10 Unusual Ways To Get Hired By WWE
2. WORK For It (Jeff Jarrett)
A special type of entry on a special type of case for a special type of wrestler here, because Jeff Jarrett's 2019 WWE return may yet still be the most remarkable story of the year.
Scorned, spurned and publically sh*t on by Vince McMahon the man and Mr McMahon the character during the Raw/Nitro simulcast following WWE's purchase of WCW, 'Double J' was so ostracised by the last big name boss in the business that he had to try and become one just to earn a living. Forming NWA: TNA (later just TNA, later Impact Wrestling, later GFW, later Impact again...), Jarrett created a product that didn't really fill a gap in the market but managed to keep him and a host of characters old and new to the industry in work if they weren't under WWE's employ.
It was as magnanimous as it was megalomaniacal - the likes of AJ Styles and Robert Roode almost certainly wouldn't have gotten a spotlight as bright as TNA's at the time, but Jarrett was guilty of booking himself as the second coming of Steve Austin and The Rock combined - ironically while WWE did the exact same thing with Triple H on the other side.
It's almost scamp-like - Jarrett was on a short persona non grata list for such a long time, yet again managed to turn £10.00 into £10.01 (credit WhatCulture.com's Andy Murray for that inch-perfect assessment) through being such a canny work an industry that rewards such jaw-dropping guile.