7. The Stupidity Of Jeff Hardy
WWE.comSurprisingly, high-flying daredevil and ladder match aficionado Jeff Hardy was only ever in one Money In The Bank ladder match, at Wrestlemania 23. Fan favourite Hardy had been fired by WWE in 2003 due to his erratic behaviour. WWE officials had decided that his ongoing issues with drug abuse were to blame for his deteriorating ability in the ring and frequent lateness and even failure to turn up at shows. Following a lengthy period of cleaning up and some action in TNA, Hardy returned to WWE in August 2006, meaning hed missed the first two MITB matches at Wrestlemania 21 and 22, but was primed and ready for an explosive return to the kind of match hed helped popularize again when Mania rolled around again in April 2007. The match was typically frenetic. At one point Jeff was ascending a tall ladder near the centre of the ring, with no one anywhere near him to prevent his grabbing the briefcase and being the third Mr. Money In The Bank in WWE history. Meanwhile, perennial heel and Hardy ladder match nemesis Edge lay prone on top of a ladder bridging the gap between ring and guard rail. As his brother Matt urged him on, Jeff turned from his goal and performed a jawdroppingly nasty legdrop onto Edge at ringside https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0q1XqW3Ta7E clearing what seemed like the height of a house to crash onto Edge, through the ladder, taking both men out. Obviously Hardy wasnt booked to win the match that was the rising star of the moment, king of the mic Mr. Kennedy. Hardy would go on to miss Wrestlemania XXV through a two month suspenstion due to a Wellness Policy violation, and wrestled his own brother in a grudge match in Wrestlemania XXVI, missing the MITB match then as well. A few months later, Hardy had left WWE once again, this time for good. As you can see from the video, Hardys legdrop is sold by the announce team as a heroically stupid blunder, a rookie error of huge proportions. Hardys own main event status was two years away, and this was precisely what the WWE office thought of him at the time that he was a mid-level, pretty-boy star who would foolishly choose creating a Wrestlemania moment over winning an important match, hence his booking.