Jarrett was a key figure in the history of professional wrestling in the Mid-Southern United States.[4] Described as a "wrestling genius", he was inducted into the National Wrestling Alliance Hall of Fame in 2009.[6]
Jarrett founded the Memphis, Tennessee-based Continental Wrestling Association in 1977. In 1989, Jarrett merged his promotion with the Dallas, Texas-based promotion World Class Championship Wrestling, creating the United States Wrestling Association, which Jarrett sold to Lawler in 1997. He made another foray into promoting in 2002 when he co-founded NWA:TNA with his son Jeff Jarrett, selling his controlling interest to Panda Energy International later that year.
While working as a referee in the 1960s, Jarrett decided to become a professional wrestler. He was trained by his friend Tojo Yamamoto and veteran wrestler Sailor Moran. He wrestled his first match in Hayti, Missouri in 1965. After debuting, Jarrett formed a tag team with Yamamoto.[1][4][9] Jarrett spent the first few years of his career performing primarily for NWA Mid-America. Between 1970 and 1976, he won the NWA Mid-America Tag Team Championship once, the NWA World Tag Team Championship (Mid-America version) once, and the NWA Southern Tag Team Championship (Mid-America version) 10 times. Jarrett also performed for Gulas' Southeastern Championship Wrestling promotion, holding the NWA Tennessee Tag Team Championship in 1975.
In 1977, Jarrett founded the Continental Wrestling Association. In addition to booking the promotion, he also occasionally wrestled. Jarrett and Yamamoto became the inaugural CWA World Tag Team Champions in July 1980, losing the championship to Austin Idol and Dutch Mantel the following month. In 1985, Jarrett briefly wrestled under a mask as "The Hawaiian Flash".
Jarrett formally retired in 1988, although he broke his retirement in the mid-1990s to wrestle on a number of occasions for his United States Wrestling Association.[4]
In the early-1970s, Jarrett and his mother began promoting professional wrestling shows on behalf of Gulas in the Memphis area.[10][11] After a dispute with Gulas in 1977, Jarrett opted to break away and found his own promotion, the Continental Wrestling Association (CWA). With the support of Buddy Fuller, Jerry Lawler and Jarrett's mother, Jarrett built the CWA into a successful promotion, staging events each Monday that regularly sold-out the Mid-South Coliseum and airing television shows each Saturday morning on WMC-TV. In 1981, NWA Mid-America folded due to competition from the CWA with Gulas selling his territory to Jarrett.[3][1][11][12][13]
In 1979, The Freebirds wanted Jarrett to allow them to play Freebird on their entrances. They first tried it in the Mid-South Coliseum along with twirling the house spotlights. So Jarrett became one of the first promoters to use music and videos to promote his roster of wrestlers.[14][7]
In 1984, Jarrett entered into a talent exchange with Bill Watts' Mid-South Wrestling promotion. Jarrett and Lawler advised Watts to bring more young performers into his territory to attract a younger generation of fans; especially females since they bring their boyfriends to the shows.[14]
In 1988, Jarrett entered talks with Verne Gagne, owner of the Minneapolis, Minnesota-based American Wrestling Association, about a potential merger. After the talks were abandoned in 1989, Jarrett instead entered into a merger with the Dallas, Texas-based promotion World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) to create the United States Wrestling Association.[15]
After stepping away from professional wrestling, Jarrett operated a construction company and an international television distribution company.
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