By Baltimore Sun Reporter Kevin Eck October 3, 2008
http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/wrestling/blog/2008/10/qa_with_jeff_hardy.html
Q&A with Jeff Hardy
I sat down for an interview yesterday afternoon with WWE star Jeff Hardy at the Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda, where he was making a personal appearance to promote Smackdownâs move to MyNetworkTV (WUTB-24 in Baltimore) beginning tonight. Hardy is scheduled to wrestle Triple H for the WWE title this Sunday at the No Mercy pay-per-view.
To say you had a difficult week last March would be a huge understatement. Now that six months or so have passed, can you talk about what it was like to go through the suspension and your house burning down in the same week?
Well, first of all, I have titled that the saddest day of my adult life â” by far. The night I lost the Intercontinental title I had been suspended, which is to everybodyâs knowledge now because I have been very open about that, and then that Friday night I lost everything, and the saddest thing is I lost my dog Jack. You hear about fires all the time, but then you experience it, man, itâs just like, âWow, this really happens to people.â Itâs a night Iâll never forget, naturally. A week or so later I found Jackâs body in the ruins. I got a little closure to that and cried a lot, was sad a lot and had bad dreams. When I came back we actually made that somewhat of a story line, but I was confident enough in myself and with Beth and everything that we got past that. You know, you canât just die with everything you lost. You have to live for what you lost. So thatâs what Iâm doing now and everythingâs much better. Our new house is under construction. Itâs looking great, and hopefully by spring weâll be in there. Thank God I had Matt, because if I didnât Iâd be renting an apartment somewhere. Mattâs been very cool to have open arms and invite us into his home.
How much did the support of your fans help you get through it all?
Actually itâd blow your mind, man, to see whatâs still in Mattâs basement to this day. Naturally, people wanted to send clothing, memorabilia, stuff like that. Once Matt put that address out on his myspace, it was just a flood â” every day we had to go to the post office. Beth was the one to go through all that. It was just amazing how much response we got â” how many actions figures, how many clothes. It might not have been my certain style, but just the care that was there and the meaning behind it. Itâs amazing the support I had from the fans. Even today, man, seeing such a foundation right in front of me of all these humans that are behind me, itâs just very motivational.
How difficult was it for you not to be at WrestleMania, because you were supposed to be an integral part of it. Did you even watch it?
Itâs so strange, you know, because I was going to be a huge part of that in the Money in the Bank match, and Matt was hurt at the time and he was able to return at Mania, so, naturally, I watched it. I would have watched it anyway because Iâm a huge ladder match fan and just to see how good the match would be. In a sense I was kind of sickened by the whole thing. But I did something wrong according to the Wellness Policy and I had to pay the price. So here I am on my last strike right now, and one more and Iâm out, so Iâm just trying to keep it all good. As far as WrestleMania goes, as angry or sad as I was that I missed it, I also was supposed to take part in an art show down there. I think Jerry Lawler was in it as well. I missed out on that just over what to me was a small mistake, but to them itâs huge.
Can you talk about the recent incident at the Nashville airport, when you were denied boarding a flight?
Oh, of course. That was extremely blown out of proportion. So many wrestlers drink at times, and I had been drinking a lot that night. Iâm not going to lie â” Iâve been on planes a lot drunker than that. There was nothing rude done; I wasnât violent or anything like that. I guess I was stumbling boarding the plane or something, and somebody must have just said that I was drunk, because I was asleep on the plane. This is Southwest, you know, open seating and everything. The first thing I remember is just waking up and security â” it wasnât police, it was security â” saying, âMr. Hardy, you have to get off the plane. We feel youâve had too much to drink.â Matt got up and was like, âWhatâs the problem?â They were like, âHeâs had too much to drink.â I go, âI was asleep. Iâll wake up in Raleigh. Iâve been like this before.â But I just cooperated and left the plane.
Do you think the company lost any confidence in you over the incident?
No. Right away, once I got home I called who I needed to call and just told them what happened. It does make me sick when â” especially with me â” anything negative, the Internet wants to highlight right away. One [site] actually said that Beth was with me and she was the one that was too drunk and she was handcuffed. I was never handcuffed. There were these crazy things like, âHe got caught with contraband.â It was nothing like that.
Your brother Matt is enjoying the best run of his career. Is there a friendly rivalry or competition between the two of you?
I think with him more than me. Whether I ever become WWE champion in my career, Iâm proud of what Iâve done. If this weekend was my last match, I would be extremely proud after looking back and seeing everything. Matt is more the competitive type. I think he probably feels a little supreme that he became a heavyweight champion before I did. Itâs in ECW, but Iâm sure he feels a little like heâs ahead of the game when it comes to brotherly competition, but Iâm nowhere near as competitive as he is. Iâm just very proud of him, and maybe I can do the same. Weâll see.
Youâre known for doing incredible high-risk maneuvers. Iâm curious as to how the process works. Do you present an idea for a big move, such as the Swanton off the scaffold with Randy Orton, to creative, or do they come to you and ask if you would feel comfortable doing something?
Most of the time theyâll come to me with the idea â” even that [Swanton] was suggested. Thereâs been things that have been suggested that Iâve turned down â” Iâm like, âI donât feel confident doing that.â Any time itâs a Swanton, Iâm confident. But if I feel I canât do it, I wonât do it. The one to Randy Orton was pretty crazy, man, because that was extremely high. And even the one off the truck to Umaga was creepy, too. Anybody that would go out there and check out the setup themselves would say, âWow, it takes a lot of nerve to do this.â
You said that you have turned down things that have been suggested to you. Have you ever come up with something and Vince McMahon or someone said, âNo, thatâs too dangerousâ?
One thing that stands out is when Brock Lesnar was still with us, I had this idea of somehow Paul Heyman would be laid out near the middle of the ring, but Brock would be underneath the turnbuckle I was jumping off of . And Iâd go to Swanton Paul Heyman, and Brock Lesnar spears me in the air while Iâm upside down. They said no. I was like, âMy momentumâs going that way anyway. I feel confident in it.â But they were like, âNo way.â I needed a couple action figures just to show it to them.
When I interviewed you back in January, you said that you donât practice high-risk stunts, you just do them in one take. How do you know you can pull them off before you do them?
They put a lot of faith in me. Iâm like, âNah, Iâm doing that one time and one time only. If it goes wrong, it goes wrong, but, nevertheless, itâs going to be on TV so itâs got to be good.â But, yeah, they just have faith in me, especially with any kind of Swanton. As many as Iâve done over the years, they have confidence that I can get it done.
Do you feel like Sundayâs match against Triple H at No Mercy is the biggest of your career? And do you feel like you have something to prove?
No, I donât think I have anything to prove to people. But I know in most peopleâs eyes they think I have to get the WWE championship to prove that Iâm No. 1 or whatever. Naturally it would be nice to become WWE champion, especially for all my fans that have always waited for that, but, yeah, I think it probably is the biggest match of my career. When I wrestled Randy Orton, that was probably the biggest match of my career at that point, because that was when I had the other shot at the WWE championship. Here I am again in another scenario for the WWE championship, and weâll see.
Do you have a favorite match or favorite moment from your career?
Iâd say all those TLC matches, but probably the most memorable one for me â” I think it was in Raleigh. It was the first time anybody had ever hung from the rings â” that was my idea. I even tried to do it in the first ladder match that we had, because I had that in my mind, but the rings werenât strong enough to hold a body. But just to pull of something like that that comes from your brain is always spectacular for you because youâre like, âWow, I thought this up and we brought it to reality.â It was me and Devon [Dudley], and it was just an awesome spot. Iâll never forget the feeling. Everybody just went, âWhoa! What is going on? This is crazy.â
Is there anybody that you havenât worked with that you would like to?
Yeah, Rey Mysterio. Iâve tagged with him before. During the draft it was kind of a bummer because when he went to Raw I was like, âYeah, me and Rey are going to get to tear it up.â I had no idea I was going to Smackdown. Then when I got drafted I was like, âOh well, throw that out the door.â
Another question I asked you in January was whether you had any interest in having a feud with Matt. You said that you did and youâd like to wrestle him at WrestleMania XXV. Is there any chance of that happening then or some other time in the future?
Yeah, for sure. Matt and I both are big fans of Bret Hart-Owen Hart feud matches. I remember us being brothers and watching brothers wrestle on pay-per-view and were like, âHow cool would that be?â Matt and I wrestled each other all the time back in the OMEGA days, so how cool would that be for us to be wrestling each other [in WWE]? Iâm sure a lot of people would like to see that, too. I know people always say, âNobody wants to see The Hardy Boyz fight,â but if it was done right, it could be phenomenal.
Any final thoughts before we wrap up?
Just watch MyNetwork TV tomorrow night (laughs).
Yes, thatâs why weâre here, right?
Yeah, itâs like a recorder thatâs broken in my head because Iâve said it so many times.
OK, Iâll set you up with a question. Do you feel like going to another network is a fresh start for Smackdown?
Yeah, itâs kind of exciting. I remember back in the day when Raw switched channels; itâs always exciting to try something new. Even now on Smackdown Iâm more comfortable than I was at first. It has become my place to do my thing. So, yeah, if I switch brands, why not switch channels?
