Scott Bowden presents Kentucky Fried Rasslin

I have it on good authority that Vince McMahon never viewed Jeff Jarrett, the son of longtime Memphis wrestling promoter Jerry Jarrett, as a main-event superstar. The elder Double J had approached McMahon in 1992 about a roster spot for Jeff, who had not only developed into a solid worker in his Tennessee-based USWA territory but had also put on considerable size with a strict regimen of training, prayers and Hulk Hogan vitamins (later known as “ICO PRO”). Jeff  had gone as far he could in his father’s territory and was hitting his stride as a performer, so McMahon’s Midas touch was the most logical next step. Those discussions spawned a working agreement between the WWF and USWA, which became a farm system for McMahon, who in return would send his established superstars to help keep Jarrett’s struggling local promotion afloat.

Undoubtedly, McMahon was also very interested in the services of Jerry Lawler as part of the arrangement and quickly made him an integral part of WWE broadcasts, where the King still remains as host of RAW. McMahon also entrusted Jerry Jarrett to help run the WWF while the owner was headed to trial after the goverment concluded its investigation into allegations that McMahon had distributed steroids to several of his stars. In addition to pressure from the federal trial, Jarrett was reportedly persausive in convincing McMahon that he would be would better off continuing his focus on smaller workers like Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels (two performers Jerry was extremely high on) in the long run. The Tennessee promoter says today that the stressful stint in New York in the early ’90s nearly drove him to alcholism as he was drinking two bottles of wine a night–he appears to be only slightly joking.  Jarrett also laughs when admitting that it was he who unleashed on the world the Mr. McMahon heel character, which began in Memphis with his feud with Lawler. The King tried to remain a babyface in his home territory while appearing as a heel in the WWF, but it was confusing for a lot of area fans and probably hurt his credibility to an extent. To explain his nastiness to the hometown faithful, Lawler blamed his erratic behavior on his hatred of the WWF and its fans in New York City, Boston and throughout the Northeast, where they looked down on Southerners and our way of life.

While Jeff had a good look (except for that cheesy ’80s-era hair and the worst outfits of any athlete since Flo-Jo), he couldn’t cut a promo to save his life. Convinced he could make anyone a superstar, McMahon produced a series of videos attempting to get the promo-challenged former USWA star over as a country singer who actually knew how to spell his own name. (Show-off.) After months of production on the vignettes, an exasperated McMahon confided to Lawler (who in turn told me) that Jeff was the worst promo guy he’d ever worked closely with in the business, including former Federation champion Bob Backlund. (Clearly, McMahon had never worked with George Gulas.)

Despite his limitations on the mic, Jeff was capable of having a good match with almost anyone and great bouts with the likes of Razor Ramon, whom he defeated for the Intercontinental title when the belt still meant something, and Michaels, whom he dropped the belt to on PPV. It’s hard to pinpoint: Jeff was always gregarious and a pretty funny guy backstage but his personality was never effectively conveyed on camera. In that sense, Jeff was the reverse of “Handsome” Jimmy Valiant, who was quiet and mild-mannered backstage but (as Memphis announcer Dave Brown recalls) “exploded through the curtain” for his promos.

After a stint in WCW, Jarrett returned to WWE without the hokey gimmick in 1997 in one of those worked shoots that were becoming increasingly prevalent (and annoying) at the time in a misguided attempt to appeal to “the Internet marks.” Although it was the strongest promo of his life, Jeff pissed off Steve Austin, who later refused to work a main-event program with him. (The two had also exchanged words years earlier in Memphis, a conversation I was privy to.)

By 1999, Jarrett was ready to make the jump back to WCW with head writer Vince Russo (a union that would not only help kill WCW but would also doom TNA). The day before Jarrett’s WWE swan song, dropping the IC title to Chyna on PPV, his contract expired. Reportedly, Jeff refused to work the show and do the honors (or perhaps dishonors in this case since the job was for Chyna) unless he received a large sum of money up front (supposedly between $250,000 and $300,000). Given the buildup for the bout and Chyna’s big push as a wrestler (hard to fathom in hindsight), McMahon had no choice but to cave to Jeff’s demands–but he never forgot.

Jarrett went on to have four largely forgettable runs as the holder of the WCW World title, which Russo booked to change hands nearly every other week to pop WCW’s falling ratings, including a victory over actor/savvy ring veteran David Arquette.

After acquiring the dying WCW and winning the Monday Night War in 2001, McMahon evaluated Jarrett’s chances for being retained by the new ownership during the stunning Nitro/RAW simulcast…and as the title of the video implies, indirectly helped to create TNA in the process and ensure the continuation of Russo’s unlikely employment in the industry. Classic McMahon.

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Jerry Jarrett recalls early in his wrestling career that in his haste to emulate his hero, Jackie Fargo, he adopted several of the mannerisms and maneuvers made famous by the Fabulous One with little regard to whom he was working with the ring. Young Jarrett learned a valuable lesson one night in the ring with Corsica Joe (Francois Miquet), a veteran former headliner in the territory who was winding down his career just as the future Memphis promoter was beginning his.

“Joe slammed me and then turned his back to me to run his mouth to the fans,” he says. “So, I did something I’d seen Fargo do dozens of times: I kicked him in the butt. About three seconds later, Joe had me wrapped up like a pretzel, almost to the point where I could kiss my own butt. He said to me, ‘Don’t you ever disrespect me again, or I’ll kill ya.’ There wasn’t much I could do at that point, so I said, ‘I’m sorry.’ And he let me go. That night, I received a wrestling education. I learned that you’ve got to respect the veterans who have been in this business a long time. For years and years, Joe and I laughed about that, although he forgot about it, whereas I never forgot.”

Corsica Joe passed away Sunday, March 14, at the age of 90. This morning on the telephone, Jarrett spoke fondly of the man who, together with Jean-Louis Roy, Sr. (Corsica Jean) headlined Memphis, Nashville and the surrounding towns for years as the World tag-team champions, feuding with the likes of the Fargos, the Fields brothers and Billy Wicks and various partners.

“Joe was a shooter, a tough guy–but he was a prince of a fellow,” he says. “Not too long ago, he went home to France–he knew it was going to be the last time–and he came back with his French accent really going, really talking fast; in fact, he never really lost his accent. We were speaking, and I said, ‘Joe, you’re gonna have to slow down. I can’t understand a word you’re saying.’ Joe loved the business and continued to follow it and attended shows up until the last year or so.”

Jarrett had the unique pleasure of seeing the feared Corsican Brothers through the eyes of a young fan in the late ’50s and early ’60s and later as a wrestler and promoter.

“I was a kid watching them beat up all the babyfaces at the Hippodrome in Nashville–I thought they were the toughest guys around,” he says. “Later, as a promoter, I was happy to book him. Jean and Joe were tremendous heels who knew how to get heat and make their opponents look good in their comeback. They had a lot of charisma and spoke with disdain of Americans with their French accents.”

For more on Corsica Joe, click here.

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Former NWA Southern tag champions: Jerry Jarrett once described the team as "pure magic from the start."

One of the great things about Memphis Wrestling TV was how Jerry Jarrett and Jerry “the King” Lawler could either slowly build a turn or an angle over a month or make an abrupt change that morning to spark the house for Monday night’s show at the Mid-South Coliseum and attendance the following week (once TV aired around the loop) in the surrounding cities. Such was the case one Saturday morning, when longtime area heel Phil Hickerson turned babyface to become Lawler’s partner in his feud with the Fabulous Freebirds.

For about three weeks, Lawler had been feuding with the ‘Birds, teaming with Austin Idol, and the foursome had two great brawls that drew well, including a show attended by about 8,500 Memphians (including me) on Aug. 5, 1985. The feud had ignited when Lawler accidentally burned Michael Hayes’s hair with a fireball following a match with Bota the Witch Doctor (one those unfortunate Memphis gimmicks no one likes to discusss today). Recently, as part of the WWE Legends of Wrestling Roundtable discussions, Lawler revealed that Hayes wanted a larger payoff following the incident because his precious locks did actually catch fire, which prompted the former Freebird (who was also sitting on the panel) to bring up the fact that successfully lobbied Jarrett for more money–reportedly no small feat in Memphis.

With Jarrett’s territory hurting a bit for talent with Vince McMahon picking off Memphis stars like Randy Savage, Hickerson had received his first huge push as a singles wrestler in the area since ‘76, winning the International title from Terry Taylor and beating former NWA World champion Harley Race on consecutive weeks at the Coliseum. (Not too shabby for a guy who was only working part time at that point; I believe was also running a watering hole in his native Jackson, Tenn.)

While other longtime territories were struggling to keep up with McMahon, Jarrett was still packing 'em in with cards like this, on Aug. 5, 1985.

A former star in the territory in the ’70s teaming with Dennis Condrey–largely considered one of the best pairings of the era locally–Hickerson was always a solid wrestler with the gift of gab. He’d returned from relative obscurity the year before, teaming with the Spoiler (Frank Morrell–not Don Jardine) to feud with the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express and the New Fabulous Ones (Tommy Rich and Eddie Gilbert). During this singles run in ‘85, he was turned loose on the mic, and delivered some hilarious promos that had the fans–and nearly announcer Lance Russell–in stitches.  Case in point: When Lance questioned how much longer Phil might hold the belt, the International champion bellowed, “I’ll always be the champion! I love this belt, man! I take a bath with it! I go to bed wearing it!  Heck, my old lady’s got belt marks all over her from sleeping with me.” It was almost getting difficult for the fans to hate the guy as his delivery was priceless.

Two nights later, Jerry “the King” Lawler walked down the aisle side by side with the newly christened “King of Jackson” Phil Hickerson.

Thankfully, here’s Dave Brown to break down this amazing turn of events:

The following week they came back with a Taped Fist match, which was loudly protested by the ‘Birds. After all, as Terry Gordy points out, he “never claimed to be a boxer!” (Apparently, Bamm Bamm was pretty tight with Elvis Presley, a fact I didn’t know.) I love the expression on Gordy’s face when Hayes refers to their good looks.

Clipping courtesy of Memphis Wrestling History.

File under Jerry “the King” Lawler, Phil Hickerson, Memphis Wrestling.

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