TNA fans everywhere are still infuriated over what happened last night at Victory Road. According to wrestlezone, the TNA locker room is in an uproar that they ignored the fact that Jeff Hardy was in no condition to perform and still had him compete.
All the blame cannot fall on Jeff Hardy here. It has to fall on this woman to my right, and her executives as well. It was their decision to keep Jeff in the main event and not make it a triple threat or anything. Yes, fans regarded Sting and Jeff Hardy as a dream match-up, but the taste in their mouth is so sour right now that they may a) never watch or support TNA again or b) not care enough the next time that Sting and Hardy are in the ring together.
TNA has long been accused of ignoring the problems of their wrestlers. When Booker T was suspended for sixty days following the Signature Pharmacy scandal that rocked WWE, he left. He felt WWE had thrown him under the bus and tried to make an example out of him, when all they had done was what they could to try and alleviate the pressure that was being put on them. He and his wife Sharmell went to TNA. And for that, a long with the signing of Kurt Angle, who had been granted his WWE release under the guise that he would be off fighting his demons, TNA earned some legitimate criticism that this was the company people would go to escape from drug testing.
In a shoot interview, Dixie claimed that she drug tests herself. Calls it a waste of $350, but she does it. Here's an idea: drug test your guys. Punish them if they fail. They could hurt somebody, for crying out loud. If Jeff Hardy was in no condition to perform last night, an audible should have been called and the main event should have been changed. Do a kayfabe attack backstage. Are the fans going to be upset? Sure, but those who are really in the know about Jeff Hardy and his personal demons are going to understand.
We fans are not monsters. And we fans who truly understand the wrestling business understand how important it is for companies like ROH and TNA to succeed. It makes every product better, it employs more people who want to live out their dreams, and it gives the fans some variety. But to succeed, it has to be good, and TNA has not been that for a long time.
Hogan and Bischoff are not fully to blame here, either. Right now, TNA has apparently sent Jeff Hardy home, and they now how to try and figure out some way to make the fans happy. Hardy has put them in a horrible position where they stand to lose a lot of money. Tapings are set to begin tonight; if they are really serious about curbing the damage they inflicted last night, they will either stick to their guns and let Jeff sit and simmer at home, or they will have him come back to Impact and apologize for the match that he had last night. Because we know it's not Sting's fault; Sting wrestled just fine on Thursday. All the buzz going around, again, is about Jeff, whose issues with demons have not been a secret for years.
It's time for TNA to start drawing a hard line with their employees. What happened last night was a travesty and it was an insult to every fan who bought the pay-per-view, who defends the product against its haters, and who supports the product, buying merchandise and attending house shows. For a while now, people have been comparing this company to WCW, and some are just waiting for it to go under. I'm not one of them, but this entire situation is ridiculous. I see a lot of parallels with the Hardy situation to WCW's treatment of Scott Hall, and it's not pretty. Jeff is only 33 years old, a father, and now a husband. It's time for him to start getting things under control as well, before no wrestling promotion wants to touch him.
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