TAKE PWTORCH
WITH YOU! Get our iPhone App (FREE!): Click Here Or enter "PWTorch.com" on your Blackberry or other Smart Phone browser for mobile-version of PWTorch.
WWE News
KELLER: Jeff Hardy shames himself and his family, but excuses have already begun Sep 11, 2009 - 4:09:34 PM
Jeff Hardy needs to be quiet. Claiming that there have been "exaggerations" without citing what he's talking about means nothing. It just comes across as a privileged celebrity trying to talk his way out of his own shameful actions. Were drugs planted at his house? Did authorities make this all up? Did he let someone else occupy his house and use it as a small little drug distribution center for the neighborhood? Did he keep a few look-alike pills around for nostalgia with plans to eventually open a museum documenting the excesses of many wrestlers over the last couple decades?
I mean, there are very few options here that will excuse Hardy from having what authorities found in his house. The charges are embarrassing and shameful for him, and crushing to his fans who really believed in his "live for today" philosophy that he touted on WWE TV and now have reason to wonder what exactly he meant by it.
If Hardy wants to get word out that what's said about him is wrong, be specific. Otherwise, it looks like it's just a p.r. move to try to quell his fans losing their minds or crying themselves to sleep tonight. Twitter doesn't limit anyone to just one Tweet per day. If he's going to talk, let's be specific. What's exaggerated? The number of pills? The types of pills? Is someone out to get him? Were they planted?
Either say nothing or say something that means something. A broad generalization that reports aren't to be believed isn't going to serve him well. It'll maybe delay the inevitable loss of faith his fans have in him, while temporarily giving his most blindly ardent fans some little nugget to cling to. But at this point, Jeff has more to worry about than his fans, 99.9 percent of whom he'll never meet or get to know, and who will find another celebrity to attach themselves to if he drops out of the picture.
The timing of this is still just so odd. Jeff leaves WWE, days later his house is searched and he's arrested. This doesn't reflect well on WWE, because by making his use of pills and "weakness for drugs" such an on-air issue, it makes it seem as if they knew something was afoot and did nothing other than exploit it as an on-air storyline while apparently trying to re-sign him. A lot of people look bad here.
The last thing Jeff needs, unless there's some big twist to this story that exonerates him of the charges against him, is more enablers who are enamored with his charisma and celebrity and charm. He needs an intervention more than he needs his friends and family covering for him and firing at messengers.
[Jeff Hardy photo credit Wade Keller (c) PWTorch]
Send feedback on this article to pwtorch@gmail.com and we'll regularly publish reader feedback in the "Torch Feedback" category on the Main Listing.
INCREDIBLE BENEFITS! Over 50 full-length audio updates per month (iPod compatible)... New weekly award-winning Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter (text and printable pdf versions) with latest exclusive insider news, new Torch Talks, great columns, Keller's cover story, much more... Hundreds of full-length back issues of PWTorch Newsletter from late-'80s to today... Ad-free access to PWTorch.com's Main Listing... VIP Forum with interaction with other subscribers and Torch staff... Torch Talk Library with text and audio of hundreds of interview installments from last 20 years... Great layout... Deepest archives on pro wrestling history anywhere... Keller's PWTorch Today PDF Bulletins with email alerts... VIP Email reports on major PPVs and TV shows... Staff Roundtable Reviews (text and audio) followiing major events... The best staff of writers and world class reporting since 1987... We'd love for you to join us and experience the most entertaining, authoritative, experienced staff of professional reporters and commentators in the business...
Compare the value of four or five months of PWTorch VIP content to the price of just one PPV. Can you cut 25 cents a day from your budget to make room for PWTorch VIP?
AND NEW FOR 2009! Monthly "Vintage Audio Torch Talks." We are releasing for the first time ever audio versions of our text Torch Talk updates, the historical first series of insider interviews ever. Wade Keller's newsmaking in-depth interviews with wrestling's biggest names are now being made available exclusively to VIP members. But you must be a member each month, as these are not archived, so they are replaced with a new one each month! This debuted in January 2009 with a 68 minute interview with the late "British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith. Who's next? Hulk Hogan? Eric Bischoff? The Rock? Goldberg? Jeff Hardy?