A new report shed light on WWE’s decision to make Jeff Jarrett a special guest referee at SummerSlam.
When the Usos and the Street Profits faced off at Money in the Bank, the finish to the match was far from definitive. Thought the Usos were declared the winners by pinfall, Montez Ford’s shoulder was clearly off the mat.
Controversy continued when Angelo Dawkins faced Jimmy Usos on the July 15th episode of SmackDown as Dawkins was declared the winner despite Uso’s shoulder being off the mat during the finish.
To combat this happening again, Sami Zayn lobbied to be the special guest referee for the title match between the Street Profits and the Usos at SummerSlam. However, Zayn was eventually overlooked. After the match, Adam Pearce appeared on the ramp and announced that none other than Jeff Jarrett will be the official for the contest.
Speaking about the situation on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer explained the reasoning behind Jarrett’s involvement at SummerSlam, which will take place in Nashville, TN on July 30th.
“It’s a name… The deal is, it’s Nashville. From a national audience standpoint, whatever. But, it’s Jeff Jarrett, you know, again, the Jarrett family in Nashville goes back 55 years, you know, and Christine even further, but she was not a public face, but Jerry, you know, and then Jeff were part of that market for wrestling forever. So it’s, you know, I mean, I can see for the Nashville market and he can go do promotion.
They still got a lot of seats to fill. I get it, I definitely get it. I don’t know if this is just a one-timer or if they’re going to introduce him as a regular character, but I was very surprised when they announced Jeff Jarrett that he didn’t come out.”
Jeff Jarrett returned to WWE in May, assuming the role of Senior Vice President of Live Events.
h/t Ringside News