Jeff Jarrett honored to help introduce Owen Hart to new generation of fans

Jeff Jarrett is grateful for the role he’s gotten to play in AEW’s Owen Hart Foundation tournament.

As one of Owen’s best friends in wrestling, Jarrett was a fan-favorite in this year’s tournament and gave an emotional speech about what his late friend meant to him. Though Jarrett lost to Hangman Page in the first round, he’ll still be part of the tournament finals when he serves as the special guest enforcer for Bryan Danielson vs. Page.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I think we’d be here,” Jarrett told Sports Illustrated. “I get to introduce my friend to an entirely new generation of wrestling fans.”

AEW has partnered with the Owen Hart Foundation to present the tournament annually since 2022. The 2024 finals are being held in Calgary on Dynamite this Wednesday with Danielson vs. Page on the men’s side and Willow Nightingale vs. Mariah May on the women’s side.

The Owen Hart Foundation was started by Dr. Martha Hart after her husband’s death in 1999. It supports local, national, and international communities through scholarships, housing, and partnership programs. Jarrett told Sports Illustrated he loves that Owen is being recognized for who he was both as a person and as a wrestler.

“It makes me very emotional. All the way back in May of 1999, I never thought that all these years later I would be continuing my in-ring career, which [is] a blessing beyond my wildest imaginations, or that there would be this Owen Hart Foundation, which Owen’s wife created and does so much good for so many people all over the world. Owen’s children are grown up, and they represent their father so proudly,” Jarrett said.

“I love that Owen is being recognized as a father, a family man, a husband, a brother, and a professional wrestler. And we’re doing it in Calgary, a place that meant a lot to him.”

Jarrett & Owen were tag team partners together, holding the WWF Tag Team titles one time.

The winner of Danielson vs. Page earns an AEW World Championship shot against Swerve Strickland at All In next month. Jarrett had huge praise for Danielson in his Sports Illustrated interview, saying he believes Danielson is “the epitome of professional wrestling.”

“It’s the guy who eliminated me against the guy who I think doesn’t have a peer among current full-time, active wrestlers,” Jarrett said. “That is no disrespect toward anybody else, but I don’t think Bryan Danielson has a peer. He’s that good, the epitome of professional wrestling. His storytelling is off the charts, his passion, his physicality–Bryan can do it all. So I feel incredibly grateful and honored to be part of it.”