The Problem with Jeff Hardy
The contradictions and hypocrisies within wanting Jeff to do well by not seeing him again.
Hardys reunite on Dynamite (Credit-AEW)
Before Cancel Culture became part of the modern American monoculture, I was taught in art school to separate the art from the artist. F. Scott Fitzgerald could craft a sentence better than any writer, but his battles with consumption were pathetic and his family life was even worse. Think of how true that cliche applies to all of our Great American Novelists. Nevertheless, I can still appreciate passages of Gatsby, much like I can hear the undeniable groove of “Billie Jean,” and wanna hit the dance floor while still being very much aware that Michael Jackson had—um, at best—a highly problematic infatuation with little boys.
Now that the aphorism of separating art from the artist is more frowned upon these days, we all have our own hypocrisies and cognitive dissonance when it comes to our own personal favorite celebrities, sports teams, works of art, political leaders, etc. I love Ohio State but college football is a dirty industry that survives mostly off exploiting labor. Your favorite sports team? Owned by a sociopathic capitalist who makes Vince McMahon seem like a Mormon Elder. That favorite song of yours? One big metaphor for a drug too scary for you to take. Your favorite show? Probably at least three of the lead actors are contractually forced out on a soundstage and take their frustrations out on a faceless support staff who are powerless to speak up due to NDAs and the fear of Hollywood blacklisting.
You get my point. We can all do the mental gymnastics for building up some incalculable amount of tolerance that still allows us to enjoy some person or part of culture if it’s our thing. So in 2023, is Jeff Hardy that thing for anyone? Can someone watch Jeff today and be so captivated that they ignore his two decades of substance abuse issues? Is the entertainment value greater than the nagging suspicion that it’s only a matter of when and not if he falls off the wagon again?
The polite, easy thing to say is that you want to root for Jeff in his private life but you don’t necessary need to see him wrestle anymore. That seemed to be the universal sentiment fed to me by the algorithm elves in my social media feeds. But even that’s a contradicting thought. By necessity, to keep him away from wrestling, he has to fail. The reaction to him in-ring needs to be an indifferent silence. It can’t be heel heat, he needs to be outright rejected for a company to see more of the audience is against his return than for it. If he fails in wrestling, what success could he have outside of wrestling that makes him so successful that he stays away from performing entirely? With his rap sheet it’s not like the guy’s qualified to springboard into an EVP role at some financial institution.
It would be one thing too if he was going to come back and wrestle like Minoru Suzuki—goofy facials, exchange chops, and grab a hold. But he’s going to dive off a really fucking high ladder really fucking hard. AEW can be given some modicum of credit that they bucked the industry trend of sending Jeff to rehab for 30 days but didn’t book him on day 31 in a Barbed-Wire Flaming Tables Triple Threat Ladder Match or some other such shit. Even if he has a lighter schedule, his matches are still going to ask so much of himself physically. And what joy do you get in watching an old man get beat up badly? If I wanted to see a Hardy struggle to walk and play the same old hits with no oomph left in the chorus, I’d watch Matt.
I’m privileged in that I never lost a loved one to a drunk driving tragedy. Think of the portion of the wrestling audience that has. Can’t imagine they’re at all tickled by this one last run (again). The last time Jeff came into AEW it was totally justified to have suspicions and extreme caution then based on the circumstances. Then he did what he did. And let’s be clear, this wasn’t the frumpy benefits specialist from your office that didn’t know what was in a Long Island Iced Tea and drove home from Applebees a little cooked. This is a guy with a 20 year track record of frequent problems with alcohol, pills, and driving under the influence that in his last failed 2nd chance, there was every preventive measure to ensure he wouldn’t drive drunk and he still did it a staggering level during a time that he was of considerable risk to others.
By not wanting to see Jeff wrestle again, you’re not being a dick. You’re not “hating.” Nor is this a rejection of a fictitious wrestling character, like being turned off by the spooky misadventures of Bray Wyatt and Uncle Howdy. For Jeff to ever learn and have lasting accountability in life, based on every fact we know and everything we can learn from his track record, it would have to be away from wrestling. Every humane sentiment in you feels lousy for wishing failure upon someone who has and will struggle, but isn’t that the only way for a tragedy to be prevented?
Ask yourself what’s the most likely scenario five years from now?
Jeff Hardy retires, finds a hobby outside of the business that provides a livable income, and to scratch the itch of the wrestling business travels to WrestleCon-ish functions to sign shit for a couple bucks.
Jeff Hardy drives drunk/is busted with pills, gets fired, doesn’t get a lengthy jail sentence, but goes to another wrestling promotion for one last second chance another time again.
Jeff Hardy in TLC II (Credit-WWE)
Follow us on Twitter @ https://twitter.com/WrestleElitists
