10 Backstage WWE Feuds That Changed Everything

Jeff Jarrett was a loyal WWE employee, but he didn't have friends in high places and he could tell that, as a six-time Intercontinental Champion, he had reached his zenith in the the company. He decided that he would take his talents to WCW, though he was willing to drop the Intercontinental Title first.

In a bit of bad planning by WWE, however, it turned out that Jarrett's contract expired the day before his scheduled defense against Chyna at No Mercy. Jarrett would have been within his legal rights to leave the company without dropping the belt, but he stayed - provided Vince McMahon paid him his owed PPV bonuses up front, which came to a six-figure sum. To Jarrett, it was just getting his money in advance. To Vince, it was a hold-up.

A year and a half later, WCW was out of business and Jeff Jarrett was out of a job. On the episode of Raw where Vince McMahon announced the purchase of WCW, he explicitly said that Jarrett would be gone. True to his word on that occasion, McMahon never worked with Jarrett again.

Instead, Jarrett (and his father) formed Total Nonstop Action in 2002, the company that's come the closest to being a real #2 U.S. promotion in the 21st century. Though TNA never really gave WWE a run for its money, their founding definitely changed the landscape of U.S. pro wrestling - and it may never have happened if No Mercy 1999 was a week earlier.