My World with Jeff Jarrett - David Arquette [Show Notes] (Patreon)

Today we’re talking about the time David Arquette became the WCW World Heavyweight Champion with the man that he won and lost the title to...the Hall of Famer “Double J” Jeff Jarrett! Jeff, how are you today man?

The story of David Arquette in professional wrestling really starts with him filming Ready to Rumble. The movie is filmed before you’re in WCW as it features DDP and Bill Goldberg heavily. Did you get a chance to see the movie when you came over to WCW in late 99?

The promotion of the movie is obviously going to be highlighted on WCW programming but it’s smack dab in the middle of the reset when Vince Russo & Eric Bischoff are brought together to “fix” WCW.

We touched on it briefly when we talked in the archives from Hulk Screwed Hulk but what are you told the plans are when the Millionaire’s Club and New Blood factions are made? Did you know anything about the David Arquette plans at this point?

You’re the United States Champion when the reset happens and Sid Vicious the world champion. All the champions are forced to vacate the titles and tournaments are scheduled for all the titles. Do you know at this point you’re going to be World Champion?

On the reset Nitro from Denver on April 10th … from the Observer… “Show opened with most of the wrestlers in the ring for a team meeting. Jarrett introduced Russo as the guy who turned the WWF around and called him Vince McMahon's best kept secret.”

Jeff...what’s going through your mind when you’re told to intro Russo this way?

You defeat Curt Hennig in a non-tournament match with the help of a debuting Shawn Stasiak. What are your favorite memories of Shawn Stasiak...also known as Meat?

This is also aired: “They showed scenes from the "Ready to Rumble" premiere which gave us glimpses of not only Rena Mero, but also Jason Hervey, and showed David Arquette with help from DDP hitting Jarrett with a guitar to set up the Thunder angle.”

Jeff...talk us through what you’re told to do at the Ready to Rumble premiere and was that the first time you met David?

The show ends with you having been announced as getting a bye to the finals of the World Title tournament and DDP beat Sting in 3:42 after Vampiro turned on Sting. You end up hitting Kimberly with the guitar when DDP moves and it turns into a gigantic brawl to end the show. How was DDP with Kimberly taking a guitar shot?

Here you are again though Jeff. Hitting women with guitars. Did it ever get old for you?

On Thunder the next night in Colorado Springs Arquette is at a WCW show for the first time shown on camera. And this is just so WCW at the time isn’t it Jeff… “Ric Flair beat Bagwell via DQ in 3:08 when Russo, dressed up in a Sting costume with a bat, at ringside next to David Arquette, hit the ring and beat up Flair with the bat”

Yeah just WCW at it’s finest isn’t it Jeff?

So for your match on the show...it’s 3 Villanos vs. Sting and you’re one of them Jeff. Once again from the Observer, “What was really funny is seeing the two Villanos from Mexico and Jarrett together, that Jarrett was actually tiny next to the Mexican cruiserweights who are considered too small to be taken seriously. Sting pinned both of them. Jarrett then crashed the guitar on Sting and unmasked. Page ran in and hit Jarrett with a diamond cutter but Sting pinned him in 2:28.”

So you & the Villanos sounds awesome! How is this presented to you and as a model employee you just nod and say yes right Jeff?

Now the amazing part of this...a replay of you hitting Sting with the guitar...AIRS EARLIER IN THE NIGHT IN THE FORM OF A REPLAY. How does this happen?

From the main event… “Finally DDP wrestled Bigelow and we had another ref bump. Page hit the diamond cutter and Bischoff came out, counted to two and stopped. Jarrett hit Page with a guitar shot. Arquette finally did his run-in with them explaining that Arquette is now close friends with Page. Arquette took a hell of a bump over the top, but then, even though he looks to be about 150, Jarrett couldn't pick him up for a bodyslam because he mistimed his jump before he clumsily got dropped on the rail. Jarrett gave Arquette the stroke.”

So how did it feel to almost kill Arquette here?

Is there talk at this point of Arquette winning the WCW World Title?

How game is Arquette to doing stuff?

So here you are Jeff. You’re guaranteed to be main eventing against DDP at Spring Stampede with just a one week build. How do you feel the show is going to go and how it’s going to draw?

The show is at the United Center...which is ironic considering AEW was just there and sold out...and it sells 8,377 tickets for $272,930. It is the last pay-per-view in WCW history to draw at least that. Way to kill the terrority Jeff!

From the Observer regarding your match in the main event:

“14. Jeff Jarrett pinned Diamond Dallas Page in 15:02 to win the vacant WCW heavyweight title. Page, smart promoter that he is, littered the building with signs promoting his book. You don't actually believe fans would bring signs like that to a show, do you? He even had a spot where Jarrett tore up a copy of the book. Bischoff came out. This was a really good match. Jarrett had a long figure four. Page tried to reverse it but got a rope break. Page got a few quick cradles and a uranage for a near fall. Page moved amazingly well for someone who has been out of action for so long with a back injury that didn't even heal until his former next door neighbor was back in charge. Finish saw Bischoff distract Charles Robinson (who took a bump halfway through the match to tease a near fall from a belt shot by Jarrett) and Kimberly got in the ring holding the guitar and clocked Page with it for the pin. All the champs came to the ring to celebrate with Russo and Bischoff to end the show. ***½”

So Kimberly turns on DDP to help you win the World Title. How impressive is DDP getting his book worked in constantly?

It’s your first World Title Jeff. How big an accomplishment is this for you?

When did you know you were going to win it?

What’s the reaction backstage?

Does your father call and congratulate you?

The next night at Nitro and you and Vince & Bischoff and the other New Blood champions are in the ring. From the Observer: “Russo and Jarrett cut a promo on Jim Ross, which probably served to confuse 95% of the audience and made them come off as bush leagues to most of the remaining 5% especially when the ratings came out the next day. If Jarrett holding a belt given to him because his best friend in the company is writing the scripts want to rub it in Ross' face for losing him, he should wait until after the ratings gap closes to one point or he's the one who headlines a PPV that does a 1.0 buy rate because until that time he's proven nothing as a headliner. Jarrett challenged DDP to a rematch at Slamboree on 5/7 in Kansas City at Kemper Arena in the three tier cage that was in "Ready to Rumble."”

Who’s idea was the promo on Jim Ross and did you feel that was necessary or were you just wanting to rub it in Jim’s face?

Meltzer gives you a little shot there...do you agree with that criticism?

Scott Steiner is your mystery opponent in the main event which ends in a DQ when Booker attacks Steiner when he had you beat. Not the big first win you’re looking for right Jeff?

So you’re champion for 24 hours. Are you asking what the plans are?

You’re now champion for a week when Nitro in Rochester, NY draws 2,697 fans for $64,925.

How were you being told of your creative going into the TVs at this point? At TV? Phone calls?

Did you know you were only going to hold the title for a week?

From the Observer …

“Jarrett & Bischoff & Kimberly came out. They showed the three-decker cage from the "Ready to Rumble" movie. Bischoff called out Page and Kimberly gave him divorce papers. Page didn't even sell it like he was concerned. That guy is just so cool, he blew off a good angle. Luckily the announcers saw how Page botched it so they stopped selling the divorce like it was anything important either. Page went after Bischoff but Jarrett hit Page with a guitar. This brought out Arquette to jump on Bischoff. Jarrett pulled him off but before Jarrett could pound on him, Kanyon saved Arquette. Bischoff challenged Arquette to a match. The stips were if Arquette won, Page would get a cage match for the title on this show.”

How much did these guitars cost Jeff because you’re killing everyone with them?

Do you know if Arquette knew they were going to put the title on him?

Who’s coming up with all this creative? Bischoff because he’s centrally involved?

“Arquette pinned Bischoff in 2:08. Arquette at least looks like he likes wrestling and is having fun out there, but boy did he make WCW look minor league when he used the worm as his big move, particularly since it got by far the biggest pop of anything on the show. It was bad enough that the crowd was filled with pro-WWF signs, many of which were on camera, and negative to WCW signs. Jarrett saved Bischoff. Jarrett hit Page with the title belt. Bischoff hit a low blow on Arquette but then Jarrett hit Bischoff with the guitar when Arquette moved and Arquette scored the pin. Kanyon saved DDP, the lights went out, and Sting was in the balcony.”

This is just so much going on Jeff how does anything sink in or get over? What did you think of Arquette in the ring?

“DDP pinned Jarrett to win the title in a cage match in 4:59. Actually this was the closest thing to a good match on the show. Page never sold the divorce deal and if he doesn't care about it enough to have it get in the way of wrestling a match, why should anyone else care? Amazing how quickly a back can heal when given a push. The finish was beyond stupid. Diamond cutter. Then, for no reason except to take focus away from people popping for a title change, Awesome tears down the cage door, which makes the cage gimmick stupid two weeks before a cage match on PPV. Awesome stopped the count. Kanyon was in for the save. Even though the ref counted two, stopped and hit the mat once more, all of a sudden they announced Page as winner and new champ.”

Do you think Page no sold the divorce on purpose or just couldn’t get it over?

Do you agree with the assessment that ripping cage doors off doesn’t help promote your cage match?

What happened on the finish here? It seems so bad it couldn’t have happened but it did.

So DDP wins. You’ve held the WCW World Title for a week. How disappointing is this to you?

Do you think David Arquette is adding anything to the product?

So the next night on Thunder from Syracuse, NY…”Show opened with Jarrett, Bischoff and Kimberly having kidnapped Arquette because Jarrett blamed him for the title switch and said they'd hold him hostage unless DDP agreed to put the title up in a tag match.”

Jeff...I know we’re not there yet. But knowing the end of the angle is coming...HOW DOES THIS MAKE ANY SENSE? I get the whole point is to humiliate DDP but does anybody benefit from this?

Then the main event...DAVID ARQUETTE WINS THE WCW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE. “The idea, and since this just happened as we went to press time will tell if this is correct, is that WCW believes the publicity about Arquette winning the title will hit mainstream and lead to a ratings boost on 5/1 since WWF looks to be changing its world title to Rock and Austin will appear. They did a double pin finish with Jarrett pinning Page at the same time Arquette pinned Bischoff, but they announced Arquette as winner and new champion and had him parade around with the belt. Kimberly was the ref and kept counting slow whenever Page had Jarrett pinned and counting fast the other way. Somehow she was out of there and Mickey Jay ran in and counted the double pin and signalled that Arquette had won.”

Jeff...I just...how...why...you’ve dealt with celebrities in Memphis for years...but please tell me what’s going through your head when you’re told this is going to happen. Is anyone saying this isn’t a good idea?

“Thunder on 4/26 did a 2.72 rating for the show where Arquette won the WCW title. The number was higher than Thunder had been drawing over the past six months, but down from the previous episode two weeks earlier. The Arquette deal wasn't a success even if the show drew a higher rating than usual since the main event drew a 2.25, which was the lowest rating of any segment on the show.”

I mean...should this surprise anyone? The movie isn’t even drawing well at the box office and this is supposed to move the needle?

It’s said that David was great with the boys, taking care of the bar bill, splitting his money between the families of Owen Hart, Darren Drozdov & Brian Pillman. Did you ever get a chance to talk to him about that?

It’s announced that Arquette will be taking on you & DDP in a three-way for the WCW World Heavyweight Title at Slamboree in the triple cage match. Were you ever expecting it to not happen or was that always going to be the plan?

Nitro on May 1st is in Birmingham, AL and it features a lot of Arquette & also his wife at the time Courtney Cox. From the Observer … “DDP, Kanyon and Arquette came out to no real pop with the belt. When Arquette started talking, the audience started booing. He said he'd give up the title. Bischoff told him he couldn't and that he'd have to be in the three cage match at Slamboree. Russo, Liz, Jarrett and Kimberly came out with Bischoff. Luger ran out in the middle of all this looking for Liz. Bischoff told Arquette he'd have to defend against Abbott. DDP said he wanted the match with Abbott.”

Jeff...this is just all over the god damn place. Are you going to Russo and saying...Vince...you gotta chill out with all this.

Also from that Nitro… “Abbott beat DDP in 1:55. Kanyon and Arquette were in DDP's corner. DDP took the punch from Abbott, and wobbled but ended up getting up, thereby, well killing isn't the right term, but you know, Abbott's finisher before the Goldberg program. Jarrett hit Page with a bottle so Abbott won. Page went out on a stretcher in an ambulance.”

What was Tank Abbott like? Did he know what was going on?

So this leads to this a half later…

“Arquette pinned Abbott in 2:13 when Page gave him the diamond cutter. I know, Page was just stretchered out and taken in an ambulance a half hour earlier. Guess what? He drove back the ambulance and ran to the ring to lay out Abbott.”

Yup. David Arquette pinned Tank Abbott. Tank was being built up to take on Goldberg but I mean Jeff...how...does...this...happen?

You’re doing a 3-way on that Nitro against Hugh Morrus and Scott Steiner. The stipulation from Eric Bischoff is that if Morrus lost the Misfits in Action (that’s Hugh, Chavo Guerrero Jr., Lash Leroux and Van Hammer) they would all be fired. So Steiner puts Morrus in the steiner recliner and you hit him with the guitar and Morrus pins him. What was the plan behind you & Steiner at that point? Bischoff fired them anyway by the way.

The next day at Thunder taping in Memphis at the Round House has a doozy of a finish to the show that you’re involved in. After a battle royal between the Millionaires Club and the New Blood plus Randy Savage, Harris Twins, Mamalukes, Disco, Tank Abbott, Jim Duggan....from the Observer … “The idea was that Jarrett and Page were to climb a scaffolding. The idea is that Arquette would climb the scaffolding, hit either Jarrett or Page, and it would make sense to be Jarrett and that is who I was told it was supposed to be, with the guitar, who would take the bump and they gimmicked part of the stage that they would fall through (similar to Mick Foley's bump at No Way Out and Crowbar's bump that nobody remembers into the gymnastics pad). When leaving the ring, by accident, Asya stepped on the set and fell through, so everyone could see it was gimmicked. Arquette then ran out and apparently wasn't given directions as to what to avoid, so he stepped and fell into the gimmicked part of the stage. So Jarrett and Page improvised up there with Page deciding to save the show and take the bump into what was already evident as a gimmicked hole in the stage. they simply edited out virtually everything regarding the Page/Jarrett angle where Page took the bump off the lighting stand through a gimmicked part of the stage. They showed the two briefly brawling very high and then cut away. They edited to where they came back and Page was simply lying in a hole. David Arquette, who had fallen in the hole, never appeared on television at all and they acted as if he wasn't there. The original angle was for Page, not Jarrett, to take the bump, but to appear to be a miscue by Arquette which later would be part of the story. ”

You’re out there. You’re there for everything. What’s running through your mind? How does the conversation with Dallas go with everything going on and Page deciding to take the bump? Is this just the normal calamity of errors of WCW? This had to be edited in that way right?

Besides that you lose to Kanyon after he hits a flatliner when Kimberley’s interference backfires.

You’re pushing towards the main event again in a World Title situation with an actor and you’re losing to Kanyon. This is the go-home show for the Slamboree pay-per-view and you’re losing in a one-on-one match with Chris Kanyon and lose and then you’re in a #1 Contenders battle royal for Great American Bash and you & DDP lose and then the mess at the end. What in the fuck is going on here Jeff?

In an interview with wrestleline.com Vince Russo goes into detail about you and DDP and Arquette. From the Observer covering that, “Russo talked about having a long term plan, but then admitted the DDP title win was decided at the last minute when he convinced Bischoff that since people would expect the title not to change hands before the PPV, the best thing to do was surprise people. The decision was made at the time to give it back to Jarrett the next day so he'd be champ going into the PPV. The next day, Russo said he decided to instead put it on Arquette because of how all the mainstream publicity would boost curiosity and lead to a bigger rating. Everyone was backstage when they saw Arquette in USA Today the next Monday telling each other how it worked, and then Tuesday morning when the rating came out, the mood changed. It's another example of the axiom that all publicity is good publicity isn't true in the real world, and that no matter how aware people are of something, if it's something they don't want to see, they won't turn on their sets to see it. From what we're told, privately, virtually everyone in the company recognized the Arquette title thing was a major flop, but publicly the only one who would say it was Mark Madden (well, Bret Hart did, but his reasons were more feelings on pro wrestling as opposed to Madden's reasons which were purely the business end result)”

How did you feel this went in the long run?

Going into Slamboree at the Kemper Arena...knowing the plan with the Triple Cage Match...how eerie did you feel about this after your friend Owen Hart’s death?

The show draws 4,862 paying $139,202. According to the Observer the show was on track to do 6,000 paid and right after Arquette won the title tickets stopped being sold. Did you hear that as well?

What is it like looking at putting together this match with a triple cage...an actor...and DDP?

From the Observer … “10. Jeff Jarrett won the most prestigious title in the history of our sport,the WCW heavyweight strap, over champ David Arquette and Diamond Dallas Page in 15:30 in a three-decker Ready to Rumble cage match. Arquette got to miss a splash off the top early and they did an early spot where Page whipped Jarrett into Arquette. It was pretty well telegraphed during the show that Arquette was turning on Page for the finish. Jarrett and Page juiced. When they got to the second cage, there were a ton of weapons, which was really smart. Arquette was selling that collision for a long time keeping him out of everyone's way. They gimmicked one of the sides of the cage so they both went through, teasing someone falling off the cage and dying. Page actually got a table to stand up in the second cage, which wasn't easy since it was a mesh ground, and slammed Jarrett through it. Arquette then climbed all the way to the top and laid there on his stomach, like he was scared to death being so high. Mike Awesome showed up in the middle cage to take a diamond cutter from Page. Arquette never grabbed the belt when he could. They got to the third cage which had a bunch of guitars. Arquette had a guitar on top for protection while Page and Jarrett missed guitar shots on each other. Both were climbing to the top while Arquette stood with a guitar, and they teased he was going to hit Jarrett, but of course instead hit Page and Jarrett got the belt. In other words, the exact same finish from the last PPV (with Kimberly in the Arquette role) with the same two participants. Kanyon then showed up to fight with Awesome standing on top of the bottom cage, which looked to be close to 20 feet from the ground. Awesome threw Kanyon off the top of the cage onto the ramp, which was heavily gimmicked so he wasn't hurt seriously taking the stunt man bump. They stacked cardboard underneath the ramp to soften the blow underneath the spot he was supposed to hit, which he had marked. Of course from that height, any major flaws in the execution or even landing in a bad position wouldn't have been pretty, but he did practice it three times the day before without a hitch. Page and Jarrett were doing a run-through the day before and Page took a really bad bump (which is why he was taped up) and they had to fly in his doctor to work on his shoulder and back for him to just be able to work this match. After the show went off the air, Kanyon was selling it huge with EMT's, etc. The reaction to this was interesting. Most fans watching on TV loved it, or at least popped for the bump. Every e-mail we received (with maybe one exception and maybe not even that) of people there live mentioned it negatively because it was Kemper Arena and they were the same fans who saw Owen Hart die from falling from the ceiling and felt this was too similar and with them selling it like he was maimed far too much of an exploitation of the tragedy. Actually at the time I thought they were copying Mick Foley, and that because of the big bump at the "Ready to Rumble" movie finish and to distract from the fact they were doing the same main event finish on two straight shows, figured somebody had to take a big bump. The Owen Hart thing had been discussed, at least a little, in reference to this, which sort of made it sad. I didn't have a problem as much with the paralysis claim on television the next day, even with the obvious comparison to Darren Drozdov (well, they could have sold it in a different way) because the hospital angle with DDP getting beaten up was so Three Stooges like that it isn't like anyone could possibly take it seriously. ***¼”

A lot to unpack there. The bump, the match, you win another title, the turn. What did you think of the creative and the match?

The next night on Nitro in St. Louis at the TWA Dome has 3,388 paid...where 17 months ago they drew 29,000 paid. It’s crazy how quickly that type of drop in paying fans happens. That’s an 89% drop.

It’s talked about how the plan was for Arquette all along to do this to get the title back to you but it really makes no sense whatsoever.

DDP returns and hits Arquette with a diamond cutter and that’s the end of David Arquette on WCW television.

Slamboree’s buy rate comes out and it sounds like it one of the three lowest buy rates in company history coming in under a .2. What do you think of when you’re informed this?

Arquette has one more appearance in WCW at New Blood Rising during the match between Buff Bagwell & Kanyon.

David Arquette...success or failure?

Did you ever see Nick Gage vs. David Arquette and him get cut in a death match?

What do you think of death matches and do you share the feeling of Jim Cornette that it’s a mud show?