Great-ing Gimmicks of the Past: Jeff Jarrett, Woman Hater – WWF, 1999
History
Jeff Jarrett was in a bad mood. Well, worse than usual, anyway. For a while now, his frustrations with his manager, Debra McMichael, had been growing. His mood was about to get even worse.
On the July 26, 2999 episode of Raw, they had a special guest in the audience. Ben Stiller was there to promote his movie Mystery Men. Jarrett grabbed Debra and pulled her away from a photo session, then brought Stiller into the ring for a little Q and A. Everything was going well until Jarrett asked Stiller who his favorite WWF superstar was. Stiller’s answer? Debra’s puppies. Jarrett locked the figure four on Stiller, until D’Lo Brown ran out for the save.
On the following Heat, Jarrett challenged Brown to a match for Raw the next night – Jarrett’s Intercontinental belt vs. Brown’s European title.
Jarrett was getting beaten the next night and Debra knew she had to do something. She entered the ring carrying both belts while the referee was down and began unbuttoning her top. Brown stuck out his tongue and clocked Jarrett with a belt, then covered for the pin. D’Lo took both titles and Jarrett placed the blame squarely on her.
On Heat, Brown defended the IC title against Val Venis, while Jarrett and Debra did guest commentary. Eventually enough was enough, so Jarrett hit the ring and attacked, drawing a DQ.
On Raw, we saw video footage of Brown jogging in a park alongside Mark Henry when Jarrett attacked and left him lying.
That led into a match between Jarrett and Val. Val quickly took charge, which caused Debra to hop up onto the apron for an attempted distraction. It didn’t work and Val took the pin. After the match Jarrett again placed the blame for the loss squarely on Debra until Val interfered and wound up leaving with her.
Heat saw Jarrett reunited with Debra as he took on Meat (Sean Stasiak) with Terri Runnels in his corner. Finally Jarrett took control and called Debra up onto the apron. That caused Terri to attack her and the ensuing catfight distracted Jarrett long enough to get pinned. Again the blame went squarely on Debra. That brought out D’Lo Brown to intervene, and then he left with Debra.
That brought us to Summerslam – where Jarrett was taking on D’Lo Brown for both the European and Intercontinental titles. Jarrett immediately sent Debra to the back, only for her to reemerge with Brown. Jarrett finally grabbed his guitar while Debra distracted the referee, and that brought Mark Henry out. Henry grabbed the guitar… and blasted Brown with it. Jarrett covered for the win and the belts.
Jarrett made his way out the next night along with Debra and Mark Henry. He handed Henry the European belt, and then explained that the whole idea had been Debra’s idea. He gave her a gift as well – a personal assistant named Miss Kitty (the Kat). Then he announced that Henry would defend the title against Meat right then. One problem – Meat was currently getting obliterated in the back by D’Lo Brown. D’Lo came out and took quick control of the match until Jarrett interfered to cause the DQ and save Henry’s title.
While all this was going on, Jarrett had posted an open contract on his dressing room door for an Intercontinental title match. Billy Gunn ran off to look for a pen after asking Chyna to watch the door and not let anyone else sign it. Chyna smiled and signed it herself.
Later in the night, Gunn tried to talk Chyna into giving him the shot, only for Jarrett to show up and give Chyna a shot – a guitar shot. Gunn grabbed a second guitar from Miss Kitty and blasted Jarrett with it, then stormed out as Chyna lay unconscious in the ring.
On Smackdown, Jarrett had a match against Billy Gunn (non-title). Jarrett was holding his own until Chyna showed up and got involved. Miss Kitty came out with a guitar, but Chyna grabbed it and smashed it over Debra’s head, which distracted Jarrett and gave Gunn the win.
On Raw, our first glimpse of Team Jarrett was backstage. Miss Kitty shoved the makeup woman away from Debra so she could do her makeup personally.
The match that week was Jarrett and Henry taking on D’Lo and Billy Gunn, while Chyna took a seat at the announce table. She’d finally had enough. Chyna grabbed Jarrett’s guitar and swung, only to blast Gunn with it. That gave Jarrett the opening he needed to get the win.
On Smackdown, Jarrett, Debra, and Kitty joined the announce team as Chyna took on Billy Gunn. Gunn was in control until the referee got knocked down, which gave HHH the opportunity he needed to plant Gunn and give Chyna the win.
On Raw, Jarrett had a match against Jacqueline, a warm up for his match against Chyna at the pay-per-view, if you will. Jarrett easily won the match with the figure four, and then Miss Kitty distracted the referee long enough for Jarrett to nail Jacqueline with a guitar shot.
Hardcore Holly was taking on Chyna on Smackdown. After a sneak attack by Chyna, Holly regained control of the match, only to begin arguing with his cousin Crash at ringside. Chyna hit a DDT, which was also Jarrett’s cue to attack. That brought in Billy Gunn for the save, and then hit Chyna with a Fame-Asser.
Later in the evening, Jarrett, Kitty, and Debra called a special guest into the ring – The Fabulous Moolah. He tried to get Moolah to say that women shouldn’t be allowed to wrestle men, but she wouldn’t. Jarrett blasted her with the guitar, which brought Mae Young in to try and save her friend. Jarrett slapped the figure four on Mae and left with Debra fuming.
On Raw, Jarrett came out with Kitty and Debra to take on Luna. Jarrett was firmly in control until Ivory ran out, grabbed his guitar, and smashed it over Luna’s head. Lillian Garcia announced Jarrett the loser by DQ, so he locked her in a figure four.
Cindy Margolis was a special guest on Smackdown, promoting her new show – the Cindy Margolis Show (on UPN!). Anyway, Ivory came out and begged her to show off some of her modeling poses, so Margolis eventually agreed. Eventually she lay down to do a pose, which brought Jarrett in to administer a figure four. He gave Ivory a high-five, then speared her and gave her a figure four of her own! As Margolis was being loaded into an ambulance, Test attacked him.
Later in the evening, Crash and Hardcore Holly were taking on Chyna in what was supposed to be a tag match, but Chyna said she didn’t need a partner. Eventually Billy Gunn came out and took his place in her corner. Gunn eventually managed to tag himself in and get the win. That brought Jarrett out, who clocked Chyna with a frying pan. He called out Debra and Kitty, who brought him a bag. He pulled out an apron and put it on her, then put the frying pan in one hand and a ladle in the other.
Jarrett took on Test, only to have Terri and the Mean Street Posse show up to distract Test. Finally they hit the ring, which brought out Stephanie (Test’s fiancée at the time) and Shane McMahon, Gerald Briscoe, and Pat Patterson. Jarrett threatened to break Test’s arm, which lured Stephanie into the ring. Jarrett was getting ready to lock the figure four on her, when Shane hit the ring to break it up.
Raw had Jarrett and Debra taking on Test and Stephanie in a mixed tag match. Test dominated the match as Debra refused to be tagged in. Finally Test planted Jarrett and tagged in Stephanie so she could get the pin. After the match, Jarrett was furious. He ignored Miss Kitty’s protests and put the figure four on Debra.
Jarrett and Kitty headed down to the ring on Smackdown so Jarrett could rant about it being a man’s world. A woman worker at ringside tried to cut him short, so Jarrett grabbed her schedule and threw it in the ring. She went in to retrieve it, and it was supposed to be figure four time… only for Chyna to clock Jarrett with the frying pan and lay him out. She stole his tights and put them on, then put the apron on Jarrett and placed the frying pan in his hand.
That brought us to Unforgiven, where Jarrett took on Chyna for the Intercontinental title. Jarrett had his hands full until Chyna bumped into the referee. Kitty handed him the guitar only for Mae Young and Moolah to hit the ring and put a stop to that. Finally Debra made her way out, took the guitar, and blasted Jarrett with it, which gave Chyna the win. That brought out Tom Pritchard who reversed the decision due to the interference, so Chyna hit him with a low blow and a pedigree before heading to the back.
Jarrett wasn’t happy the next night. He challenged Chyna and Debra to a tag match against himself and Tom Pritchard. Chyna accepted on one condition – if she won she got a rematch for the belt.
Jarrett and Pritchard were dominating the match as Kitty and Debra got into a scuffle at ringside. Finally Pritchard nailed Chyna with the guitar, only for her to land on top of Jarrett and get the win!
On Smackdown Jarrett and Kitty hit the ring, along with a shopping cart filled with various household implements. Jarrett was talking about how he could beat Chyna with any of them. Jarrett spotted Cindy Margolis in the crowd and tried to lure her into the ring again. She was starting up there when Debra, Mae, and Moolah showed up at the top of the ramp. Then all of the women he’d attacked joined them and the group started for the ring. All of this was a distraction for Chyna to attack, and then the entire group of women chased him back up the aisle, attacking him the whole time. Moolah and Mae took advantage of the opportunity to attack Jerry Lawler for his cracks about them as well.
Mae and Moolah were back on Raw, this time challenging Jarrett and Ivory to a mixed tag match. However, there was a slight change in the plan. Just before the match started, Jarrett shoved Miss Kitty at Moolah and Mae before leaving the ring to do commentary. Miss Kitty wound up being easily defeated by Moolah and Mae. Jarrett yelled at her for the loss then locked in the figure four until Mae and Moolah broke it up.
Smackdown saw Jarrett standing in a mud ring wearing waders. He took the opportunity to announce that Miss Kitty would be facing an unnamed opponent in there tonight, and the winner would be the first one to pull off the other’s top.
When the time for the match arrived, Jarrett announced that Kitty’s opponent would be Ivory. Ivory quickly won the match. Then Mae and Moolah showed up and got shoved into the mud. Chyna took advantage of the confusion to sneak up behind Jarrett and push him off the stage into the mud.
Jarrett was determined to get revenge on the following Raw. It was HHH and Chyna tagging against Stone Cold Steve Austin and Jim Ross. Jarrett took advantage of an opportunity to crack Chyna over the head with a toaster, and then dumped her into a laundry bin that Miss Kitty thoughtfully brought along. Jarrett pushed her to the back and then shoved the bin off a loading dock, which resulted in EMTs attending to her.
On Smackdown, Jarrett had the ring set up with various household implements (which Miss Kitty helpfully demonstrated) and talked about his match against Chyna on the PPV. It was a “Good Housekeeping” match (which means it’s a hardcore match with a lot of kitchen implements). Debra came out and told Jarrett that there would be a new Intercontinental champion after the show – and she’d be a woman.
That brought us to No Mercy. Jarrett fought well but kept finding himself on the wrong side of the offense. Finally Jarrett cracked Chyna with the belt and got the win. One problem. The ref ruled that the belt was not a household item, so the match continued. That let Chyna blast Jarrett with a guitar for the win and the title. After the match, Kitty decided to leave with Chyna instead of Jarrett.
Analysis
First off, to understand the end of the feud, we have to take a look behind the curtain for a moment. Jarrett was not happy in the WWF (likely possibly due to the fact that a main event run against Austin was aborted after Austin reportedly said that Jarrett wasn’t good enough). Jarrett decided not to re-sign with the WWF and instead wound up jumping to WCW.
Add to that the fact that Jarrett’s contract expired the night before No Mercy, and McMahon had a problem. McMahon couldn’t let his Intercontinental champion show up on Nitro (he’d had the same problem when trying to get the World title off Bret Hart about two years before). McMahon was over a barrel and Jarrett took full advantage of the situation. He agreed to work No Mercy on two conditions: 1) All money he was owed would be paid him immediately (instead of the normal wait for the checks) and 2) a large sum of money (reportedly $250,000 total). Jarrett got his money, dropped the title, and headed to WCW.
Overall, the feud was a fun one, and Jarrett came out of it than others who had feuded with women had (like Marc Mero and Sable). Of course, Chyna had been D-Generation X’s bodyguard when she started, so it was easy to take her as more of a competitor than former valet Sable. In the end, although Jarrett lost the title, he still remained strong (as it could be argued that he only lost because the referee ruled against him).
Where are they now?
Jeff Jarrett remained with WCW until the company shut down in 2001. After that, he had a brief stint with World Wrestling All-Stars (WWA). In 2002, Jarrett and his father, promoter Jerry Jarrett, founded NWA-TNA wrestling. Today Jarrett is a multi-time NWA world champion and remains with TNA.
Chyna (Joanie Laurer) teamed and feuded with Chris Jericho after Jarrett left, and eventually wound up as Eddie Guerrero’s on-screen girlfriend. In 2001, Chyna won the WWF Women’s championship, but grew unhappy with the company (partially due to the fact that she was in the women’s division, instead of wrestling against men). In November she left the WWF. Laurer appeared to leave the wrestling world behind shortly thereafter. She has since gained infamy due to her appearances on VH1’s Surreal Life, an impaired appearance on Howard Stern, and her bizarre former relationship with Sean Waltman (X-Pac), which culminated in the public sale of a sex tape the two had made. Today she has apparently cleaned herself up and is preparing to appear on a new Surreal Life series.
Debra McMichael made a full time return to WWF television in the fall of 2000 as Mick Foley’s Assistant Commissioner. During this time she married Steve Austin and began accompanying him to ringside. In June of 2002, Austin walked away from the WWE and Debra went with him. Shortly thereafter, Austin was arrested for domestic abuse (he pleaded no contest). Austin filed for divorce in July. Debra later auctioned her wedding ring on E-Bay, with the proceeds going to Safe Place (a legal clinic for victims of domestic abuse). Today she works in the field of real estate, and is rumored to be playing a part in the next Resident Evil movie.
Miss Kitty (Stacy Carter) changed her name to the Kat following the Jarrett match and accompanied Chyna to the ring. In December she won the Women’s title after a swimming pool evening gown match and then took off the top of her bikini – reportedly not knowing that the shot was being broadcast. In 2000, the Kat feuded with Terri Runnels. In 2001, she was feuding with Right to Censor (claiming she had a Right to Nudity) when Jerry Lawler (her real-life husband) lost a match which forced her to join the RTC. Almost immediately afterward, she was released from the WWF and Lawler quit to support her. In July of that year she and Lawler separated and eventually divorced. Today Carter has gone into the field of real estate and left the wrestling world completely behind.
From the Mailbag
Reader Nbiz84 wrote in this week with an update on Terri Runnels:
” I go to the University of Florida and last year she did a few local
commercials for the Gainesville Dodge Car Dealership. I am unaware if she lives in the area or not but I just thought it was pretty comical when I saw it.”
Thanks, Neil!
Next Week
We take a look at one of the WWF’s most infamous angles from 1999 as the Big Show gets some bad news.
