TNA Victory Road 2011: The Drugged-Out Main Event

[Webster]

TV Tropes explains it thusly...

Jeff Hardy's TNA run, and his career, reached their rock bottom at Victory Road 2011. Hardy showed up at the Impact Zone at usual call-time of 11 AM. He was supposed to plan out his match with Sting and a road agent, but did not (and would not) show up until shortly before the match. Then-producer Bruce Prichard claimed to have seen two people carry Jeff into the gorilla position, "Weekend at Bernie's-style."

The match itself was a black comedy of errors. Jeff missed his entrance cue by forty seconds, and when he finally came out, he was clearly intoxicated, made all the more obvious by his strange mugs to the camera during the ring introductions. Referee Brian Hebner signaled Hardy was in no condition to wrestle. According to Bischoff in his podcast, nobody else with power was at gorilla position — so he called an audible and killed time with a promo, during which he told Sting and Hardy to wrap up the match as soon as possible.

The match lasted about ninety seconds. The first minute consisted of Hardy teasing throwing his shirt at the crowd and dropping it at ringside; the final thirty seconds were Sting legitimately dragging Hardy by his hair into a Scorpion Death Drop and forcibly pinning him. Hardy struggled so hard to kick out of that pin, he left scratch marks on Sting's neck. Jeff looked completely disoriented as the match ended, and TNA killed time with a recap of the night that ran for longer than the main event. The crowd angrily chanted "this is bullshit" and Sting memetically agreed loud enough for the viewing audience to hear.

This was the last straw for TNA, who suspended Hardy indefinitely and buried him on-air — but did not fire him, as he was one of their top merch sellers. The fallout of Sting vs. Hardy was heard far and wide: Botchamania shone a big spotlight on it by adding a clip of the leering Jeff in their intro, and it was inducted into WrestleCrap. Impact was always a little wacky (Jarrett's reign of terror, his bizarre gold investment scams, and trying to sell shards of the table Dixie Carter went through for $200 apiece), but this was when everyone realized they were plain old carnies. -- Bischoff was later outed as the one who made the call to send Hardy out there in that state, allegedly because he "couldn't think of anything else". As a #1 contendership match between Rob Van Dam and Mr. Anderson had ended in a double countout immediately beforehand, it would not have been hard to kick Hardy out of the ring and add both RVD and Anderson as an impromptu triple threat.

 

[PGen98]

Still love that theme song, but what a mess he was. Horrible to see someone like that.

 

[Webster]

Still love that theme song, but what a mess he was. Horrible to see someone like that.

That had to be one of the few times Vince Russo wasn't involved...then again, Jim Cornette (one of my mangerial heroes) has falt-said he wants to live long enough to take a whiz on Russo's gravesite someday.

 

[PGen98]

That had to be one of the few times Vince Russo wasn't involved...then again, Jim Cornette (one of my mangerial heroes) has falt-said he wants to live long enough to take a whiz on Russo's gravesite someday.

Eww, Russo. Yeah, don't blame Cornette for that at all.

 

[Webster]

Worse was how then-TNA handled Jeff's title reign, especially that UK swing a few years later; given his felony drug conviction, there was no way in hell he could defend it during that tour.

In theory, they should've dropped the belt and let someone else escort the strap in merry' ole England (Christopher Daniels, anyone?) but no, they set it up to where Hardy got injured, they designed an "interim" titleholder for the tour and then "reunified" the belt later.

Dixie Carter at her finest, wasn't it?

 

[Webster]

Eww, Russo. Yeah, don't blame Cornette for that at all.

And God help the poor individual who mentions Russo in front of him....hooboy.

 

[PGen98]

lol, granted, it's not entirely unheard of to have a placeholder champion (CM Punk -> John Cena -> CM Punk)

 

[Webster]

lol, granted, it's not entirely unheard of to have a placeholder champion (CM Punk -> John Cena -> CM Punk)

Here's the kicker: they had already taped segments for that tour with Jeff Hardy prominently featured, even though authorities in the UK had already told Dixie and Co. he wouldn't be allowed in. Hence the interim bit...problem there was, they still aired the Hardy segments before the tour began.

The fuck?!?

 

[PGen98]

And God help the poor individual who mentions Russo in front of him....hooboy.

No one involved in WCW can hold their heads up high when it led to...

 

[PGen98]

Here's the kicker: they had already taped segments for that tour with Jeff Hardy prominently featured, even though authorities in the UK had already told Dixie and Co. he wouldn't be allowed in. Hence the interim bit...problem there was, they still aired the Hardy segments before the tour began.

The fuck?!?

 

[Webster]

No one involved in WCW can hold their heads up high when it led to...

The Fingerpoke of Doom.

 

[Webster]

Dixie Carter couldn't run a lemonade stand without putting it into Trump-levels of debt and disaster.

 

[PGen98]

Dixie Carter couldn't run a lemonade stand without putting it into Trump-levels of debt and disaster.

As long as it's got her name plastered all over a tawdry building. That's how you do it!

 

[Webster]

As long as it's got her name plastered all over a tawdry building. That's how you do it!

Today's equivalent is AEW's Tony Khan....or as Jim Cornette calls him, "Jacksonville Dixie", since he views Khan as a money mark similar to former TNA owner Dixie Carter.

 

[PGen98]

Spend your way to mediocrity. Wrestling is screwed.

 

[KenDaGamer]

The Sting v. Jeff Hardy match was the shortest than any other.

 

[Webster]

As long as it's got her name plastered all over a tawdry building. That's how you do it!

She even helped run Panda Energy into the ground....