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| Article: |
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| Cruel Twist Of Fate (Pt 1) |
Luke Dormehl |
Has Jeff Hardy suffered an extreme fall from grace?
“I’ll be honest – I’ve experimented with drugs. I’ve taken some pain pills. It really takes the edge off, especially when my back is really hurting, but it doesn’t last. An hour later, the pain is back… I’m so thankful for what I’ve got in life, I’m sure as hell not going to screw it up by doing a bunch of drugs.”
These are the words of Jeff Hardy, speaking in his and Matt’s joint autobiography, The Hardy Boys. The book was published in 2003 – the same year in that Jeff’s brother, Matt, created the V1.0 heel persona for himself, while Jeff had both the most successful year of his career (up until that point) in the ring and his worst year out of it. With the recent news that Jeff has been arrested for drug trafficking, after having 262 Vicodin pills (narcotic pain relievers), 180 Somas (muscle relaxants), anabolic steroids and a residual amount of powder cocaine seized during a raid on his house, the quote seems decidedly eerie.
Of course, as befits someone with the nickname ‘The Extreme Enigma’, Jeff Hardy is a difficult person to figure out. Is he WWE’s best talent in years and someone who’s stepped away from wrestling at the absolute peak of his career, or a self-destructive drug addict on the road to becoming wrestling’s latest casualty? It’s hard to say, since he’s an intensely private person – indeed, only those closest to him maybe know for sure…
It’s safe to say that no-one could have predicted Jeff Hardy’s level of success during his second stint with WWE. True, Jeff had been consistently popular during his first run with the company (at least since hitting it big following the tag team ladder match at 1999’s No Mercy pay-per-view) but his lustre had long since worn off. Other Attitude era stars like D’Lo Brown and Brian ‘Grandmaster Sexay’ Lawler had been rehired, only to be let go soon afterwards for various reasons. Even Matt Hardy, who’s more astute and takes his job far more seriously than Jeff ever did, had been floundering in the mid-card at the time of his younger brother’s return.
Jeff’s case, it seemed, was utterly hopeless. After being released from WWE in 2003 for his increasingly erratic behaviour, drug use, refusal to attend rehab, deteriorating ring performance and no-showing of events, Jeff hit rock bottom with an infamous appearance for Ring of Honor, during which fans booed him and chanted “F**k you Hardy!”, “We want Matt!” and “You got fired!”. Soon after, an de-motivated Hardy showed up in TNA where he entered several uninspiring performances before again being suspended for no-showing key events. And aside from a few leaked tracks from Jeff’s much-maligned musical side project Peroxwhy?gen, that was his entire interim curriculum vitae up until being re-hired by WWE.
For the rest of this feature, check out issue 47 of FSM - available at WH Smith and all good retailers. (For US readers we are now carried at Borders and Barnes & Noble, so check for local availability or click here to subscribe.)
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