Jim Ross made comments about Jeff Hardy in his blog today:
It saddens and greatly disappoints me that Jeff Hardy will be absent from the WWE for the next month or so. Nonetheless, I am happy that Jeff isn’t suffering from a serious injury as has plagued so many wrestlers recently. The WWE could have certainly utilized Jeff’s services during these challenging times and no one can dispute the fact that Jeff’s individual popularity wasn’t building toward an all time high if it wasn’t already there. Everyone is human and as the old saying goes “to err is human†but the timing of these unfortunate circumstances are extremely untimely. The “good news†if one chooses to look for some positive in this situation is that Jeff will be back in time, as I understand it, and he will have an opportunity to still make a big impact in the WWE and then move continuously in a positive direction in his career and finally live his dream of becoming the superstar he was meant to be.
For the full post, which includes (as always) insightful commentary on wrestling (including thoughts on HBK’s return, ratings and more), football and BBQ, click here. (Note: PWInsider.com’s Buck Woodward, who does a great job recapping Ross’ regular blogs, refers to “Jeff Hardy’s suspension” in his headline, so take JR’s words and Woodward’s headline as the latest in the Hardy story for now.)
On a related note, last Sunday (7/29/07), Ross wrote about Jeff Hardy: “Jeff Hardy’s return to the WWE and his subsequent ‘breakthrough’ as a singles star is one of the great stories of the year. Jeff is arguably as popular as anyone on Raw as is proven by the reaction Jeff receives every time he is introduced. I am genuinely happy for the younger of the two Hardy brothers. Matt is doing great on Smackdown as well and who’s to say that both brothers couldn’t be champions at the same time as individual performers?”
You can also read JR’s latest Superstar of the Week (Carlito) at WWE.com.
Victoria has updated her MySpace blog with a post about her trip to Asia. Here is an excerpt:
So I was on the WWE Asia/Australia Tour. We fly from California to Bangkok, perform in Bangkok, then fly to Singapore. As I’m going through customs to get into Singapore, my purse goes through the x-ray machine. The security guy tells me they have to look through my bag. I didn’t see anyone else get stopped, so I figured nothing good was coming out of this. A couple other security people come over. They pull a bullet shell casing out of my purse. Let me explain that. I think I mentioned a few months back that my uncle passed away when I was in Europe. I didn’t get to go to the funeral, and because he had a lengthy career in the U.S. Air Force, they gave him a 21 gun salute at his funeral. My brother collected the spent shell casings from the salute and had them engraved with his name and the date he passed. I appreciated that, and I keep it with me. Well Singapore Airport security wants to know why I have a spent bullet in my purse. They pull me aside, and pretty soon, police officers come up with some kind of investigator. Meanwhile WWE office folk realize that something fishy is going on, so they step aside with me. The investigator questioned me for a while. They really asked me the same questions over and over. The whole deal took about 30 minutes. Everyone was very polite, and I absolutely understand they have a reason to be cautious, but the whole thing was quite surreal. They ended up confiscating the shell casing, which I hope WWE can get back from the Singapore government, and sending me on my way. The country was beautiful. Very tropical. It reminded me of Hawaii.
In an interview with the UK Sun, Hulk Hogan says the following about steroids in wrestling:
“Are steroids a problem in wrestling? Oh God yeah. They have always been a part of the business. It’s prevalent.
“But there’s not some big mystery to it. Just open your eyes and it’s there. You can look at a wrestler and pretty much tell.
“They will be above their weight range, with these big veins. My body weight is around 285lb, depending on how much junk I eat. Even if I was 25 and clean, I could probably only carry 300lb.
“Yet when I was wrestling I weighed anywhere between 320 and 340lb, because my body was full of water weight.
“My face was puffy, my arms were so bulky I couldn’t touch my shoulders. You could take one look at me and know I was on something.
“Steroids have been around for ever in other sports too, but if we have to pick on somebody now then let’s pick on wrestling.
“I’m glad the business is in the spotlight because they’re probably the only ones smart enough, after being able to dodge it for so long, to know how to fix it.”
The rest of the article is also revealing, with Hogan saying that he is in the process of raising money to start a new wrestling promotion that will take the focus off of big, muscle-bound talent and instead push people with a “natural” look and have a lighter schedule. He also talks about painkillers, changes in the locker room today vs. when he was first getting into the business and more.
