In Defense of… 05.24.06: Jeff Hardy (Part 1 of 2)

Posted by JP Prag on 05.24.2006

And so begins our charismatic enigma of a case…

In Defense of…
By JP Prag

Issue #56

Jeff Hardy (Part 1 of 2)

Intro

Hello everyone who needs to get packing, and welcome back to In Defense Of…! When you last you joined us, we were having the case for DDP, which can be read in Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

And with 95.0%(!!!!!!!!) of the vote, DDP has been found:

NOT GUILTY!

Hot diggity landslide, Batman, that's an insane number! Voting was a little lower than I would prefer for a three part case. I wonder if I pissed a bunch of people off with In Defense Of… In Defense Of…? Well, I have a feeling curiosity will bring them back for this or a future case.

Oh, and Julian Williams, how could the Diamond Cutter NOT make the top ten finisher's list? Not even an honorable mention? Not even "barely missed the list"? Geez!

Now, perhaps this is your first time clicking on In Defense Of…? Maybe you didn't read about DDP, Hulk Hogan, the World Heavyweight Championship, Scott Steiner, the Ultimate Warrior, Vince McMahon in the Death of Owen Hart, Larry Zbyszko, Scott Hall, New Jack, the McMahon-Helmsley Era, Mike Awesome Leaving ECW, Sid Vicious, the Undertaker, the Sport of Professional Wrestling, Lex Luger, WCW Thunder, the Brand Extension, Goldberg, Vince not buying out WCW's contracts, Earl Hebner Screwing Bret Hart, Dusty Rhodes: Head Booker, The Finger Poke of Doom, Kevin Nash, the Elimination Chamber, or even Eric Bischoff. It might be that you wonder what painting your body in day-glow would feel like. Well, for those new to the concept, this article has a pretty simple premise:

Certain people, events, organizations, and storylines in wrestling history have gotten a bum wrap. Some writers have presented overtly critical comments and outright lies as fact, and others have followed suit. Well no more! "In Defense of…" has one reason: to bring the truth to the wrestling fan!

And that's what I intend to do.

Me? I'm the One and Only JP, and after seeing the Liberty Bell for the first time, experiencing Jesse Jackson impersonate Abraham Lincoln, and having a great baseball game at Citizen's Bank Park in Philadelphia, I went out to Kildare's in King of Prussia and was able to pick up a phone number after the girl started hitting on me! Sure, maybe she was being wing girl and was trying to get her friend some action, but I got HER phone number and that's what matters most.

Some dame walked into my office and said…

It all started over a year ago when Ron Morris said:

You know what bugs me lately? The bad rap that Jeff Hardy gets. Especially right here on 411 where he is often referred to as "Hardly" or "Enema". I realize that his heart isn't totally in wrestling recently, but damn, the guy started his own fed with his brother when they were teenagers! The guy did [a lot] in a very short amount of time for the tag scene, often risking his body for the entertainment of others (ala Mick Foley). So I'm interested to hear you speak on that topic.

And then there was… wait, where are the rest of them? Well, Jim Moore said:

GOOD LUCK with defending Jeff Hardy. You have your work cut out for you on that one.

Rob Hughes had some interesting feedback:

Now Jeff Hardy I think You may have a more difficult time with.
Love the wrestler!
Can't stand the jackass!

And Manor Admin had a similar thought:

You'll struggle with Jeff Hardy though; when he went singles on Raw and had the same match for months; same moves, same order... He just didn't care about putting on a good match. But you may be able to change my mind.

Of course, the man who challenges the challenges Feroz Nazir said:

Jeff Hardy might be an interesting case, you may have to convince me, depending what the charges are.

No, seriously, I'm confused. I could have sworn I had heard this case from like five or ten other people. It's been on my docket for a year! Maybe I just talked about it a lot with other people. There was talk forever about defending Edge and Lita and firing Matt Hardy, and I was going to do a mixed case three parter, where it would be Edge/Lita, firing Matt Hardy, and then Jeff Hardy. But I nixed that idea once Hardy got a job and decided to wait to see his five-part epic. I REALLY hope we are only at Part 3.

Why this?

Jeff Hardy is a man who has fallen from grace in the eyes of the IWC. He is unrealized potential shaped in human form. Or so many would have us believe.

Here was a man who started his own wrestling promotion, was the independent star that did high flying tricks and made it to the grandest stage of them all. And unlike many indy stars, his timing allowed him to keep most of his style in the ring in the WWF/E.

Yet, because he did not reach World Heavyweight Championship level, because he let other interests take over his life, because he has tastes outside the mainstream, he has somehow become a failure. Everything he did was for nothing, and has all been swept away.

For whatever reason, Jeff is considered the "Marty Jannetty" of the Hardy Boyz (that's a case for another day [Issues #69-70, to be exact]), as if his path has led to some terrible self destruction and his wrestling career were meaningless.

Well I am here to put all that to rest. We'll show just what type of career Jeff Hardy has had, who is really the most successful Hardy Boy, and what it all means in context.

Jeff Hardy is the charismatic enigma, but we are about to peal back some layers.

On a little tobacco farm…

On August 31, 1977, out in Cameron, NC, three year old Matt Hardy was given his future tag team partner in Jeffery Nero Hardy, better known to the world as Jeff Hardy. The two grew up together on their father's farm, but life was not easy. From Tim Baines' article in the Ottawa Sun in April 2003:

Rising up through the ranks was a school of hard knocks for Jeff and his older brother Matt, whose mother died of cancer in 1986. Their father, Gilbert, was a tobacco farmer and part-time mailman, so the boys had to get domesticated in a hurry.

"I was nine and Matt was 12 (when their mother died), so that became a very big influence for us," said Jeff. "It might have been meant to be. When we're in the ring, we know her spirit is with us."

And from the WWE's Cookbook:

North Carolina natives Matt and Jeff Hardy lost their mom when they were boys, so these two highflyers learned to cook and sew as youngsters.

Wrestling became an outlet for the boys, and they felt a real passion for it. In Brandon Truitt's review of the Jeff Hardy shoot interview he noted this exchange:

Other gimmicks he used? They'd sit around the house thinking up gimmicks ever since they were about 10.

Though earlier in the interview Hardy gave this exchange:

How he got into the wrestling business- He and his brother, Matt Hardy Version One, watched Randy Savage win the WWF title at Wrestlemania 4 then decided to start doing backyard wrestling.

WrestleMania IV was in March of 1988, but it was probably the first big event the two saw. But let's not think that the WWE big man style of the 80's was the only influence on the Hardyz. Back to the shoot:

What promotions did they watch? They mainly watched WCW because they lived in the South and, as a result, saw a LOT of Ric Flair. One of the few times the WWF ran their area, they went and saw Andre the Giant, which was worth it because of how impressive it was to see Andre live.

The bottom line is, Jeff and his brother Matt were really into wrestling, and because Matt was older, Jeff got introduced to it at a much younger age. They started working out together, fighting in the backyard (or tobacco field, it would seem) together, and then started to try to make a living out of it.

And so, the two followed their passion and tried to make it a career. From John Milner's Jeff Hardy compilation for Slam! Sports:

Jeff made his debut in 1994, in North Carolina independents. Wrestling as the Willow the Wisp, Hardy wrestled his brother Matt (as Voltage) in Robbins, NC, on March 25, 1995 and won the NFWA Championship, only to lose it back to Matt a month later.

Pause. That means Jeff was just sixteen years old when he started wrestling professionally. Hulk Hogan didn't start until he was in his twenties. And it's not like they were making a ton of money at the beginning, or that it mattered to Jeff. From the shoot:

What was TWF? Originally, it was Trampoline Wrestling Federation. It was later Teen Wrestling Federation, but it was all a bunch of backyard wrestling. They used to do a lot of moves on the trampoline, which he feels is responsible for their high-flying moves today.

Now, I was in a backyard wrestling federation in high school, as well. We used to wrestle in gym class (because we were told to just do SOMETHING). I was the high flying luchadore known as "Contablemente" (Accounting) and my finishing move was "El Queso Malo" (The Bad Chesse), a top rope guillotine leg drop. Though I was known on occasion to use the submission move "Paraguas de Tabla Hawaiana" (Surfboard Umbrella), a reverse sharpshooter/surfboard/crossface type maneuver. Anyway, despite eventually expanding into backyards, at no point did our little federation ever make money nor train any of us to do any actual wrestling. Ok, one kid went on to have three matches in the same indy that started out Triple H in New Hampshire, but that doesn't count. The point is, while we were just goofing off, the Hardy brothers were serious. Back to John Milner's article:

Jeff and Matt started their own wrestling organization called OMEGA, a North Carolina promotion that could also boast future WWE stars such as Shane Helms (aka the Hurricane), Shannon Moore and Joey Matthews (now known as Mercury). As the Willow, Jeff defeated Jason Ahmdt (later Joey Abs) on August 2, 1997 to become the first OMEGA New Frontier Champion.

That article fails to also mention former WWE Women's Champion Lita. Anyway, OMEGA became a breeding ground for a whole generation of performers, and many more who didn't make the big time. But a lot of those guys (and gals) are young, so there is still the possibility of adding more names to that list.

The problem is, people claim that Matt did everything and Jeff was just along for the ride. That is not true at all. From the shoot:

OMEGA- Matt came up with a lot of that stuff and, while it was strange, it really took off. "Matt did most of the work" and kept the promotion afloat through sponsorships while Jeff was still working as a landscaper part-time.

And…

What did he learn when he was booking back then? That he didn't want to book, he just wanted to wrestle. His big part in OMEGA was playing two different characters and keeping them separate, such as selling differently depending on which one he was at the time.

So Jeff did not like booking, he just wanted to perform. What is wrong with that? So instead he pulled his weight in a different way and played two characters at once. Also, it wasn't a way they were making money back then, and Jeff had to work another job. In the ring as two different characters, Jeff taught himself a great deal of psychology and wrestling styles (I was also a different character in another back yard fed where I was "The Incredible Edible Egg" and had won the tag-team championships my myself when my partner turned on me and left me alone in the ring. I digress.). Still, because he wanted to be a performer, Jeff sought out ideas beyond Matt and OMEGA. From John Milner's article:

But Jeff wasn't content to stay within the safety of OMEGA, the Willow would win the NEW Junior title, the NDW Light Heavyweight title and even traveled to Iwate, Japan in June 1998, defeating Ikuto Hidaka for the UWA Middleweight Championship.

However, Jeff and Matt didn't remain apart for too long. The Hardy Boyz defeated C.W. and Pat Anderson for the NWA 2000 Tag Team titles on March 7, 1998 in Hope Mills, N.C. and then, on July 24, 1998 returned to OMEGA to defeat Mike Maverick and Kid Vicious and capture the OMEGA Tag titles.

It was Jeff Hardy who was pushing his limits and trying to learn the industry. He was the one trying to expand his horizons beyond just North Carolina and the local wrestling circuit. His efforts over seas and beyond probably did more to get the Hardy Boyz attention than anything Matt ever booked in OMEGA. And look, at seventeen and eighteen, Jeff Hardy was already traveling around the world for work.

Of course, the two did get noticed elsewhere, and actually had some experience with the WWF. From the shoot:

When did they finally get trained? They were trained by working shows for Stallion and George South, although they got ripped off on booking fees. As an example, they'd drive from North Carolina to New York to work tapings for three Monday Night RAWs and would get paid $150 each, but had to give up $100 each in booking fees. They didn't really care too much at the time, as Jeff was still a junior in high school and it was an experience to be on national TV while still in school.

Matches they had at WWF tapings- Jeff's first match was against Scott Hall while Matt's first match was against Nikita. "He beat the living shit out of me" and was about to cry afterwards. Apparently, Hall was having a bad day and decided to take it out on him. The next night, he faced 1-2-3 Kid (Sean Waltman, X-Pac) and had a good time.

A junior in high school and Jeff Hardy had already worked in the WWF, albeit as a jobber. Still, there are wrestlers who go their whole lives without ever getting to be a jobber for one night in the WWF/E. Larry Csonka comes to mind. But here he was, just sixteen years old and already getting beaten up on a regular basis.

Eventually, all of this jobbing, traveling abroad, and OMEGA work got them the chance they were waiting for. From Milner's piece:

That summer, Matt and Jeff were invited to participate in the WWE's "Funkin' Dojo" and trained under the tutelage of Dory Funk, Jr.

At the age of twenty, things were looking up for Jeff Hardy.

A career begins, like a willow in the wisp

In was the summer of 1998, and the Hardy Boyz had developmental contracts and were sent down to the Funkin' Dojo (no OVW or even HWA or UWF yet). From the shoot:

Did the WWF send him anywhere after they got signed? They were sent to Dory Funk's Funkin' Dojo training camps along with Edge, Kurt Angle, and others. He remembers trying to do a reverse 450 one night and knocking himself out.

Did anyone try to work very stiff with him because he was small? He feels that it was a common thing in his career but, since he could take it, he was able to get some respect.

When were they actually signed to contracts? He thinks it was June of 1999 or 2000. The developmental deal was for only about two years but their contracts when they made the main roster about a year and a half after that were for five years.

The developmental program worked for Jeff, and he and his brother found themselves with five years contracts. Jeff, just twenty-one, was living out his dream in the top promotion in the world (well, just about to become top again. It was still another six months away, but still). After spending some time as jobbers on Shotgun Saturday Night, the duo started to find their way to TV. From the Jeff Nero Hardy fansite:

Their first gimmick, or persona, didn't go over well with the fans. They wore brightly colored attire, and usually could not compete with the larger tag-teams. Soon, they joined Michael Hayes, who became their manager. He not only gave them different attitudes, he changed their look into a darker, edgier style. His alliance with the brothers definately brought about a positive change when they won the WWF tag-team titles, but soon after they became annoyed of Haye's eagerness to control them..and joined Gangrel in the formation of the New Brood.

With Gangrel by their side, Matt and Jeff entered into a feud with Edge and Christian. With their aerial-like moves and ability in the ring, the Hardyz became an instant hit with the fans, always breath-taking to watch. Come mid-1999 ,Terri Runnels offered both teams a chance at $100,000, as well as her management services. In what was def. one of the "match of the year" candidates in '99, the two teams clashed at the No Mercy PPV in a tag ladder match. The Hardyz won the 'bout, taking the money as well as Terri, and leaving Gangrel behind. However, her need for constant attention was too much for the Hardyz to suffice. As a result, she cost the Hardyz a shot at possibly becoming tag team champs after a number one contendership shot at No Way Out. After that incident, the Hardyz went without a manager for a while.

There is an important piece missing in the middle of that. From Milner's compilation:

Jeff would take some time off from the WWE to compete in ECWAS's 3rd Annual Super Eight tournament in February 1999, losing in the first round to Devon Storm and, in May, lost to Super Crazy in the first round of the IWA Junior Heavyweight title tournament.

Jeff returned to WWE and teamed with his brother, Matt. After working their way through the tag team rankings, Hayes led the Hardys to a victory over the Acolytes (Bradshaw and Farooq) on June 29, 1999 to win the WWE Tag Team titles. The Acolytes regained the titles at Fully Loaded and soon after, the Hardys left Hayes behind, aligning themselves with with Gangrel to form the New Brood.

Once again, it was Jeff who was out there trying to expand his horizons. While Matt was content to just be in the WWF and wrestle in tag team action, Jeff was always trying to expand beyond his basic setting. While Matt was happy to be a "sports entertainer", Jeff wanted to be a wrestler, and was more interested in expanding his abilities and reputation than in just making money.

Matt, too, it would seem recognized the money in his brother. From Wikipedia:

Matt recently said that if they were compared to the Rockers, Jeff would be Shawn Michaels and Matt would be Marty Jannetty.

Being Shawn Michaels would be money enough. So Matt kept himself attached to Jeff for the longest time. From the shoot:

Why did Matt ask for the original Hardyz split? He doesn't know, as Matt's the one that kept them together for so long. They never fully broke up until the WWF draft in mid-2002 which put himself, Matt, and Lita on RAW for the time being. The original split failed because they were fighting each other and no one wanted to see that instead of them teaming.

And elsewhere…

Does he think anyone ever tried to hold him back? No, although tag wrestling held him back because he wanted to do more singles work.

Through his own experience, he wanted to get involved in more single's wrestling and push that career ahead. But he stayed behind in tag team wrestling FOR his brother. This helped give Matt more time start to develop an individual persona that would eventually become Mattitude. But at the time, all he had was Jeff's daredevil notoriety.

Despite this, it was Jeff who was first given the ball to try to run with it.

I'm single, baby!

From Milner's article:

In addition to continuing to team with his brother, Matt, Jeff would begin competing in singles competition and wasted little time in adding many titles to his resume. On April 10th, Hardy defeated Triple H to win the Intercontinental Championship. He defeated Jerry Lynn to win the WWE Light Heavyweight Championship on June 5th, 2001. On July 10, 2001, he defeated Mike Awesome to win the Hardcore Championship. Rob Van Dam would defeat Hardy for the Hardcore title during the July Invasion pay-per-view, but Jeff interfered in a RVD/Kurt Angle match on August 13, 2001 to regain the title, only to lose it back to Van Dam at SummerSlam.

But Jeff would return to the tag team ranks with brother Matt and in the course of just over a month would defeat Booker T and Test to win two different tag titles. On October 8th, the Hardys won the WCW Tag Team titles, and then on November 12, they won the WWE Tag titles.

Near the end of 2001, dissention arose in the ranks of the Hardys and, at the Vengeance pay-per-view, Jeff defeated Matt in a bout in which Lita served as the special referee. However, the bitterness between brothers was soon forgotten.

After teaming again with his brother Matt, Jeff began to strike out on his own (again), but made the mistake of angering the Undertaker who vowed revenge and, for the most part, had his way with Jeff. But Jeff earned a great deal of respect by nearly defeating 'Taker in a ladder match for the WWE Championship on the July 1st edition of Raw.

Undaunted, a week later Jeff defeated William Regal and captured the European Championship. On July 22nd, Hardy lost a title unification match to Intercontinental Championship Rob Van Dam. A week later, a brief reign as Hardcore Champion began with a victory over Bradshaw and ended at the hands of Johnny the Bull.

So by the time he was twenty five, Jeff Hardy had won the Tag Team, IC, European, Hardcore, and Light Heavyweight championships. Not too bad of an accomplishment! As you can imagine, this type of toll can take a significant impact on your dreams and ambitions. Even a couple of years earlier before much single's success Jeff was talking about the tolls of the road. From Greg Oliver's article for Slam! Wrestling in November of 2000:

He's only 23, but already the wear and tear on his body has forced Jeff Hardy to re-think his future in pro wrestling.

Hardy knows that fans love his death-defying, high-flying moves but knows there's a change in his wrestling in the near future.

"I just kind of take it day by day because I know that I'm not going to be able to do this until the day I retire," Hardy told SLAM! Wrestling before the WWF show at Toronto's Air Canada Centre on October 28. "I'll eventually slowdown. My body's going to slowdown. It's in the process of slowing down now. I'm 23 and I hurt sometimes when I get up in the morning."

The pain becomes a regular part of life. "You adapt to this, but when you wake up you're going to hurt because we do this every night. It takes a toll on your body. I just hope that I can kind of ride it slow and not slow down as much."

Retirement isn't thirty years away, like most 23 year olds. Instead, Hardy is thinking already of retiring at "somewhat of an early age", while hopefully still being able to get around without a crutch or a wheelchair.

Which of course brings us the end of his WWE career.

Why don't you care anymore?

Towards the end of Jeff's time in the WWE, the complaint was that he was not into his matches, that he was going through the motions. His style had become lethargic and sloppy, and he was not putting on the best matches in the world.

And you know what? That's absolutely true.

When he was twenty three, he could more deal with the pressures. From Greg Oliver's article:

Besides the constant pain that results from his chosen profession, Hardy is not a big fan of the travelling.

"It really gets to you sometimes. You get home, and sometimes you're home for an evening and have to leave the next day. It's pretty consistent though. We leave on Saturdays, and come home on Wednesdays, where we have Thursdays and Fridays off. But right now, being the champions, the appearances are crazy."

Yet, it's all still worth it for Jeff Hardy. He's finally getting a real tag team title run, and the respect of the older, more established teams as well. What's the best thing in his life right now?

"Just the vibe of everybody loving you for what you do and just knowing that so many people around the world can see you, look at you in a superhuman-like aspect," he said with a big grin on his face.

Jeff was in good spirits then, but time has a way of tearing someone down. From the shoot:

Travel schedule- He was leaving on Friday and getting home on Tuesday. He'd either travel with Matt, Justin Credible, or just by himself. He and Credible used to sit around playing the guitar all the time.

His burnout- It was a combination of the travel and the matches, as he would be leaving home as fast as he got back. He asked for time off at one point and Jim Ross gave him some weekends off here and there.

Plus…

Did he start losing his passion from being on the road so much? No, it was from being beaten up so bad. When they first made it in the WWF, they would go all out every night but he almost screwed up his shoulder doing the Whispers in the Wind one night and had to change it up.

Also, his career was stagnant. As a person who wants to grow and change, this was beyond frustrating. Back to the shoot:

Feuding with Steve Austin and Triple H- It was awesome but it sucked that it never went anywhere. He wonders what Austin and Trips were thinking since the crowds loved it. "Come on, Triple H."

Was he ever able to talk to Vince or an agent why it never went anywhere? No, although he thinks Matt wanted to. If he ever goes back, that's one thing he's going to do because it pissed both him and Matt off intensely.

And…

Were dropped programs like him and Matt vs. Steve Austin and Triple H a big part of why he lost his passion? Yes, he feels they played a big part in it.

That didn't mean he did not appreciate his feud with the Undertaker. From the shoot:

Memories of his ladder match with Undertaker- It built his confidence as a singles wrestler because of the comeback he made in that match before losing. For a long time afterwards, the road agents would tell him that he did a good job in a match but that he needed to have a comeback like in the match with Undertaker. He says that it's hard to do that when you're facing someone like Stevie Richards who isn't as legendary as Undertaker but that he still appreciates how highly they thought of that match.

Working with Undertaker- Awesome. He isn't sure how he stayed on top for so long as Jeff attributes his own success to luck more than anything.

Did he think he'd get a push after the Undertaker match? Yes, but he wasn't sure if he even still wanted to be wrestling at that point. He feels that match could have been even better if he'd been able to put his heart into it.

But like he said, Hardy was aware that he was not at his best. But what was taking his attention? From John Powell's article for Slam! Wrestling just after Jeff was fired:

In a recent interview with Orlando radio host and SLAM! Wrestling writer Brian Fritz, Jeff explained where his focus is these days. "Music is a big thing. It's probably my #1 (hobby) now and that's what is drafting me away from wrestling," he told Fritz. "But my passion is still there. I still love it. I still get just as nervous as always before I go out for a match. I can't say that I love it more than I love life like Matt has said because he is 100% dedicated to pro wrestling. I give it my heart and soul but I give other things my heart and soul as well and I still try to follow my heart and go wherever it takes me. I can't give up things I really enjoy. I don't plan to stop wrestling at all. If anything, I'll just take a break within the next few years just to see what happens with the music but I don't plan to quit wrestling at all."

So Hardy had other interests, much like Warrior, Hogan, and many others before him. Wrestling was dream, a passion, and something he was good at, but it was not his entire life. Although he had been wrestling professionally since he was sixteen, Hardy still wanted to see what else he could do. Put it this way, Jeff had been wrestling for nearly a decade and had already completed 95% of his dreams in professional wresting. He wanted to do more! He wanted to follow and try something else! What is wrong with that?

Ten years is a long time to be at any job, especially one as mentally and physically draining as professional wrestling. And here was a man who had never gone to college, never got to the chance to explore himself or his other interests, never got the chance to enjoy most of his childhood because he had been working since he was nine. All he wanted and needed was a chance to explore other interests.

So sure, he writes poetry, paints, and builds aluminum statues. We'll get more into Jeff's "art" next issue, the point is he is just now having the chance to actually find these things and is training himself. There is no guidance, no education, no help; just him trying to live out many dreams.

With so many different ideas pulling him away from wrestling, Hardy knew his time was up. He just was not committed in a way he needed to be. From the shoot:

How would he rate himself as a wrestler? On a scale of ten, he'd give himself a five right now but he feels he has potential to become a ten if he gets his passion back.

And it must be commended that he was able to recognize his own lacking. And instead of just going through the motions, he decided to walk away from the WWE.

Yes, we'll get more into why and how Jeff and the WWE split ways next issue.

With that split, Hardy was given time to follow other dreams.

Back to the small venue

While pursuing his other interests, Hardy stayed involved in pro-wrestling. Shortly after being release, Jeff found his way back to OMEGA. From Obsessed with Wrestling:

May 24, 2003 - OMEGA WRESTLING: Jeff Hardy wrestled his first match since being released by WWE using old gimmick..
~~~Krazy K defeated Willow the Whisp (masked Jeff Hardy) to retain the OMEGA Cruiserweight title.

It was after this that Jeff decided to try Ring of Honor. Why Ring of Honor? From the shoot:

How come he decided to work for Ring of Honor? He had decided after watching that tape that he wanted to go to ROH if he ever got fired.

So Hardy thought he could step up his game and show his wrestling ability again. Unfortunately, the ROH crowd had seen enough of the "five out of ten" Jeff Hardy and would not give him a chance. Back to the shoot:

Did the fans have it in for him from the start? They weren't fair. He feels he deserved more respect for having wrestled some of those TLC matches he's done.

Jeff Hardy's wrestling ability has a rarely been questioned (his style, on the other hand, has—and we'll discuss it next issue), but because he was not at his full passion level before the match, the fans dumped on him before he made it anywhere. This reaction most definitely effected the match (and people's perception of it) and did throw Hardy off his game. Even still, Jeff did not react to it as negatively as people claim. This part of the shoot interview was taped right after the match:

He was interested to see the combination of ECW fans on one side and all the young girls cheering for him on the other. He jokes about how he was chanting "I fucked up" along with them at one point.

Does he think he'd make a great heel in Ring Of Honor? Yes, and he loves how the business has changed to the point that you won't know how people will react to anything anymore.

Did he always want to have a run as a heel? Yes, but Vince McMahon shot it down because he didn't think they could pull it off.

So Hardy had a good, understanding response to the situation and thought he could have turned it into more money as a heel in ROH. This was not to be, as Hardy instead concentrated completely on his music and stayed away from wrestling for a year.

Total Nonstop Jeff

John Milner finishes off Jeff Hardy's current career:

With a contract that included a promised World Title shot, Jeff Hardy didn't waste time earning the attention of Jeff Jarrett, who, along with Monty Brown, attacked Hardy on his first official night in TNA. Besides brawling with Jarrett and Brown, Hardy began teaming with A.J. Styles and Ron Killings before finally getting his title shot against Jarrett in September 2004.

Jarrett retained the title but Hardy rebounded to win a #1 contender tournament and faced off with Jarrett, once again, at Victory Road, only to have his chances at victory spoiled by the interference of Kevin Nash and Scott Hall. Hardy would team with Styles and Randy Savage against Jarrett, Hall and Nash at Turning Point.

After defeating Hall at Final Resolution, Hardy found himself under attack from Abyss. After further attacks from Abyss, Hardy took on (but lost to) Abyss in a #1 contender's match at Against All Odds but got the win at Destination X. The feud with Abyss widened to include Raven and the two men met in a Tables Cage Match at TNA Lockdown.

Hardy was to have met Raven at Hard Justice but could not make the show due to transportation problems. Hardy was suspended from TNA over the incident but returned to attack Jeff Jarrett during the main event at Sacrifice and lost to Bobby Roode at Unbreakable.

Hardy found himself battling Rhino, Sabu and Abyss in a Monster's Ball match at Bound for Glory. Hardy lost that match but still impressed TNA officials enough to be pitted against Monty Brown in a contender's match at Genesis.

Hardy lost to Brown, and his problems were just beginning. He no-showed the Turning Point pay-per-view, claiming to have overslept. Hardy remains on the active NWA-TNA roster, however.

At times, though, it seemed like Hardy was not fully with it for TNA, either. Especially with twice being suspended, Hardy does not seem to care either way. That might be because he does not. From the shoot:

Is there any interest in him going to NWA TNA? He's kind of interested in it as he loved their Genesis show, but he would rather go back to the WWE.

And…

If he was given a prime spot in a top indy and been guaranteed a huge push, would that get his passion back? It's a thought and he's impressed with the production values of NWA TNA but he doesn't think that he has the effort to put into trying to make a company compete with the WWE.

TNA, you were given fair warning right there. Hardy was not the person to try to build a major program around and help grow the company, and he told you so. He was only a part-time personality with interests elsewhere.

Yet despite this, and being suspended for months, Jeff still has three of the top eight (yeah, I don't know why the list ends at eight either) selling items on ShopTNA.com. They are:

#2 – Enigma: The Best of Jeff Hardy DVD
#3 – Jeff Hardy Glowing T-shirt
#4 – Victory Road 2004 PPV DVD (Jeff Hardy challenged Jeff Jarrett for the NWA Heavyweight Title in the main event)

Isn't it amazing that a PPV two years old is TNA's best selling? Oh, and what's this? The only other single PPV on the list is (#6) Final Resolution 2005 which has the Jeff Hardy vs. Scott Hall match with Roddy Pipper as special guest match. Coincidence? Not at all.

So you wonder why TNA will not fire him? Because Hardy sells. He makes TNA a lot of money. And recently, Hardy has been working for TNA, just not on TV. From Obsessed with Wrestling:

March 31, 2006--TNA House Show (UWF): Jeff Hardy & Kip James defeated Jeff Jarrett & Maven Huffman

April 1, 2006--TNA House Show (UWF): Jeff Hardy & Amber O'Neal defeated Matt Bentley & Tracy Brooks

April 14, 2006--TNA House Show (UWF): Maven & Jacqueline Moore defeated Jeff Hardy & Amber O'Neal in a Mixed Tag match

April 15, 2006--TNA House Show (UWF): "Phenomenal" A.J. Styles defeated "Charismatic Enigma" Jeff Hardy

Even now, Hardy is helping TNA sell tickets to their infant house show market, and also losing just as much as he's winning. Jeff proves his worth week in and week out, and here he is doing it again.

Yet despite this amazing career and strong drawing ability at just twenty nine, Hardy faces sharper critics everyday. That, though, is for another week.

RECESS!

Wow, a nice long part 1! Man, that's going to be fun writing that stenography. Do you people even read that, or am I wasting my time?

Anyway, when we return it's Jeff Hardy's wrestling style, in-ring psychology lessons, "art", his suspension in the WWE, his firing from the WWE (the real story), drug abuse, and much much more!

So tune in next week for our swan-dive conclusion of In Defense of… Jeff Hardy (Part 2 of 2)!!

Be sure to check out Hidden Highlights in the meantime! Don't forget to send JT and I your Hidden Highlights for RAW, SmackDown!, Heat, Velocity, iMPACT, or any other show you saw this week (that includes house shows and indy events, you know)!

Until then, the defense rests!




Know a particular person, event, organization, storyline, etc… in wrestling history that needs a defense? E-mail the One and Only JP at [e-mail], and I'll be glad to hear your case.