Tuesday 11 March 2008

Silly Sausage

Most of the time, whenever you shout "YOU BLOODY IDIOT!" at wrestling on TV, it'll probably be because you're watching TNA.

But today, as I watched last night's Raw, I was shouting it at Jeff Hardy. Who has spat in the face of a great push in such a fashion that it can be described as "RVD-esque". Van Dam, you will remember, was suspended in 2006 when he was WWE Champ after being arrested with Sabu for cannabis possession.

Hardy - knocking on the main event's door for months now - was almost a shoo-in to claim the briefcase in the Money in the Bank match at Wrestlemania at the end of the month. However Hardy's own stupidity is a real pain to fans because he is easily one of the most over wrestlers in the world right now.

The issue with drugs in wrestling since the whole Benoit thing has been how detrimental drugs are to performers' health. The issue I have with Hardy failing this Wellness test is more to do with a responsibility he has with the fans. He's had a great push over the last few months because the fans have cheered for him and responded enthusiastically to anything and everything that he does. He owes this push, to an extent, to the fans who've cheered him on. If it wasn't for them, he wouldn't be making more money now than he ever has in his career. I say that as if he'll be getting paid over the next 60 days.

Then just as the fans are achingly close to the pay-off they deserve (Money in the Bank leading to a title reign), he goes and blows it.

The only benefit of this of course is the fact that the Money in the Bank match is now wide open.

Downsides obviously include the continued demonisation of the wrestling industry thanks to one person's stupidity.

On a side note (and the only funny thing on this blog entry. Sorry), on Raw last night, Ric Flair actually said that when he started in the business, there was no such word as "sympathy". This statement truly is testament to the fact that his career has spanned centuries. When he started, there was no concept of happiness either. And this here internet was all fields.

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