10 Wrestlers Who Lost Gold In Their Hometown
7. Jeff Hardy
Jeff Hardy has three TNA World Heavyweight Championship reigns to his name, but none live long in the memory. His time as champion is remembered more for the garish purple belt (with no fewer than three separate engravings of his own face) he used to carry around more than anything he did in the ring, even though he held the gold for a cumulative 249 days.
Jeff’s second reign was comfortably his least spectacular. He defeated Mr. Anderson to win the belt in a ladder match at Against All Odds 2011, but was made to defend against Sting 11 days later on Impact. In a match that barely lasted six minutes, Hardy took the pinfall loss, and the belt was back around Sting’s waist. No interference, no shenanigans, no misdirection: just a clean pin less than two weeks after becoming champion.
The event took place in Fayetteville, NC: about 30 miles from Hardy’s hometown, Cameron, which has a population of just 285. 10 days later, Jeff would receive a rematch at Victory Road 2011, but showed up too intoxicated to work. A stumbling, bleary-eyed Hardy was defeated by Sting in less than 90 seconds, and it remains not only one of the most embarrassing moments of Jeff’s career, but one of the most shameful in TNA’s colourful history.