Over the past few months, the wrestling fandom has had a front row seat to the self destruction of two very talented stars. Matt and Jeff Hardy, together known as the Hardy Boyz, have long been fan favorites due to their high-flying styles and their flamboyant personalities. Together, they garnered six WWE Tag Team Championships, and Jeff was the eighteenth Triple Crown (WWE Championship, World Tag Team Championship, and Intercontinental Championship) winner.
I really don't know where to start. My disbelief at the current situation makes what I want to say hard to grasp. I'm not going to browbeat either man. We in the wrestling fan community don't really know the details. All we can do is look at the arrest reports and shake our heads. We've seen Jeff get arrested on charges of trafficking in controlled prescription pills and possession of anabolic steroids, after a search of his house yielded 262 Vicodin prescription pills, 180 soma prescription pills, 555 milliliters of anabolic steroids, a residual amount of powder cocaine, and drug paraphernalia. In the last week, we've seen him plead guilty to those charges and get a grand total of ten days in jail. We've seen him try to work a main event match on a payperview intoxicated and in no condition to compete. Now he seems to have cleaned himself up, and we all commend him for that.
Matt... where do we start with Matt? His tailspin has been quick, it seems. He was released from the WWE in late 2010, and almost immediately snapped up by rival promotion TNA (where his brother Jeff was working). He was visibly out of shape and tried very hard to succeed but it seemed that the promotion had no place for him. While serving a suspension for posting a youtube video where he shot his girlfriend with a taser, he was charged with a DWI on August 20th. He was immediately dismissed from the company (while his brother was still on the TNA payroll despite the laundry list of charges above). Soon after, a fake suicide note- that has since been taken down- appeared on youtube, posted by Matt. Matt claimed it wasn't what it appeared to be, that it was actually a rebirth video. He also announced his retirement from active competition. Then, just two days ago as of this writing, he was arrested again on another DWI charge.
Matt, if I could speak to you, I would tell you that no one wants to see you fall. No one wants to wake up one morning and have to add you to the list of wrestlers who have left us too soon. You are too talented, too wonderful, and too blessed to allow yourself to be spiraling in this manner. You are loved, by your family and your friends. You are adored by your fans. You are needed to coach a new generation of stars into the future. Don't allow yourself to hit rock bottom and not bounce back. You don't deserve it.
Wrestling gets a bad rap a lot, because of the death toll it seems to take on it's stars. Please, please, don't add yourselves to that list, Matt and Jeff. We all need you.
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