How can TNA justify putting Jeff Hardy in this position?
 

I'm surprised this hasn't been discussed more. Jeff Hardy won the "Bound for Glory" series and is going to be in the main event of their marquee show. I know he has been doing better, but how can you seriously give this guy another shot? No doubt Jeff Hardy is popular, but he doesn't draw enough to risk him relapsing and pulling another stunt like he did at Victory Road 2011. Why not give Bully Ray this match?

They probably have a Plan B in place in case Jeff fucks up. At least, I hope they do.

Plan RVD?

I think it's bad they let him come back at all, let alone back into the main event after turning up to a PPV fucked up. He clearly doesn't give a shit about the fans.

Drug Addict Comes Good makes for a nice headline?

I wasn't aware that Hardy won and it comes as a surprise as I expected Storm or Bully to win. Does Hardy vs. Aries sound like the headliner for their biggest show of the year? Or does it get bumped from top billing/Main Event?

Hardy vs. Aries will sell more tickts than Bully or Storm vs Aries and that is what is important for their biggest ppv.

I suppose. Just doesn't have that "Big Match" feel to it. I figured they'd build back to Storm vs. Roode tbh as their business wasn't conclusively settled and Storm's BFG Series win would reflect Roode's from last year.

I think all of TNA's questionable booking decisions can be traced back to one person of questionable intelligence.

It's pretty much this. I said this about Hardy when he returned from his last fuck up and was saying how he's clean now and gonna prove it etc. I just knew TNA would try and go the Eddie Guerrero drug-addict-cleans-himself-up-and-wins-title route.

You have to punish Bully Ray for thinking of not resigning with the company when they approached him about 30 seconds before his deal expired.

I figured it was a special needs angle. This obviously brain-damaged guy wins the title.

hardy sells the most teeshirts, he is kind of like tna's cena. i still don't think he will win the belt, he is still on probation, i think there will be a swerve where bully gets the belt.

Have Aries and Angle had a match yet? Kinda feel that would be as "big" and superior in the ring.

Batista told Jeff the contra code

I don't even know who Aries is.

If Angle wasn't hurt/involved in another feud, that could have been a great main event.

In my mind that has more a "big fight feel".

Yeah, but is he still good? Of all the times I've watched him it's been pretty mediocre.

Honestly I was hoping Bully would have won. Hardy is just so meh to me now.

Not really if you are comparing him now to how good he was in his WWE run, but I guess I'd half-ass it too if I went from WWE to TNA.

I think I had mention this a long time ago when they brought him back. I knew he was going to win the BFG series so they can use what he has been through the past year as a comeback story.

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He's still one of their biggest stars and they did give him a lot of time to prove he was cleaned up or reliable before actually giving him the potential title opportunity.

Would rather have Bully Ray vs Aires for the title match but makes sense why Hardy was chosen. It's also possible the contract situation involving Devon and Bully Ray could have played a small role during the time TNA needed to plan out who was actually going to win the BFG series.

It's TNA. Need I say more?

Nonsense? Pay $30-$40 bucks for a PPV and the main event world title match is a minute long because he can't keep his shit together?

It has been a year and a half. FFS, he has shown repeatedly that he will not get cleaned up. How many chances can the son of a bitch get?

Also, the "Hardy's the biggest draw" argument is bullshit. When has TNA seen any major increase in ratings or buyrates in years? He sells t-shirts. Nice. He would sell just as many t-shirts being in the upper midcard as he would be selling if he is in the main event. TNA has created new stars but when their biggest ppv comes around they go back to the drug addict who has burned them and other companies repeatedly just because he hasn't gotten arrested again? It is a fucking joke. I hope Aries wins because that would be a nice rub, but I don't know how you can trust him in your "biggest ppv ever".

Maybe they DO view Jeff as "the guy", but they want to put Aries over him to show everyone that Aries is the new "the guy". You ever thought of that?

Also, whoever said that Jeff has been half-assing it must not be watching a lot of TNA recently. He's been more than solid.

yes, nonsense. Hardy fucked up. TNA still decided to send him out and put that main event on when literally anything else whatsoever would have been a better and more professional option. And as you point out in the following part of your post, it's been a year and a half. Get over it. The guy hasn't put a foot wrong since. Do you even watch TNA/pay $30-40 bucks for said PPV's?

of course it's not. He's the biggest draw they have. Just because buyrates and ratings don't go up doesn't make that any less true. TNA would probably struggle to permanently raise ratings atm if they signed Steve Austin and The Rock.

And as I say everytime these kind of threads pop up, I'm still not seeing this "burned repeatedly" argument that everyone likes to bang on about whenever talk of Jeff Hardy and drugs comes up. He fucked up in TNA during what I thought was creatively his best run anywhere ever, yes. But other than that, he left WWE of his own accord both times for reasons you may or may not like, including the 2nd time turning down the WWE's offer of what would have been his "biggest contract" ever. "Jeff Hardy is a huge worthless fuck up" might be the most stale and redundant argument on all of the internet after "Hulk Hogan and John Cena are evil".

The burned repeatedly argument holds up because the first time he left WWE, he was showing up late or out right no-showing events as well as refusing rehab.

Personally, it's been a year and a half, this is when I would have said he should have STARTED being integrated back into the main event, but he's been main event for a looong time. He hasn't earned the right to headline the biggest PPV of the year in my eyes.

Do I blame Jeff, though? LOL, no. TNA are risking this. WWE wouldn't have brought him back and let him headline Mania this soon.

Is it good business? I guess, if he doesn't fuck him. He likely won't, but why take the risk this soon?

I still think it was a stupid idea having Roode lose the Title to Aries..... BFG could have built around a James Storm versus Bobby Roode "final encounter" "Iron Man" Match.... Storm would go over and he could then defend against Hardy..... that just makes more sense to me, but since when has TNA made sense?

I like Aries as champ, personally. Roode was great, though.

They can do that on a smaller PPV or iMPACT without risking blowing your biggest ppv of the year.

No doubt, but he was busting his ass and doing great things during his run when he showed up fucked up to headline a PPV against STING.

He screwed up again since his return?

Didn't not know about that considering I think one of the terms was him going to jail if he screwed up again. If that is the case, then Bully Ray should definitely been the one having the title shot or even someone else.

I didn't say he screwed up since his return. I am saying he has repeatedly shown he has no interest in getting cleaned up over the past 10 years. It's only been a year and a half. He had a good run in WWE and then he relapsed. He had a good run in TNA and then relapsed. How will this be any different based on his history? You can't do the same thing repeatedly and expect different results.

I'm less fussed about the whole "pushing the drug addict who fucked up in the past" thing, I am more surprised by the choice when there are more interesting/seemingly obvious choices available.

Aries has history with Bully Ray and it would be a very fresh headline act for the company's biggest show. Aries would have a blinding match against a Angle who is just as over as Hardy and seems tacked onto the AJ/Daniels/Kaz stuff. It seemed they were building to Storm stopping Roode which would have been the end of a year long story. Then you have the whole Aces & Eights thing, a reveal and consequent match with the leader/man behind it would have been an option.

All those seem more interesting on paper.

Surely Jeff Hardy can't be this much of a draw. Really?

I'm sorry. He decided to get busted with a shitload of drugs shortly after he left WWE. I'm sure there is no connection.

Possibly, but wouldn't it mean more on the biggest PPV of the year?



Well they've clearly decided to give him a second chance. If that were so much of a problem, he would have never found his way back into TNA. However, here he is. He's on the roster. They can't hold the past against him anymore if they ever allowed it to slide in the first place.

The dude is over. He's doing good work right now. I probably would have gone with Angle, but he's really not the worst choice. Better than RVD, even.

I'm not purchasing it either way just yet, though.

That bust really was suspiciously timed.

Nobody talks about all the drugs HBK did anymore.

Besides maybe Marty Jannetty.

His interviews in the HBK DVD were hilarious.

Heartbreak and Triumph? I have that set, but I don't remember much Marty. Am I missing something?

I bet I could sell my morphine to Jeff Hardy before his next match.

If you appreciate good music at all, you almost have to give drugs a pass.

Is it possible that they're giving Jeff Hardy this "second chance" because everyone else is also addicted to hard drugs and booze?

it's a drag that he fucked up during his last title run

he was pretty awesome then

Jeff Hardy shouldn't have a job let alone be anywhere near a main event. He took a shit on the business. If he would've pulled what he did in 2011 in the late 80's or early 90's someone in the locker room would've legitimately killed him.

lol. Let's not get too crazy with the generalizations.

*GASP* A wrestler did drugs?! How can this have happened?! We must never let him wrestle again because there's no way he can somehow turn around and become one of the greatest of all time!... wait....

Not that I'm comparing HBK to Hardy at all just find it funny that people bitch about Jeff having done drugs when probably EVERY wrestler ever has.

lol. Seriously? "EVERY wrestler ever"?

Ok so I'm exaggerating a bit but you get my point, and really probably 70% or more of the current roster have atleast tried drugs at some point. (Yes weed and spice count as drugs) To hate on Hardy for his former drug use is just stupid. The guy makes money and he's pretty entertaining to watch. Who cares if he's an idiot in real life? Does his drug use make Charlie Sheen any less hilarious? Does his drug use make Robert Downey Jr. any less a great actor? Hell in the former's case it the reason he's hilarious!

I think there's a big difference between taking pain killers and whatever the fuck it is Jeff Hardy happens to be putting in his body at any given moment. Even with a "pretty much" there's still a lot of speculation and generalization.

I'd hardly count 70% having at least tried drugs as enough to warrant an "everybody" even as a slight exaggeration. And that's just "tried". Jeff Hardy didn't just "try" drugs. The man was an addict.

Not that I really care how many drugs anyone takes. I'm just speaking to the whole "pretty much everyone in wrestling does drugs" thing. It's a big generalization that people like to throw around that is really nothing more than speculation based on the need to feel "in the know" about the "dark side" of wrestling.

Wait guys, what if TNA's going to drop the ball on this Jeff Hardy thing. Do you think it's possible?

Some valid points, CSL. There are a lot of high-stress careers with similar dark sides. Think of all those coke-head investment bankers and stock brokers.

Still, considering how many professional wrestlers have died young and did so rather publicly it's worth addressing.

Exactly. The only time these things tend to be spoken about publicly are from famous cases of abuse and overuse. Outside of that, there is literally NO basis for speculation unless you have some inside information the rest of the public doesn't. Much less a "pretty much every wrestler anyone reading this has ever been fond of." Has pretty much every wrestler anyone reading this has ever been fond of been publicly outed in some way as being a drug user?

Abuse of pain killers. I don't think you can count a prescription used "properly" in the same vain as Jeff Hardy doing coke for breakfast.

is jeff a risk hell yeah and too others points this is a pattern with jeff- fck up come back strong then fall flat on his face.But he is a known commodity and with more wwe execs coming in i can see them trying to make jeff the face of the co. routine again just dont expect the outcome to change

Jeff Hardy has been given more opportunities to shine and be the man after fucking up than anyone else in history.

I guess there's something to be said for that.

Has anyone really taken it towards wrestling, though?

Besides maybe a few Punktards, that is.

I mean, attacking Jeff over it...There's David Bowie, whose best days involved making awesome music coked out of his brain. Then there's the dude who lives down the street whose best days involved collecting empties for a cheap fix.

A lot of people manage to do drugs and not totally fuck their lives up. Granted, Bowie might not have had a heart attack if he didn't do massive amounts of coke, but that's hard to say. But most of these guys, you don't really see an impact on their careers. Unless, of course, they die.

Guys like Matt and Jeff, you can definitively see the way it impacts them.

Coming down on these fuck-ups is not coming down on all drug users.

To put it on a forum scale, there's Sascha and there's Clox. Sascha is, in this comparison, David Bowie. I suppose we can call him the "Thin White bitch." And Clox is sucking dick for change.

While we're on drugs (huhuhuhuhuh), I think it's very important for wrestling fans to accept that the shit people do to entertain them costs lives, up to and including drugs. Drugs for the pain, drugs to help their "look," drugs for fun, and drugs because "What the fuck else are you going to do in Cleavland?"

This gets especially bad when we're talking about combining them. Steroids can be used safely. Illegal steroids combined with coke and painkillers is a lethal cocktail that's claimed several people in all probability.

The internet should care, and really all wrestling fans should care, though probably for different reasons. I'm actually a little disgusted by wrestling for knowing what goes into the metaphorical hot dog. Policing these guys is kind of dumb, yeah, but "why do we care?" Well, we're kind of the cause.

But how many people are really coming down on Randy Orton for failing piss tests? Or Edge? Or Masters or Kennedy or the Hurricane? Hell, Brian Kendrick was "the man" for smoking pot and just paying off the fines.

Could be worse. They could have gone the WCW/Chris Benoit route and handed him the title to try to coax him to stay, then have him immediately drop it to... say... EY* because that's what you do when you try to win someone over!



*I like Zach Galif- Eric Young as much as the next person, but I was illustrating a point.

:yes:

Jeff Hardy didn't just casually use drugs. He let it get to the point where he ruined a PPV main event when TNA was somewhat interesting and was getting attention for the right reasons.

Doesn't make it right, but Shawn Michaels never got so pilled out of his mind that they had to cut the main event world title match to 60 seconds.

TNA has clearly forgiven him for his past transgressions. It would be a waste of everyone's time to continue punishing him at this point.

Hasn't this professional company let Road Dogg and X-Pac wrestle shitfaced in the past?

prescriptions get used properly in a a cushy fantasy world, in reality they're as easy to get hold of as gear and I know you don't believe the guys that supply that always do so legally. And when you hear of guys needing pills to sleep, pills to wake up and "get going" etc, that's equally as "detrimental", in fact more so, as Jeff Hardy doing coke for breakfast. Besides, I never said that everybody likes to do Jeff Hardy amounts of drugs, it's just there.

dunno about that. As I said, in terms of "second chances", he fucked up once. Every other "opportunity" he's been given has been an the same ground/level pegging as anybody else.

I did read the whole post, just cut most of it out to save people scrolling through again but to an extent, yeah and as your following line states, it's usually some variety of "not very intelligent" people. But as my post that you quoted said, it was more aimed at life in general and the self-righteous type that have this notion that if a person enjoys taking drugs, they must therefore be a worthless member of society.

But the stuff in wrestling alone is annoying enough. I guess my point is the "sheep"/pile-on nature in general with wrestling fans. Jeff Hardy likes to take recreational drugs. This is no secret. I believe he has essentially walked away from a very high paying and prominent job with WWE twice so that he could essentially partake in taking lots of drugs whilst also giving his broken ass body a chance to recover somewhat and wind down from road "burn out". Outside of his pain pill problem back in 2002/3 (a problem which is ridiculously common amongst wrestlers and even then, it didn't translate to TV) he has only fucked up once at that TNA PPV. If the guy chooses to get high off his tits away from the wrestling business, it has fuck all to do with anybody else. The only thing wrestling fans should have anything to say about is whether or not he's doing his job properly. And outside of that one incident last year, he's never failed to do that.


this x1000. It makes me laugh when people write off and severely question certain decisions made by big wrestling companies in regards to the well-being and use of their talent when their view is coming mostly through a computer monitor as opposed to actually being around/employing/knowing/having far more insight into a person/persons. Even things like guys getting pushed. See: Lance Storm. You see a lot of people saying "Lance Storm should have been pushed all the way" when all 3 major wrestling organizations of the 90's/early 2000's with a hell of a lot more of an idea/experience/a clue than these people all thought differently.

absolutely no idea, have never heard of it. Wouldn't be surprised tho, these guys are/were practically drug pros, wouldn't shock me at all that they could essentially hide it well enough.

The most objectionable thing that Jeff Hardy has ever done is record that "Modest" song.

He should never get title opportunities based on that fact alone.

I think that some of you guys need to give Jeff Hardy....One. More. SHOT!

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Makes blenderizing your balls a viable option.

UGH...Just hit play on that vid and instantly wished I hadn't. Why the fuck does it sound like a nuclear plant's meltdown klaxons going off (at least the screechy bits do)?

I don't care about recreational use. There is a difference between use and abuse. When you get arrested for a shitload of drugs, leave a major company, and show up to a PPV to work a main event fucked up so bad they have to cut the match to a minute - that is abuse. Shawn Michaels got cleaned up and proved it for years. Hardy has yet to show that he can stay clean. If anything, whenever he gets (no pun intended) really high is when he ends up falling hard on his face. I hope Jeff Hardy stays clean and I don't think he will make the same mistake, but I don't think it is wise for TNA to give Jeff Hardy so much already. The redemption storyline is great and all, but it will look pretty fucking stupid if he falls again. A year isn't enough to prove he is trustworthy in this spot after his history.

Based very loosely on our current discussion here, how did you guys feel about the way TNA handled his last slip up on screen? Basically every member of the roster that mattered got a chance to crack on him and call him a fuck up. Do you guys think that was a good move?

No, but when we talk TNA, most things don't make sense anyway.

So he'll keep on main eventing and probably become Champion somewhere down the line.

I thought it was OK. They had to address it somehow. His main event was just too bizarre to not address, and they handled it about as realistically as possible.

This almost feels like the culmination of all of that business to me.

They could make a big story about how he's overcome great odds and is now on the brink of greatness once again.

They could build the whole thing around that and make it a "feel good story".

They're just not doing it.

Stupid. Just write him off. Name 1 time where bringing someone's "personal demons" on-screeen ended well?

He absolutely deserves another shot if he can keep clean, but I don't see how a little over a year is enough to prove that when he has fallen back into old ways so many times. Jeff Hardy should be treated like Scott Hall in WCW. You let him have fun in the upper midcard, but you never put him in a situation where he can burn you again.

Maybe they had him win it because nobody expected him to, based on all the drug stuff. Bookers love to swerve.

I think Jeff Hardy doing drugs is a work.

At least it's not James Storm again.

Did Bully Ray and D-Von resign with TNA?