The Wrestling Bard 08.08.09: A Tale of Two Titans

Jeff Hardy is leaving WWE after Summer Slam, unless something happens to change his mind. While I know that there are many people in the IWC that are happy about this, I am not among them. I don’t believe it’s my place to judge Hardy for his drug use: I am a firm believer that people have the right to make their own mistakes. Nobody is perfect, and therefore, nobody should judge. But in an effort not to preach, I will say that I do judge Jeff Hardy in one aspect of his life: his in-ring work. And despite what some people think, I think that Jeff Hardy is one of the best main eventers in WWE. A lot of people want to call him a spot monkey. Yes, most of his offense is comprised of signature spots. You could probably list his entire offensive repertoire in two minutes. But it it’s not what moves you use or how many you use, it’s how you use them to tell stories. And Jeff Hardy is a very good storyteller.

Many people are raving about Hardy’s recent match with John Morrison on SmackDown! Many are calling it the Free TV Match of the Year, and some even say it’s the best match of the year period. I myself gave it ****1/2, and I have a feeling it was even better live. The match was nonstop action at a breakneck pace, but it also told a story. Every move was part of the story, and that doesn’t happen very often, especially these days.

The story is a simple one, one that has been told over and over again in wrestling. It’s the tale of the veteran, the defending champion, against the hot breakout star. We’ve seen this story told by many people, from Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat to Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior, from Bret Hart and Steve Austin to The Rock and Brock Lesnar, from Chris Benoit and Randy Orton to Samoa Joe and Austin Aries. It’s used over and over again because it’s a classic story, one that’s easy to relate to, and one that can elevate new stars to the upper echelon of the business. To illustrate just how often the story is used, Bryan Danielson and Tyler Black had their own ****+ match that aired six days before Hardy vs. Morrison, and it was also the “veteran vs. breakout star” story.

At the beginning of the match, both men are content to chain wrestle. Morrison has the biggest opportunity of his life, and Hardy is coming off a hard-hitting match with CM Punk, so both men are cautious. How cautious is Jeff? Just after a shoulder block, he thinks about doing something else, and then decides to just cover Morrison instead, and when he kicks out, Jeff puts him in a chinlock. Morrison then takes his first big opportunity, hitting Jeff with a surprise capoiera kick to break up the wrestling. But he hasn’t lost his sense of caution: he tries a cover after whipping Jeff into the corner, even though he could have gone for Starship Pain, and when Jeff kicks out, Morrison puts him in a keylock choke. Jeff’s eyes show surprise, and he escapes the hold with a series of elbows, and then tries a schoolboy for a quick pin. Morrison clocks him with a hard clothesline for another nearfall, and then puts him in a chinlock. Jeff takes exception to this, and they start trading strikes. Jeff avoids another clothesline, but keeps it simple with a pair of forearm knockdowns. Jeff hits his inverted atomic drop and goes for his crowd pleasing legdrop to the ribs, but he takes too much time playing to the crowd and Morrison blocks it. He then catapults Jeff to the floor, dealing the first real big move of the match.

Morrison looks to go high-risk with a pescado, but he’s cautious enough to land on the apron when he sees Jeff moving. Then he kicks Jeff in the face and hits an Asai Moonsault, a necessary gamble to assert his dominance. But he’s not reckless: when we return from commercial, he has Jeff grounded with a side headlock. Jeff gets out of that, and Morrison makes his first mistake when he telegraphs a back body drop. He still has enough wits to avoid a Twist of Fate, and he nearly wins after a surprise jackknife roll-up. Morrison shows shades of his salty past by snapping Jeff’s throat across the top rope, and he takes another big gamble going for Starship Pain. Jeff moves out of that but Morrison lands on his feet. He makes the error of charging blindly into an elbow, and Hardy nearly pins him with Whisper in the Wind. Jeff’s face clearly shows frustration at not getting the win, but he keeps his cool by putting Morrison in a chinlock and even a cravat. Morrison starts to fight back, but Jeff grounds him with a scoop slam. He hits a legdrop from the second rope, taking a page out of his more conservative brother’s book, but it only gets two.

Hardy is again frustrated, but he again puts Morrison in a chinlock. Morrison armdrags his way out of it, and then goes into his bag of tricks to hit his combination STO Backbreaker/Russian Legsweep, and then goes DEEP into his bag of tricks with the Standing Shooting Star Press. Despite busting out these old moves, he’s only able to get a two count. Morrison is clearly exasperated, but keeps it low-key by hitting the mounted punches and a vicious neckbreaker, but that doesn’t work either. Shortly thereafter, both men fight over the top turnbuckle, like Godzilla and King Kong. In perhaps the scariest spot of the match, they both fall to the floor. It might not be the result Morrison wanted, but he has symbolically shown his equality with Jeff.

Almost as if to reinforce that point, we come back from commercial to see the two men trading strikes in the center of the ring. But Morrison did not have an exhausting match with CM Punk on PPV, and he is able to get the momentum with a clothesline and a dropsault. But Hardy is resourceful, and he gets his wrap around clothesline. Jeff hits the inverted atomic drop, and this time, he doesn’t pander to the audience and hits his legdrop to the ribs. But a follow up basement dropkick still only gets two for Hardy. Out of desperation, Hardy tries a sunset flip powerbomb on the floor, but it costs him as Morrison holds onto the ropes and drops a knee across his throat. Fortunately, he is able to counter an Irish Whip and sends Morrison into the barricade. Finally resigning to the fact that he has to go all out, Jeff hits Poetry in Motion off of the steel steps, but even that isn’t enough to put the challenger down.

Hardy tries the Twist of Fate, but Morrison shoves him to the corner. Hardy tries the Whisper in the Wind again, but Morrison is too smart for that and ducks out of the way, before drilling him with the running knee. But Jeff manages to survive it, so Morrison tries another high impact move: the springboard enzugiri dubbed the Chuck Kick. But Hardy has THAT scouted and ducks, but Morrison is able to keep his momentum by hitting a leaping heel kick, jacking Jeff in the face. When Hardy kicks out, Morrison finally snaps, mounting Jeff and pummeling him with forearms, something he hasn’t done since embracing the fans. Hardy reverse a corner whip, but Morrison manages to crotch him on the top rope. Morrison hits the Chuck Kick, but the champ STILL kicks out.

Morrison starts throwing different strikes at Jeff in frustration, and then goes for the Moonlight Drive, but Jeff counters it and hits the sit-out gourdbuster. He goes up top and delivers the Swanton Bomb, but Morrison KICKS OUT of it. Morrison shows more fight when he counters Jeff’s corner slingshot dropkick with a pair of boots that send Jeff all the way across the ring. Morrison goes for Starship Pain, but lands on Jeff’s knees, doing even more damage to the midsection hurt by the gourdbuster and Swanton. Jeff finally hits the Twist of Fate, and a second Swanton Bomb is enough to put Morrison away.

*****

The match was an exceptional display of in-ring storytelling. Here you had two daredevils, pacing themselves and wrestling with caution, for very different reasons. For Morrison, he was getting his first shot at the World Championship, and against a man who was very familiar with him to boot. For Hardy, he was coming off of a brutal match with CM Punk at Night of Champions, where he won the World Title. He was tired. Add in the fact that he has a reputation for choking in Title Defenses, Jeff wanted to slow the pace down. Both men only pulled out the big spots when it was advantageous, or out of desperation, late in the match. Because of that, every spot meant something, which prevented this from being a spot fest. In the end, both men come out the better for the match. Jeff had finally had a successful title defense, and Morrison cemented himself as a top level in-ring performer, and a future World Champion.

One of the strangest things I noticed when I watched this match was how much it reminded me of another Jeff Hardy match. NO, that’s not a snide remark on how he does the same twenty moves every match. In actuality, it wasn’t Jeff Hardy who reminded me of Jeff Hardy, but John Morrison. Because it wasn’t too long ago that Jeff Hardy was the “hot breakout star”.

In my opinion, the best worked match in WWE last year was Triple H vs. Jeff Hardy at No Mercy. Having just reviewed the show for 411 (it will be readable at the beginning of September), I am still in utter awe of that match. The match was worked at a breakneck pace, but it wasn’t just a spotfest. Everything they did, from the simplest of headlocks and back elbows to the biggest highspots worked to further the story. In that match, Jeff worked in a lot of spots desperately trying to get the win, but he was also careful not to do so recklessly. Morrison was much the same way in his match with Jeff Hardy last week.

I think it’s rather unique to see someone go from the role of “breakout star challenging veterans for World Titles” to “Veteran World Champion defending against breakout stars”. One of the more interesting things is how, even though the same moves are used, they mean slightly different things. Jeff Hardy hitting a Twist of Fate trying to win a world title is out of a hunger to become champion, but hitting it on Morrison because Morrison kicked out of everything else is a different sort of desperation. By watching the same person wrestle at different points in their career, seeing that person tell different stories with the same moves, it really helps me appreciate just what a wonderful drama professional wrestling is. And I do mean “wrestling”, not just the angles and storylines.

Morrison vs. Hardy was not the best executed match of the year, nor was it the most personal one, nor the best relevant one. But it was a brilliantly crafted story. And frankly, after a certain point, when you’ve seen every move there is to do, the stories are all that’s left. Whether it’s a timeless tale or a fresh narrative, it is the stories that make me love wrestling now. And whatever you’re feelings are on Jeff Hardy, I have a feeling that this unique character with a unique career has provided his own unique takes on many wonderful in-ring stories. So I am sad to see him go.

Hopefully, Morrison will one day evolve into the role that Jeff played in this match, just as Jeff was once in the same role that Morrison is in. How great will it be to see John hit a standing shooting star press out of desperation to put a young breakout star away, and to remember that he once was that young breakout star, hitting that same move in a desperate attempt to win his first world title?

That’s my thoughts for the week. Have a good weekend.