Steve Carrier on May 30, 2018
Lawler welcomes Jeff Jarrett back to the show for part two of their discussion.
Jarrett informs that he was in the wrestling business for about 5 years when Memphis Wrestling reached an agreement with WWE to have WWE talent appear in Memphis. Lawler says that this was a very cool time for him and it was a pleasure to work with guys like Bret and Owen Hart for the first time during this talent exchange.
Lawler mentions that Vince McMahon made some appearances in Memphis during this time as well, and he played a heel character while insulting Memphis Wrestling and their product. Lawler thinks this was actually the birth of the “Mr. McMahon” character, and Jarrett agrees entirely. Jarrett recalls watching McMahon cut his initial heel promo in Memphis with a few other talents backstage, and they were all blown away by how good the promo was.
Jarrett informs that he moved from Memphis Wrestling to WWE in 1993. The talent exchange between WWE and Memphis was working well in 1992 and McMahon booked a WWE show in Memphis at this time. They told a great story and had Jarrett jump the guardrail at that show and then they were off and running.
Lawler recalls the time he and Jarrett filmed “Life With Mikey” with Michael J. Fox. They both mention that they had a lot of fun working on that film, and they remember how much Fox got into that role. Lawler adds that he still gets royalty cheques for that film to this day, and he got one a few weeks ago for $3.39. Jarrett laughs and says he gets similar cheques from time to time as well.
Jarrett informs that Tojo Yamamoto taught him a lot when he was coming up in the business. Yamamoto was very serious about how a babyface should sell, and beat Jarrett pretty good with a kendo stick on multiple occasions. He adds that he worked tag team matches against Akia Sato 6 or 7 nights a week for a long period of time, and every night after the match Sato would have some constructive criticism for him. It almost became annoying at some points, but it was all very valuable.
Lawler asks Jarrett who he enjoyed working with in Memphis. Jarrett says he loved working with Lawler and Bill Dundee, but they both had other responsibilities and were in and out of in-ring action from time to time. Dutch Mantel was always great to Jarrett, and would often pull him aside and try to help him. Mantel was a part of Jarrett’s initial angle, and although he was in and out of the promotion as well, they’ve remained friends even to this day.
Jarrett remembers working with Vince McMahon to develop the Double J character in WWE. They knew right from the start that they wanted to do a country singer gimmick, but there were plenty of details that needed to be ironed out. Once they cut the initial vignettes and he debuted, things started rolling fairly quickly.
Jarrett informs that the heel Double J character was very refreshing for him because he had been a babyface in Memphis for 7 years. Lawler mentions that he and Jim Ross had a lot of fun calling Double J matches, mostly because they could throw in some old country references.
Jarrett points out that commentary is very important in the wrestling business because commentators put lyrics to the wrestler’s music. He thinks that sometimes performers take several steps backwards when they try to talk, and most of the time they’d be better off to just let the commentators do their job.
Jarrett adds that WWE’s commentators were quite different than what he was accustomed to in Memphis Wrestling. WWE’s production value was also on another level, and this took him a little while to get used to.
He notes that he and WWE basically spent a year developing his character, informing that they aired 13 weeks of vignettes before he ever appearing live on television. After a year or so, he was able to step into a money-drawing position for the company and the rest is history.
That sums up today’s episode of Dinner With the King. You can listen to the show yourself anytime here, and I’ll catch ya next week for another recap!
May 30, 2018 1:04 pm
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