.

-We get the footage of the Jill Jarrett tribute at Slammiversary 2006. Very emotional and one of the classier moments you will see in wrestling.

-In Loving Memory of Jill Jarrett (1969-2007)

The 411: 1 more disc to go!

Final Score:  8.0   [ Very Good ]