Jeff Jarrett sets the record straight about people saying he “held up” Vince McMahon for money in 1999

He was playing hardball and didn’t quite like my demands. I was a red-hot heel, and contract negotiations were not going well. Meanwhile, we’re building and building toward the pay-per-view. My contract was up, they advertised the match, my contract expired on Saturday night, and the pay-per-view was on Sunday.

The right hand, being creative, and the left hand, being talent relations—with Vince [McMahon] not there for the most part—weren’t talking to each other. They kind of put themselves in a unique position that worked in my favor.

The pay-per-view was coming up, and I had a choice. By September, I knew Jim was not going to cave. He wasn’t going to move on his number. I thought, I get it. Business was red-hot in 1999. If I wasn’t going to get a bump—not necessarily a considerable bump, but a bump from where I was—I knew JR wasn’t going to play ball with me.

So I said, ‘Let me figure this out.’ I made a deal with WCW and J.J. Dillon, and off to the races we went. Once I had that deal done, I thought, ‘Okay, now I’m champion. How do I leverage this?’

I walked into the building on Sunday. Vince had called me on Thursday and left a message. He called me three or four times on Friday. He called me again on Saturday.

[You didn’t pick up on purpose?]

I didn’t. I’d already done the deal. I also knew Vince was a hell of a salesman. My dad and Vince went way, way back. I didn’t want to throw shade. The deal had already been done. If Vince wanted me that badly, he should have called a month earlier. Maybe he did, but I know from what I heard afterward that he was pissed off.

I went into the building that day, and Terry Taylor and Jim Ross came up to me and asked, ‘How we doing?’

I said, ‘I’ll tell you how we’re doing. You guys know this business as well as I do. I’ve got three pay-per-views in the pipeline because back then you got paid on a 90-day delay. I’ve got three pay-per-views, a UK tour, four or five house show runs—whatever the deal was. I’d like to get paid tonight, because when I leave here tonight, I’ve got zero leverage. You guys can shuffle paper and give me zero payoffs or a one-dollar payoff, and I have no legal recourse.’

I had already talked to my attorney.

They asked, ‘How do you want to do this?’

I said, ‘I want my money tonight.’

‘How much is that?’

I gave them a figure.

Jim Ross and Terry Taylor were sitting around the tenth row at ringside before the building opened. Chyna was walking around wanting to go over the match.

Jim said, ‘We’ve got to go talk to the big man and get it approved.’

He went to Vince, came back, and said, ‘Jeff, come here.’

He and Terry sat down and said, ‘All right, man. We’ve got a deal. Go get your bag and get ready with Chyna.’

I said, ‘Jim, I’ve got one more thing to share with you.’

‘Yeah, what’s that?’

I said, ‘Do you remember when I signed here in 1997? This is 1999. Do you remember what happened between year one and year two of my contract?’

He looked at me and said, ‘What are you talking about?’

I said, ‘My wife got breast cancer. Linda McMahon—not Jeff—came to you and said Jeff can be on TV, but he’s not to work one house show. Not one. I don’t want to interfere with Vince or TV, but he needs to be home with his wife.’

He said, ‘Yep.’

I said, ‘Because of Linda’s directive, I didn’t meet my downside guarantee. I didn’t meet the number, and then you came to me and said, ‘Jeff, you didn’t meet your downside, so we’re going to cut your pay in year two.”

I said, ‘I have a sick wife, and you’re going to cut my pay? It wasn’t my doing. I was willing to work.’

He said, ‘Yeah.’

I replied, ‘So you kind of reneged on the deal. Well, Jim, we just came to an agreement. I’m reneging on this one.’

He just sat there.

I said, ‘Double that number.’

He replied, ‘Ah, Jeff…’

I said, ‘I totally understand if you don’t want to do it.’

He said, ‘Let me go talk to Vince.’

He never asked me, ‘Are you telling me that if you don’t get this money, you’re not going to drop the title?’ He never asked, because the truth is my dad would have kicked my ass. I owed it to the business. I would have dropped the title, but I told him, ‘I want the money doubled.’

He went to Vince, came back, and said, ‘Jeff, go get your gear on. Go over the match with Chyna.’

So I got dressed, went over the match with Chyna, and Pat Patterson had a hell of a finish laid out. We talked it through and got everything in our heads.

I went to the back to do my stretching. Around the corner, by a big concrete pillar—I could still take you to the exact spot in the arena—Vince walked around in a three-piece suit, smiling from ear to ear. He pulled open his jacket, took out a check from the venue—not a Titan check, but a check from the arena—and handed it to me.

He said, ‘I appreciate you doing business tonight. Now go kill them.’

I took the check, ran out, and Road Dogg asked, ‘What are you doing?’

I said, ‘I’m going to lock this damn thing in my rental car.’

Anyway, that’s the story. I didn’t hold him up.”