Home ▸ Drowgoddess ▸ Just Say No

Inexcusable. Indefensible. Despicable. Potentially life-threatening. Willful recklessness bordering on the unconscionable. It was really bad.TNA’s management proved once and for all this past Sunday that every single one of them should be fired immediately. Bob Carter should get rid of the lot, and then either promote truly responsible people from within (presuming that there are any who aren’t actual wrestlers) or suck it up and get someone associated with other companies to come in and take over. Much has doubtless already been said on this topic over Ye Olde Interwebs, but real life distractions have prevented reading about it until now.

For the benefit of those possessing enough functional brain cells NOT to have watched TNA’s “Victory Road” pay-per-view on Sunday (and judging the numbers thus far, you are Legion), the main event featured the new World Heavyweight Champion, Sting, defending his title against former champ, Jeff Hardy. This World Heavyweight title ppv match lasted about a minute and a half. Sting retained. Fans at the show chanted “This is bullshit!” As Sting exited up the ramp, he vocally agreed with this sentiment. By most accounts, Hardy arrived late to the building, disappeared, and was later found “in no condition to perform.” Again. This time, there was no disputing his condition, no writing it off to jet lag or being tired after seeing his new baby. Apparently, Hardy had to be almost carried to the Gorilla position, stumbled to the ring, and didn’t seem to know where he was. Sting was, justifiably, furious. After meetings in Orlando, Hardy was sent home from the tv tapings. If you read the spoilers (and let’s face it, none of you really care), Hardy has been written out of Immortal as being “unable to hang” with Hulk Hogan’s group.

Really?

REALLY???

If any one of us had shown up to work on the day of a major presentation, one about which we had known for weeks, and were stoned out of our minds, we’d have been fired on the spot and likely arrested. What does TNA do? Send the guy out to the ring to have a match. Forget about the quality of the match and the show, forget about the fans, TNA deliberately placed Sting in a potentially catastrophic work environment. What if Hardy seriously injured Sting, or never got up after a move? How dare TNA endanger a man and the well-being of his entire family by putting him in the ring with a stoned opponent? Something else could have and should have been thrown together, like actually having a winner in the Number One Contender’s match that took place earlier in the show. Even having Eric Young come out with his “real” World Heavyweight Championship title belt and challenging for a match would have been a better idea than this. Sting should be outraged, and I hope he quits and sues them.

This is precisely what many people feared when TNA hired Jeff Hardy. The upside of star power, name recognition, hordes of rabid fans, good looks, a certain type of charisma, and “Holy crap!” moves seems much less impressive when compared to a lengthy track record of reckless, self-destructive, and illegal behavior. Hardy did this same type of thing during his previous TNA run, and got away with it then because he was rumored to have supplied a  particular TNA power player with his “recreation” of choice.  Hardy wasn’t worth it to TNA then, and he certainly isn’t now. He’s a blatant, unrepentant junkie who cares so little about his career and his colleagues that he would deliberately ruin a ppv by turning up trashed for a main event World Heavyweight title match. If TNA, and wrestling in general, means so little to Hardy, TNA should respond in kind. You sent him home? So what? Big deal. Fire Jeff Hardy. Fire him, and never associate with him again. Ever. See how long Matt Hardy and Shannon Moore last after Jeff is gone.

Pro wrestling is the very best and the very worst of athletics combined with the very best and the very worst of theatre. Good athletes and actors understand that the team, the company, the game, and the production are bigger than any one person, and that everyone working together for a greater good benefits everyone. Bad athletes and actors think that there is no team or group, that everything centers around them as individuals, and that if they look good and get their way, then nothing else matters. Hardy is clearly the latter. He may not always have been, but he is now. He’s hardly the only one in TNA. As much worship as he gets, Ric Flair contributed to the current atmosphere by continuing his “Nature Boy” antics, by which he says and does whatever he wants, whenever he wants, and he gets away with it because he’s a legend and he deserves it. Ok. A true legend would step up and be a locker room leader instead of a spoiled prima donna. The TNA locker room has learned that such behavior is accepted and even encouraged, provided that the person engaging in it used to work for WWE or WCW.

Speaking of the TNA locker room, word around the campfire is that they’re split over whether Hardy was truly sent home for unprofessional conduct, or whether Hogan, Russo, and Bischoff are concocting another elaborate “worked shoot” to fool “the boys” and the internet. Some within TNA sincerely believe that this is what’s really going on, as it has happened before in TNA, and the three mentioned previously are known to love that sort of thing. That’s sick. That’s disgusting beyond belief. That’s utterly despicable and appalling in every way. If any evidence surfaces that Hogan, Bischoff, and Russo are putting the careers and families of TNA’s talent at risk for the sake of tricking people, then all pacifism shall be set aside and “Casino” should be re-enacted upon all three of them. Joe Pesci’s role shall be played by the entire TNA locker room.

The usual complaints about TNA have little place here. Fire Jeff Hardy and any hangers-on who enable him. Stop putting the wrestlers who still function and care at risk. Do it before a Spike TV executive, who cares nothing for the brilliance of fooling the locker room and the internet, takes offense and has everything canceled. A boycott of TNA would normally be suggested, but boycotts only work on products known and cared about by the public.

At least my Daffney no longer has to deal with this. Since her photo and bio have been removed from TNA’s website, she must have been released. She won’t be going down with the ship. Neither should anyone else who didn’t cause it.

ADDENDUM:

Since posting this article, it has come to my attention that Daffney’s TNA contract expired, and TNA chose not to renew it. BWF’s Gothic Goddess posted on her Twitter that this decision may or may not have had something to do with the Worker’s Compensation lawsuit that she filed against TNA over injuries sustained in the ring. Specifically, the severe concussion (and resulting fallout) that she got when she took a nasty bump through a board covered in barbed wire during one of the “hardcore” matches that she did. Her lawyers have advised her to say nothing further. Apparently, there have been issues for some time between Daffney and TNA regarding how her medical expenses were paid following her concussion. Essentially, while the Mr. Anderson concussion angle played out on tv (and in real life), TNA didn’t want to pay for medical treatment for another talent who sustained a severe concussion doing something that she never really should have had to do. Stay classy, TNA.

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