How WWE Has Changed Since Jeff Jarrett Last Wrestled On Raw

Jeff Jarrett - at that point flanked by Miss Kitty as a titillating tokenistic replacement to the titillating and tokenistic Debra - crudely picked his spot during the semi-main event that pitted Stone Cold Steve Austin and Jim Ross against Triple H and Chyna. 'JR' was getting abused (there's one similarity at least...) by 'The Ninth Wonder Of The World' after Austin and 'The Game' had peeled off into the crowd, freeing the ring up for Jarrett to clatter in the head not with his signature guitar but an actual honest-to-god toaster.

Vince Russo was awaiting Jeff himself in WCW by this point, and in defence of the pair, the stench of Vince McMahon lingers on this entire angle 20 years later. Darkly amusing if only for the gusto Jeff inserted into the story, Jarrett's loathing disrespect for all women yielded segments that skewed the spectrum from the insignificant to the infamous.

He decked Mae Young, trapped Cindy Margolis in his figure four leglock, and even smashed a guitar over The Fabulous Moolah's head. The last one has actually aged quite well, but the rest speaks to how women and dog sh*t were about on the same level during the WWE's wild wild west at the time. This is thankfully not the case in 2019, though recent experimentation with intergender wrestling has only triggered yet more debate about the safety of Nia Jax's work rather than if Zelina Vega can overcome the height disadvantage against Drew McIntyre.

WWE (re)built an empire from this era, and though it's easy to poke holes at the product then just as it is now, much of the madness could be perceived as a means to and end. Just days after Jarrett's exit, the organisation became a publicly traded company, laying the foundations for the monolith it (eventually) became beyond wrestling. Will that make this week's Raw more exciting than October 11th, 1999's for fans? Probably not, but it has enhanced the mechanisms in which the company were able to talent scout.

1999's summer was one of the hottest in history, but the midcard was at times a total dumpster fire.

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