Jerry Jarrett, father of Jeff Jarrett and legendary USWA promoter, was recently interviewed by Hannibal TV. He discussed the talent exchange program between the WWE and USWA in the early 1990s, and reveals that he had pitched the idea of a heel character to Vince as far back as 1993. Here are the highlights:
On Pitching A Heel Character Idea To Vince:
One day, we were sitting around Vince instead of working at the office. I had an office there, Pat had an office there. Everybody had an office at Titan Towers. But Vince had us all come to his house, and we would meet around his dining room table, and that’s where he would do his booking and he would go to the little market and get a ham sandwich. It was that kind of situation for the four of us: Vince, Prichard, Pat Patterson and myself. And one time after the booking meeting broke up, Vince and I are sitting there talking, and he says something, and I said, ‘Do you try to be a heel?’ And he said, ‘What do you mean?’ I said, ‘You are just the most natural heel I’ve ever seen!’ I said, ‘We’re racking our brain trying to figure out who you can get as the heel for your company. You ought to be your own talent.’
And he said, ‘Are you ribbing me or are you serious?’ I said, ‘I’m dead serious, Vince. You are a natural.’ He said, ‘I don’t know how to do it.’ I said, ‘Let’s do it in Memphis, and let’s make interviews because ninety percent of the wrestling business as you know are the interviews. I’ll produce them and send them to Memphis. You will be over when you get there. You start off managing and then you work into a match. So we did, and he loved it. It was probably the most fun he ever had in the business. And you know and everybody knows how good he really became as a talent with the ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin angle. He is a natural, and he finally confided in me that it had been a lifetime dream.
You can view the full Hannibal TV interview with Jerry Jarrett below:
Credit: Hannibal TV. H/T WrestlingInc.