On the latest edition of his My World With Jeff Jarrett podcast WWE Hall of Famer Jeff Jarrett spoke about the legendary NWO faction in WCW, and whether he was ever asked to join the group during their rise in 1996. Highlights can be found below.
If there were any talks for him to join the NWO back in the late 90s:
“There wasn’t with me, and I was glad. Living through this, obviously I did, but the whole context of Hall, Nash, Hogan, Syxx, DiBiase, and I think Virgil, the time frame of the WWF guys – the Attitude Era and the North vs. South, USA Network vs. TBS/TNT, all of that was real tangible storylines. Hulk was a WWF product. Diesel, it was all WWF products. Me coming in the door, I knew, okay, we’ll tease it, but I didn’t think it was going to be beneficial and immediately lost in the shuffle because nobody is going to dominate over Hogan, and in a lot of ways, including Hall and Nash. Hulk is the biggest box office attraction this industry has ever created. The territory guys weren’t national stars, but everybody knew Hulkamania at the same time and was selling tickets, pay-per-views, and all that kind of stuff. The nWo was dominant. On the flip side of that, what was essentially a staple of WCW? It was The Four Horsemen. I didn’t exactly know the landscape coming in, but the Horsemen had issues in their health. There was no discussion with me whether they put Jeff in or out of the nWo, but I was not really enamored. I can remember, ‘What do you want me to wear tonight?’ They said, ‘It’s sort of a tease, but we’re going to get right into it later.’ Okay, a tease for nWo, so I wore black and white that night.”
The Four-Horseman storyline that he got involved in:
“I think Kevin [Sullivan] looked at the grand scheme of things and realized he had 17 or 18 segments during that time, and he had to fill out the whole show. Arn was dealing with his nerve and neck issue, and when I see him on TV today, I think back to those days and even his WWE run. I love to see him be in the position he’s in, but back in these days, walking in the door, the two cornerstones of The Four Horsemen are injured. Me and Kevin had our conversations, and when you sort of looked across the roster – Dean, Eddie, Benoit, myself, there was a group where it was like, where is Sullivan going with this storyline? But the original Four Horsemen were 10 years removed, so what was gonna be the rebirth or rework of it?”
On the angle’s original plans:
“I loved it until it got lost in the weeds. I really thought the money was to get it to the right point, the right fever pitch, and the right boiling point until I turn on Ric. And basically have the winner take all and whatever it is, but something that Ric will continue to be the leader of the Horsemen, and I’m out. That is what Kevin Sullivan told me. That’s the direction he wanted to get it to where somewhere me and Flair finally lock horns and have a one-on-one program. That’s where I thought it was ultimately going.”
(H/T and transcribed by 411 Mania)