10 Harrowing Wrestling Matches That Are Incredibly Difficult To Watch

It was almost immediately apparent that something was terribly wrong with Jeff Hardy on March 13, 2011.

Hardy took an eternity to make his entrance for the Victory Road main event. Production staffers eventually cut to the hard camera in a transparent attempt to conceal that something was off. When Hardy did emerge, he was subdued even by the standards of his heel character. The knots in the stomach tightened when Hardy momentarily forgot he was playing a heel and slapped hands with ringside fans before almost falling off the ring steps. It was as if he was being directed by David Lynch.

Eric Bischoff introduced Jeremy Borash's pre-match introductions to call an audible. It was at least ten minutes too late because Hardy should not have been allowed anywhere near the ring, as became even more obvious when he spent the next few minutes stuck in a time loop, feigning to throw his t-shirt into the crowd. Sting navigated the situation like a total pro; he slammed Hardy almost immediately with the Scorpion Death Drop and held onto his shoulders as the referee struck three.

This took place just four years after the Chris Benoit tragedy, when wrestling was barely into the process of reforming itself. It felt at the time that Sting was wrestling a statistic in there more than a human being.

Happily, Hardy has been in a far better place for years since then. The match, even viewed through this lens, is an ugly reminder of how far your heroes can fall.