WWE Hall of Famer Jeff Jarrett who is a former four times WCW World Heavyweight Champion recently talked about David Arquette winning the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in 2000.
David Arquette winning the WCW World Heavyweight Championship is considered as one of the worst booking decisions ever made by a professional wrestling promotion. It was one of the biggest reasons behind the destruction of WCW. Arquette was not a professional wrestler but an actor. We have always seen professional wrestling promotions treating celebrities really well, but having them win a Championship is not fair.
Jeff Jarrett Speaks On The Run Of David Arquette In WCW
When the incident took place, movie in collaboration with WCW just released in the theatres, David Arquette was the star of the film. WCW was so desperate to promote the movie that they let him win their World Championship. A title that was previously held by the wrestlers like Ric Flair, Goldberg, Hulk Hogan, Sting, Randy Savage and many other big names was won by someone who had no connection with wrestling at all. It killed the prestige of the title totally.
And there was something even worse. Diamond Dallas Page the man who lost the title was celebrating with effect after losing the title. It was completely clueless booking and it was really the strange thing that a terrible idea like this got approved. This was one of the biggest reasons behind the death of WCW.
Jeff Jarrett who is a former four times WCW World Heavyweight Champion during a recent episode of My World With Jeff Jarrett talked about David Arquette winning the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in 2000. He said;
“I don’t remember ‘what if’ at all going down the road of making him world champion, but really, having any – to make it relevant – a Bad Bunny tag [match] or [Rob] Gronkowski appearance. Look, at this time, less than a year prior, I was in the ring with Ben Stiller. Cross promotion of a movie, get in, get out, whatever. We’re selling the movie and Stiller helped get me over, the storyline over, and D’Lo over. So, at that point, I was still sort of framing the Arquette on that scale – the movie, that was the route we were going.
“From the day I met him, I can remember him hanging out after Nitros down in the watering holes. David is not just one of us as a fan, but I can imagine him on a Hollywood set or eating Thanksgiving – he’s a very humble human being. That’s the real David I know. So, to go back to your final point, he had zero creative control. None.
“He did speak up in the manner of, ‘No, no, I don’t think we ought to do that.’ But he ran the play and did it……we’re still talking about it today. This is episode 19 or 20, and you picked this episode to title it David Arquette. So, whether it’s the hardcore or getting into this bubble -no matter how you slice it, Letterman, USA Today, Hollywood actor, the movie, the cross-promotion – there have been, in my opinion, a lot worse ideas by far. But you don’t know until you get your picture took and get up and swing.
“I was born and raised in, ‘Look, you’re only really as good as your last TV, or bad. You’ve always got next week.’ Sometimes, you just can’t hang your hat on that specific show’s rating. Sometimes things go your way on multiple levels, and sometimes, they go against you on multiple levels. But we’re still talking about it – I’m not saying all positively or all negatively, but I do think David has overcome a lot of that negative stigma. I love the guy, and he loves our industry.
“We both knew we had our work cut out. The Triple Cage is a great concept…..but how we were gonna go about it and how we were gonna make sense of it, and just the storyline of it with David who was a non-wrestler, and the belt being hung. Me and Dallas had a bit of conversations, and Dallas tells the story – if you’re familiar with DDP Yoga, this is in a lot ways where the original of DDP Yoga came.
“We were walking through the match and having the discussion, and there’s a hole in the cage between the first and second level, and Dallas backed off. One of his legs drops straight through the top, and it really threw him out of whack. He’s gotta have a match in less than 24 hours. He was coming off a back injury, and DDP Yoga was a huge step in the progression of how he wanted to change his body. To this day, I do DDP Yoga.
“I’m a huge fan and big supporter and believer in it. We went through the match and talked through it and laid it out, and knew somebody has to talk a bump off the top. No, you don’t. But we went down that road and all the different moving parts in WCW creative trying to tell seven stories at one time that never worked. Me and DDP talked over this entire layout through and through.
Credit: My World With Jeff Jarrett. H/T 411Mania