On November 2nd, Jeff Jarrett shocked the world when he made his All Elite Wrestling debut on AEW Dynamite in Baltimore, MD, hitting Darby Allin over the head with his guitar as commentary mentioned his long history with Jay Lethal and Sonjay Dutt. He then got on the microphone, telling Allin that his alliance with Sting was his greatest weakness before recounting his family history in wrestling and saying that he was here to take over AEW.
Following Jarrett’s on-screen debut, AEW President Tony Khan took to social media to announce that Double J had signed with All Elite Wrestling and had been hired as Director of Business Development. In his own post on social media, Jarrett said that he was excited for what was to come, both on-screen and behind the camera.
Jim Cornette Blasted Tony Khan For His Social Media Announcement
Speaking on The Jim Cornette Experience, legendary manager Jim Cornette spoke about both the debut and AEW President Tony Khan’s announcement that Jarrett had signed on for an executive role. The WWE Hall of Famer began by describing the segment in detail.
“So they’re standing there, and suddenly music plays and it’s Sting. And there’s the lights and the snow and the heels jump out in the aisle way. Of course if somebody’s coming to attack you and you’re in the ring, it’s better, you’ll get a better vantage point if you jump down in the aisle so you can’t catch them coming through the ropes and they got a fair shot. So they’re waiting in the aisle way for the appearance of Sting, and Darby Allin stands up in the ring, and from behind, into the ring comes Jeff Jarrett.
“And I’ll tell you one thing, apparently us Tennessee boys are the only ones that can do a surprise debut. Because think about this, every surprise debut that you can think of in the last 15 years has been staged off or rumored or hinted at, or widely known, except mine and Jeff Jarrett’s. When we show up, we keep it a secret. And a lot of people out there said I wish the promotion would do too.
“But nevertheless, Jeff comes in, and Darby won’t turn around. Jeff’s winding up and Darby apparently is going to just stand there forever. So Jeff reaches out, grabs him and spins him and hits him over the head with the guitar, which apparently busted him open hardway because as he’s laying there, a pool of blood starts appearing around his head.
“And Jeff cut a promo about his family legacy and how long they’ve been in wrestling and that they always make an impact, and that body bags are on the way. And he even knocked some of the production people because they all used to work for him, and probably at this point will again.”
Continuing, Jim Cornette explained why he believes AEW President Tony Khan should have held back on tweeting about Jeff Jarrett’s executive position with the company immediately following his heel debut with the company. He also praised Jeff Jarrett for his talent and value to any company that will sign him.
“And here’s the thing. An hour later, I guess right after the show, by the time the show went off the air, Tony Khan had tweeted welcoming Jeff Jarrett to the company, and announcing that he was also going to have a position as an executive in the office. Okay, either one of these things I will work with.
“Everybody knows I think Jeff Jarrett’s a f*cking fantastic wrestling mind and talent. He’s right now, if he walked in there, he’d be one of the upper 10 percentile of best workers on the TNA roster. We’re gonna break this down. He would be one of the upper 10 percentile of the wrestlers in the AEW roster because he was one of the upper 10 percentile wrestlers in the TNA roster. He’s had 30 plus years of experience, started as a teenager.
“He grew up in the business, he’s worked with everybody, he can work with everybody. He can wrestle, he can fight, he can do the Tennessee stuff, he can f*cking work. And that’s indeed the problem is that he would come in and he knows how to be a heel and a babyface, and he would come in and be able to have a match with anybody on this roster. But that’s not where right now Jeff Jarrett to me is needed. And we’ll talk about that in a second.
“But the point is for Tony to do a surprise debut of a heel that comes in and breaks a guitar over one of the babyfaces head and busts him open. Announces he’s gonna f*ck with everybody there because they’re all bunch f*cking kids basically and body bags are on the way. And the owner of the company an hour later says ‘Welcome Jeff you’re gonna be an executive.’ These two things cannot coexist can they? What the f*ck? Why?”
If you use any quotes from this transcription, please credit The Jim Cornette Experience and link back to this article with a h/t to Inside the Ropes.