WWE: 10 Real Life Wrestling Rivalries

7. CM Punk vs Jeff Hardy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQEvniQQyjQ Now here is a wrestling program that ultimately ended up with real life heat. These two (Punk and Jeff Hardy, not Punk and Lita) feuded in the summer of 2009, had some five star matches, and cut some intense promos on each other. The story was a simple clash between two very different lifestyles. This was the feud that allowed CM Punk to use his real life straight edge lifestyle to good effect. As the know-it-all heel (that most straight edge people are), he talked down to the crowds and to their hero, Jeff Hardy. Hardy's real life substance abuse problems have been well documented, and were perhaps at their most corrosive, when he showed up to wrestle Sting in a big TNA main event under the influence. The match lasted under a minute, and Sting looked openly embarrassed. Tazz tried to talk up the whole mess, but it was hard not to cringe. The comments they made to each other in the ring, ended up spilling over into real life. There is a famous YouTube video of Hardy talking about Punk shunning him backstage at a show. He goes on to criticise and question Punk's drug free lifestyle. Jeff looks to be high as a kite, and it's sad to see. I think we know which of the two has had the last laugh.