Welcome back to Caught in the Ropes! Big thanks to Matt Harrak of the Creatively Endeavored column for having me on Inside Pulse Wrestling Talk Radio last week. In my humble opinion, I thought we had a pretty damn good show, and I’m hoping to verbally lock horns with Matt again at some point in the not-too-distant future. Remember, if you want to ask Matt or any of his guests a question, or if you just want to chat about wrestling, give them a call live on Tuesdays from 6:30 PM EST to 7:00. Also, I’ll include the e-mail address where you can send me your thoughts on this week’s episode of Raw. Remember: they can be about anything on Raw, they should be a paragraph or less, and if you get them to me by Midnight PST, I’ll include them in Tuesday’s 10 Thoughts on Raw column.
http://youtu.be/2V6ulxTRSDc
This.
Before the CM Punk saga took over the internet like a raging firestorm, before Sting adopted a Joker gimmick so corny it would have brought a smile to Cesar Romero’s face, before Double J went to AAA and HHH became COO of the WWE, Jeff Hardy’s meltdown at Victory Road was the talk of the IWC. Here he was, again, making a mockery, intentionally or not, of the company he worked for. Vince McMahon, as slavish to the bottom-line as he is, eventually had to give up on Jeff. TNA looked to be doing the same after they were forced to cut their main-event to under a minute because Jeff showed up in no condition to perform on March 13th. TNA, however, has proved us wrong once again.
Hardy is no stranger to corporate punishment. He was let go by the WWE in April of 2003 and again in 2009, the first time for his drug problems, refusal to attend rehab, and no-showing events. His second release was due to his September 11th, 2009 arrest, where he was charged with trafficking in controlled substances, supposedly steroids, vicodin, and a few other illegal substances. The WWE, in the throes of the PG-era, didn’t want to promote a guy with a history of drug use, especially a history where steroids were involved. Remember: the whole Chris Benoit debacle occurred only two years before this arrest. The WWE needed to steer clear of any steroids-related drama or face another media backlash that could deal out even more PR damage to a company already on the ropes.
When I was talking with Matt Harrak on his show a week ago, I mentioned that I didn’t understand why TNA brought Jeff on-board in the first place. His court date wasn’t up, and it’s still pending, and nothing was certain. Is it worth it to bring a guy into your company, popular as he may be, when he might not be available to you in a few months? Dixie Carter and company thought: yes, it was worth it to them. So much so that they made him their top guy within seven months of his first appearance on Impact. Then Victory Road happened, and even the hardcore TNA fans out there had to realize that something was very wrong, and Jeff Hardy, in his current state, was more of a liability than an asset.
The biggest reason was that the 2009 arrest wasn’t Jeff’s first dance with the law, and considering the quantity of drugs in his possession, and the fact that North Carolina is notoriously strict when it comes to meting out drug-related punishment, Jeff was looking at some serious time. News and rumors from Hardy’s camp make it sound like he will indeed try to strike some kind of deal with the prosecutors, but that might not save him from jail time. The particulars of plea agreements are up to the prosecutors and defending attorneys, and often change depending on the severity of the charges facing the accused and the amount of evidence the prosecutors have. In Jeff’s case, the prosecuting attorneys have pushed back his court date while they await the results of a lab report, which will give them a definitive record of exactly what kind of drugs Jeff had at his home. It seems like a pretty solid case, and the prosecutors certainly could require some kind of jail time for Jeff even if he does strike some kind of deal.
Keeping that in mind, TNA’s decision to bring him back…again, is a real gamble. I don’t foresee them pushing him into the main-event quite so fast, unless they’re really desperate for a boost of any kind, but even putting him in the upper-mid-card is a serious risk. What happens if he starts no-showing events, or, even worse, shows up inebriated? Jeff, by all accounts, has not been to rehab. If he takes a flamethrower to TNA once again, they’re going to lose fans, the kind that buy PPVs and tune-in to Impact each week. Another calamitous Jeff Hardy incident will send a clear message to the die-hard TNA-philes out there that their company doesn’t care about the product they’re putting on screens. It will tell the world that, hey, what matters is short-term ratings. It’s the kind of message that can kill a company.
I want to make something clear, though I doubt it would get through to the Jeff Hardy fan-base who defend him like a delicate man-child: I don’t hate Jeff Hardy. I sure as hell don’t like his brother, and I have never been a big fan of his, but I don’t want to see him throw his life away like so many before him. But TNA is not without its own cornucopia of problems right now, and bringing Jeff back at this juncture is not going to be the cure for what ails them. Jeff needs help, and TNA is in the position to make him get that kind of help. Simply plugging him back into the roster with no questions asked is not the way.
Email your Raw thoughts to: shoddyworksucks@gmail.com
