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TNA – Enigma: The Best of Jeff Hardy DVD Review

March 22, 2006 | Posted by Jacob Ziegler
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TNA – Enigma: The Best of Jeff Hardy DVD Review  

TNA – ENIGMA: THE BEST OF JEFF HARDY

Review by Jacob Ziegler

Introduction

First off, just so everyone knows, I am selling some of my masters I no longer need, so if anyone is interested in some stuff, shoot me an e-mail.

I really don’t like Jeff Hardy, but in my quest to review every TNA DVD, this one has eventually, inevitably come up, and I guess I’ll just have to bite the bullet and sit through nearly four hours of Jeff Hardy. Oy vey.

A very short video package starts us off, as we head right into the first match, which is fittingly Hardy’s debut with the company.

MATCH #1: TNA X-Division Title Match – Jeff Hardy vs. AJ Styles, TNA Weekly Pay-Per-View, 6.23.04

Kid Kash was originally scheduled to challenge Styles for the title, but a broken fibula made that impossible, so TNA promised a mystery man to challenge Styles. Tenay and West put over what a coup it is for TNA to sign Hardy, but when WWE discarded him about a year and a half before this, and he was booed out of Ring of Honor, I just don’t buy it. Hardy is very clearly a step or two behind Styles. They do some non-descript stuff until Kid Kash and Dallas run out for the disqualification at 7:00. That match didn’t do much and it didn’t look like it was revving up to do much more in the future. Hardy and Styles clean house with a steel chair and Hardy hits Dallas with the Swanton.
Rating: **

Jeff Hardy Contract Signing – TNA Weekly Pay-Per-View, 7.21.04

Mike Tenay is in the ring, wondering if Jeff Hardy will sign with TNA. He introduces Dusty Rhodes, who is brokering this deal himself. Dusty milks the crowd for cheers. He introduces Jeff Hardy, who insists on carrying a hanky in his back pocket. For what reason, I do not know. For another reason entirely, there are roses and a bottle of champagne on either side of the contract. I wonder what Dusty promised him exactly. Dusty reveals that Hardy has a guaranteed title shot by signing the contract. This brings out Monty Brown, who I would love to see destroy Hardy. Monty says that he’s next in line, not Hardy. This brings out Jeff Jarrett, the current NWA World Champion. He looks ridiculous in that suit. He says that Dusty doesn’t have the authority to hand out title shots. He slaps Hardy. Hardy fights back as Monty just watches on. Hardy hits the Swanton, but gets rewarded with a Pounce. Jarrett waffles Hardy with the guitar. No one was really selling for anyone there.

MATCH #2: Jeff Hardy, AJ Styles & Ron Killings vs. Monty Brown, Kid Kash & Dallas, TNA Weekly Pay-Per-View, 8.25.04

Dallas is of course the original name of Lance Hoyt. The faces start off dominating Kid Kash, and then Dallas gets a taste, as well as Monty. The babyfaces do three simultaneous dives to the outside for a cool visual. They dominate Kash for a little while longer, until Monty brown eventually gets tagged in and he takes over on Killings. AJ makes the hot tag, which goes until Dallas levels him with a big boot. Hardy finally tags in and is on fire, but then it breaks down into a big brawl between all six guys. The babyfaces isolate Dallas, and Hardy winds up hitting the Swanton for the three count at 14:00. That was a fun six-man tag, but it wasn’t great or anything. Jarrett comes out and takes liberties with Hardy, the man he’ll be facing two weeks from now. Monty hits Hardy with the Pounce, and stomps Hardy as Jarrett locks on the figure-four.
Rating: **½

MATCH #3: NWA World Heavyweight Title Match – Jeff Hardy vs. Jeff Jarrett, TNA Weekly Pay-Per-View, 9.8.04

This is subtitled “The Date with Fate,” and is hyped by Mike and Don as the biggest match in TNA history. The fight begins before Jeremy Borash can make the ring announcement. Security tries to separate them long enough to get the announcements done, but both men keep attacking each other. Jeff Hardy just can’t keep his hands off men. Jarrett is already busted open before the bell even rings. Monty Brown is looking on from the top of the entrance ramp. The crowd dies pretty quickly after the big brawl at the beginning. Tenay mentions how Hardy once pinned Triple H to win the WWE Intercontinental Title. That was when Hardy was still fun to watch. Abyss is also watching from the ring apron. He wouldn’t get his World Title shot until June of 2005. They brawl up the balcony in the Asylum. Jarrett DRILLS referee Rudy Charles with a chair, knocking him out cold. Hardy hits the Swanton, and Charles is amazingly back in the ring. That’s some pretty serious no-selling on the part of the referee. Jarrett puts on the figure-four right in the middle of the ring. Raven is also here, and Raven also wouldn’t get his title match until June of 2005. Dusty Rhodes is at ringside now to cheer on his boy. Jarrett tries to run away and Dusty tosses him back into the ring. Hardy puts on the Spine Line, which is like a Boston Crab except you hold both legs under one arm. Jarrett slides out of the ring to take a shot at Dusty, who absolutely had it coming. Dusty interferes and nails Jarrett, which brings out Vince Russo and a baseball bat. Russo tries to herd that fat cow back to the dressing room and the bat is in the ring, but no one gets to use it before Russo removes it. Hardy goes up for the Swanton but Jarrett moves out of the way. Jarrett grabs the guitar and waffles Hardy with it from behind and that’s enough to get the victory and retain the title at 11:15. Most of the match was pretty solid, but the finish was wau lame, and as much as I hate Hardy I would have given him the title here to try and create some interest leading up to Victory Road. Yeah, I can’t believe I said that either.
Rating: **¾

MATCH #4: #1 Contender’s Match – Jeff Hardy vs. Monty Brown, TNA Impact!, 10.15.04

The winner of this match will get a title shot at Victory Road, TNA’s first three-hour Sunday pay-per-view event. Hardy beat Abyss and Monty beat Raven last week on Impact to qualify for this match. Monty uses his power earl yon to maintain control. Abyss and Raven are once again watching the match. They take a commercial break, and when they’re back Hardy has just taken control for the first time. Monty regains the advantage and locks on the sleeper. Hardy counters with a jawbreaker. Hardy hits the Twist of Fate but Monty kicks out at two. The referee goes down and Hardy hits the Swanton on Monty, but there’s no one to count. Abyss comes in and gives Hardy the Black Hole Slam, and Monty responds by giving Abyss the Pounce. Then Raven comes in and nails Monty with a chair and the Raven Effect DDT. This allows Hardy to hit the Twist of Fate and score the pin at 9:16. That was a pretty fine TV match, and it set up Hardy as a solid contender and also set up the first Monster’s Ball match at Victory Road.
Rating: **¼

MATCH #5: Jeff Hardy, AJ Styles & Ron Killings vs. Bobby Roode, Eric Young & Ruffy Silverstein, TNA Impact!, 10.22.04

This is Ruffy Silverstein’s only appearance in TNA as far as I know, at it made it to DVD. Good for him. The babyfaces control the beginning, but when they go to commercial break Team Canada was able to turn it around; must be because of Ruffy Silverstein. Hardy gets the hot tag and cleans house on all three Canadians. AJ and Truth take out Young and Roode (the Tag Team Champions, by the way), leaving Hardy and Silverstein alone in the ring. One Twist of Fate later and the good guys win at 6:55. That was more or less a jobber match, involving the Tag Team Champions, which I’m never a fan of. The rest of Team Canada comes out to attack the babyface side, so BG James and Konnan come out to even the odds. Scott D’Amore is left in the ring with Hardy, so Hardy gives him a flatliner followed by a Swanton off the ladder. Jarrett sneaks into the ring and nails Hardy with his guitar. Jarrett announces that the Victory Road match will indeed be a ladder match.
Rating: *¾

MATCH #6: Ladder Match for the NWA World Heavyweight Title – Jeff Hardy vs. Jeff Jarrett, TNA Victory Road, 11.7.04

The video package is included here. I like how TNA does the Tale of the Tape and X-Factors before their title matches. It makes them look more important. This match needs that, since it would be a main event on HEAT if both men were still in WWE. The ladder gets involved right away, due to Hardy. Now there are two ladders in the ring. Hardy does a neat spot by crushing Jarrett’s ribs while standing on the ladder. Neither Hall nor Nash has made an appearance yet. Hardy manages to blow an STO, and then misses the leapfrog legdrop off the ladder. You know, I’m sure Hardy’s green paint is an “expression” of something, but seriously, what the hell does that express? Referee Rudy Charles takes a bump, so he’s out for a while. Jarrett climbs the ladder, but Hardy knocks him off. Scott Hall comes out, and h e is looking rough. He gives Hardy The Edge. Security comes out and tells Hall to leave. He responds by not leaving. Hardy does the catapult spot, and goes to climb the ladder. Jarrett climbs too, but Hardy knocks him off. Hall interferes again, and Rudy Charles is powerless to stop him. Jarrett climbs again but gets pushed off and crotched. Hardy climbs, but Jarrett pushes him outside the ring, where he lands on Hall. He no-sells that big bump to attack Jarrett and Hall. Hardy finally hits the Twist of Fate on Hall, who has no idea how to take it. Swanton follows. Jarrett and Hardy go up to climb the ladder, and Kevin Nash’s music hits, and he’s got two guitars. Everyone assumes he’s on Hardy’s side for some stupid reason. Of course, they use their guitars to beat up Hardy and give Jarrett the win at 18:37. Tenay and West are SHOCKED. That match was not that good to begin with, and the overbooking, while good in theory, stops being good when it’s two washed-up has been guys like Hall and Nash.
Rating: **

MATCH #7: Jeff Hardy & AJ Styles vs. The Naturals, TNA Impact!, 11.12.04

Styles and Hardy are both coming off losses in title matches at Victory Road, so they’re in a foul mood. The Naturals don’t appear to be in the league of their opponents, even if they are former NWA World Tag Team Champions. AJ pretty much dominates both Chase Stevens and Andy Douglas. Styles and Hardy execute some very dangerous looking double-team maneuvers and they get the win when AJ hits the Styles Clash on Stevens for the win at 5:13. That was pretty lackluster.
Rating: *¼

DISC TWO

MATCH #8: Jeff Hardy, AJ Styles & Randy Savage vs. Kevin Nash, Scott Hall & Jeff Jarrett, TNA Turning Point, 12.5.04

AJ and Jarrett start it off by stalling. Nash and Hall are still wearing their Elvis suits. At least Jarrett is in his real tights. Hall comes in and Styles actually gets some offense in. AJ calls for the big man, the silver fox, Big Daddy Cool, Big Sexy, Kevin Nash. Hardy finally does some stuff, and the outnumbered babyfaces are doing well for themselves. This crowd doesn’t seem to care though. I’m not sure if Jeff Hardy has been tagged into the match legally yet, so it’s interesting to see AJ doing literally almost all the work. The heels take over on him due to the numbers game and Nash uses his size to his advantage. Jarrett goes for the figure-four but AJ gets a few rollups for two. Hardy finally gets the hot tag and the crowd is slightly more excited. Hardy hits his modified Twist of Fate on Jarrett, but Nash takes the referee out. AJ then hits Nash with a big baseball slide. Hall nails Hardy with a guitar on the top rope, but Hardy is able to fall in a Swanton like motion onto Jarrett, and AJ hits a plancha on Hall outside the ring. Randy Savage walks out to another slight reaction, and he makes the big hot tag. Wow, he just looks so old and bad. He’s got his whole body covered up, which is not a good sign. Jarrett gets a sleeper on Savage, but he reverses it. Hardy puts one on Hall, and AJ puts one on Nash. Jarrett goes for a sunset flip, but Savage punches Jarrett and pins him with the weakest looking rollup ever at 17:52. Man that was just pathetic. AJ does all the work, and Savage works for less than a minute and gets to pin the champion and presumably get a title match?
Rating: *

MATCH #9: Jeff Hardy vs. Bobby Roode, TNA Impact!, 12.17.04

Roode is one half of the NWA Tag Team Champions at this point. Hardy almost slips on his way to the ring, which makes me happy. Scott D’Amore interferes right away as Roode goes to work on the neck of Hardy. Roode is looking good here and I maintain my assertion that he will be one of TNA’s big stars one day. These two would eventually wrestle one-on-one on pay-per-view, at Unbreakable in September 2005. Hardy hits the Swanton to get the win at 5:06. That was a fun little match and actually made me want to see more.
Rating: **¼

MATCH #10: “The Charismatic Enigma” Jeff Hardy vs. Scott Hall (Special Referee: Rowdy Roddy Piper)

Hall is wearing his Elvis gear once again. Let’s play a fun game of trying to guess which of the three guys in this match is the most fucked up. Piper goes to great lengths to search Scott Hall, and finds a joint in his boot, and another one in his elbow pad. Hall has a HUGE joint around his neck. I’d say Hall is the most messed up right now, especially if Botox counts as a drug. The bell rings and Hall frisks Piper for some reason. It doesn’t take long for these guys to screw up and look sloppy. Piper’s count for Hall is extremely slow, and extremely fast for Hardy. Was Piper feuding with the Kings of Wrestling at this point? Hall can count to eight, so maybe Hardy is the most screwed up now, I can’t tell. Hall throws Hardy into Piper and takes some brass knuckles out of the turnbuckle. Piper tires to stop him, so Hall goes to punch him but Piper pokes him in the eyes, and Hardy finishes with the Twist of Fate (which Tenay has annoyingly abbreviated to just say “The Twist”) and Swanton Bomb to end this abomination of a match at 5:42. Hardy says he’s coming for Jarrett. Piper grants Hardy a shot at the title, even though he has no such authority. He says Hardy will be the next champion, so I think the winner for most fucked up is Piper. Then, in a big shocker, Abyss comes out and dismantles Hardy. I actually mean that was a shock, because at this time the popular belief was that Abyss was on his way to the WWE. Luckily the TNA people had his music handy.
Rating: ½*

MATCH #11: Falls Count Anywhere Match – Jeff Hardy vs. Abyss, TNA Destination X, 3.13.05

This match has been dubbed the “Final Assault.” The video package makes Hardy look motivated. It also makes him look like a complete tool, so perhaps he’s both. Hardy is SOUNDLY booed by the Impact Zone. Good for them. Abyss takes out a camera man as they fight backstage almost right away. Hardy takes that bump that they showed a bunch of times on TV over and over. They make their way back to the ring and do some more brawling with the chair. Abyss brings out the ladder and Hardy delivers his signature legdrop. Abyss comes back and hits the shock treatment. Hardy eventually gets the Twist of Fate onto a ladder for the three count at 15:48. That was a fun enough brawl, and I always like seeing Hardy get thrown around. Abyss is unhappy, so he goes under the ring for some thumbtacks. He delivers the Black Hole Slam to a shirtless Hardy.
Rating: ***

MATCH #12: Jeff Hardy & AJ Styles vs. Raven & Abyss, TNA Impact!, 4.22.05

This is to promote the Styles versus Abyss and Raven versus Hardy matches that were coming up on the Lockdown Pay-Per-View. West at one point calls Lockdown potentially “the greatest show in the history of the world.” Typical tag team formula stuff here, with AJ playing Ricky Morton. Not that there’s anything wrong with any of that. Raven knocks Hardy out, making it difficult for AJ to make the hot tag to him. But eventually he does and Hardy cleans house. It all breaks down and all four men are brawling and hitting their big moves. The way Tenay calls the Twist of Fate just “The Twist” is sooooooo gay. Abyss and Raven bring a steel chain into the mix, and AJ takes the bullet for Hardy, so to speak, and that ends the match via disqualification at 11:30. Tenay seems to think it was a double-DQ, but I really don’t see how that’s possible, since Abyss hit AJ with a foreign object right in front of the referee. But still, that was a damn good TV main event and set up both matches for the Pay-Per-View really well. Abyss whips AJ with the chain and Raven tosses Hardy outside the ring through a table. Abyss wraps the chain around AJ’s neck.
Rating: ***¼

MATCH #13: Tables Match – Jeff Hardy vs. Raven, TNA Lockdown, 4.24.05

We get a short video package to start off. Hardy attacks Raven with a chair right away. Raven comes back, then Hardy comes back, and it’s mostly back and forth for the first few minutes. Raven is the first one to bleed. Hardy sets Raven up on a table and he goes for the Swanton but Raven moves out of the way and Hardy goes crashing through the table. This girl in the crowd looks like she’s about to cry, which I think is hilarious. They show a close up of one really hot girl in the crowd looking concerned. Raven sets up a double stack with four tables, and they climb towards the top of the cage, Hardy knocks Raven onto the tables and hits a legdrop off the top of the cage to win the match at 14:01. That was fine for a tables match, but it’s still Hardy.
Rating: **½

BONUS

The only bonus feature is a short feature, The Making of “Modest,” The Jeff Hardy Music Video. I heard this song about a million times while watching the DVD, so I really wasn’t up for hearing it again. Bill Banks commentates over this segment, talking about the process of making the video for Jeff. Then they show the video in full.

The 411: I’m not much of a Jeff Hardy fan, and this DVD didn’t convert me. It was a little better than I expected, but that’s mostly due to the contributions of AJ Styles, Abyss, and Raven. The highest rated match was ***¼, and I don’t think they left any Jeff Hardy classics on the cutting room floor. I can understand why they made this DVD, they just didn’t make it for me.
 
Final Score:  5.5   [ Not So Good ]  legend

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Jacob Ziegler

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