Jeff Jarrett has discussed how the breakout of smaller wrestlers in the mainstream in the early nineties gave him hope that he could one day ascend the mountain of professional wrestling.
In the early nineties, several younger talents not built in the mould of eighties heroes Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior began to emerge from the pack in the World Wrestling Federation.
Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels became two names that would define this era and two men that were able to become breakout stars from beginning as tag team wrestlers in the company. For Jeff Jarrett, this was a sign that he could make it in what once was known as ‘the land of the giants.’
Speaking on his My World podcast [available at AdFreeShows.com] with co-host Conrad Thompson, Jarrett explained:
“For sure [Bret becoming popular gave me hope]. Marty and Shawn coming through the territory, they were great; just so good. Pat and Paul, Pat Tanaka; Paul Diamond they had gone up there, you could sorta see the pattern of tag teams going up there and all singles guys were really really big.”
“But when Bret started to break out, I was a big fan of it, the Piper-Hart storyline, and you know Curt Henning had come down and worked in the Memphis territory and he went on to fame. He wasn’t a giant, he was a good size, great athlete but he wasn’t 6’5”, 6’7”. He wasn’t a Hulkamaniac size guy. So yes, Bret breaking out of the tag team and heading down in that direction – I love it. I was in the business by then but those high school years when the Hart Foundation was going to circle back, that was my first real perception of getting to know the Hart family.”
The subject of the podcast was Jarrett’s long time friend and tag team partner Owen Hart. Jeff Jarrett opened up and spoke candidly about the events surrounding Owen’s death at the Over The Edge pay-per-view in 1999.
Credit: My World via AdFreeShows.com