10 Wrestlers Who Had No Business Being In The Ring
6. Jeff Hardy
Eric Bischoff, speaking on his podcast two years ago, claimed that Jeff Hardy was an elusive figure backstage throughout his TNA run, which accounted for the infamous, bleak events of Victory Road 2011.
"Jeff's MO at the time was to get to Universal Studios, check-in and go hide until [it] was absolutely necessary [for him to perform]".
Whether Bischoff was culpable or not, and he claims he wasn't, somebody should have been, for f*ck's sake. What disgusting practise. They knew damn well of Jeff's problems, why they were able to sign the most organically babyface in North America in the first place, and by not monitoring his behaviour, for his own good, almost literally turned a blind eye to it. This is how the infamous match with Sting happened: a deliberately ignorant approach to backstage culture converged with and seem to tacitly endorse the troubled life of an addict.
It's not just a WWE or TNA thing: it seems like every North American pro wrestling promoter is obsessed with the idea of presenting Jeff Hardy as if it is 1999 and the intervening years simply didn't happen.
This is not to suggest that AEW was wrong to clear Hardy ahead of Double Or Nothing, at which he clearly struggled and badly, but it surely was a terrible idea to book him back-to-back in a demented ladder-based war against Darby Allin and an intense, big match against the Young Bucks mere weeks apart - particularly since he performed unhinged signature stunts in just his second and third AEW matches in what was a debilitating nostalgia speed run.