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WWE Hall of Fame News: Jeff Jarrett Will Join 2018 Induction Class

By John Canton • Published 19th February 2018
TJR Wrestling

It was announced on Monday that Jeff Jarrett will join the WWE Hall of Fame. Jarrett will join Bill Goldberg, The Dudley Boyz and Ivory as part of the 2018 class that will be inducted on Friday, April 6 in New Orleans, two nights before WrestleMania. It was announced on WWE.com as well as on NBCSports, who got to “break” the story, which is WWE’s way of letting them report it first after WWE gave them the info.

Jarrett’s name has been rumored for a few weeks. It’s an interesting choice for a lot of reasons, but a well-deserved honor for a man that spent his life in the wrestling business. Jarrett is 50 years old and noted in the NBC Sports article that his first match 32 years ago (that’s 18 years old for those that aren’t good at math lol) happened on April 6, which is the same day as the Hall of Fame ceremony.

Professional wrestling is weird when you consider for most of the last 15 years he was part of TNA/Impact Wrestling and now, after a rehab stint paid for by WWE (they help anybody that used to work for them), he’s back for the first time since 1999 to be a part of the Hall of Fame. Vince McMahon “firing” Jarrett on Raw in 2001 was a long time ago, my friends.

Jarrett won numerous titles in his wrestling career. In WWE he was the Intercontinental Champion six times, European Champion once and a Tag Team Champion with Owen Hart. In WCW, he was 4-time World Champion (they loved booking title changes in that era) and the US Champion three times. In TNA/Impact Wrestling, which is the company he founded, he was a 6-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion.

Triple H put him over on Twitter as well by mentioning his run with TNA/Impact Wrestling without actually saying them by name.

Here are some quotes from Jarrett in the NBC Sports article:

“I would have never dreamed that in 2018 I’d be going into the Hall of Fame, but as I’ve sat back and looked I said, ‘Welp, I guess there are some things that are just meant to be.’”

Jarrett mentioned being fired by WWE in 2001 when they bought WCW.

“Vince does a lot of things well. And he knows how to produce great TV. To me that night was just good TV.”

“I think from an in-ring perspective, I was just hitting my prime years in the early 2000s. I would have loved to work with the guys in WWE during that time period, but it wasn’t meant to be. I took my career in another direction and I’m glad I did so, but the Hall of Fame is another opportunity for things to come full circle.”

Jarrett talked about his friend AJ Styles as the WWE Champion and Jarrett going into the Hall of Fame in the same year.

“I don’t believe in coincidences, only convergences and AJ headlining and me going in to the Hall of Fame is perfect. He’s been a friend since the early days of our relationship and it’s been great to watch him progress as a performer. I can’t say enough about the guy.”

Jarrett spoke about what the moment means for his family.

“It’s a humbling honor and I will be accepting it on behalf of just not myself, but my wife Karen, who has had to go through ups and downs. My dad, my stepmom, my uncle, who just passed away. My grandfather, my grandmother on the other side of my family.

“It’s a three generation business, so I’m accepting it for everyone in my family because it is a family business. That is something that is so humbling to me. I’m the one who got picked, but it’s really an award for the entire Jarrett family.”

Congrats again to Jeff on the honor. It may be surprising to some people, but in the wrestling business, we’ve learned to expect these kinds of things to happen especially when it comes to the WWE Hall of Fame.

I hope Jarrett and Road Dogg sing “With My Baby Tonight” during the Hall of Fame ceremony. That would be a lot of fun.