— The following are highlights of a new Ring
Rust Radio interview with Jeff Hardy:
Donald Wood: You and your brother Matt, The Hardy Boys, are
reuniting for Thursday’s Destination X edition of Impact Wrestling and will be
squaring off against The Wolves in a Tag Team Championship match. What are your
feelings about teaming up with your brother and challenging for the titles
heading into the marquee match?
Jeff Hardy: This week on Impact is beyond great. When you talk about tag team
wrestling, this is the top of the mountain, man. The Wolves are one of the best
tag teams in the world, and my brother and I, the Hardy Boys, are back in TNA
and we’re going for the titles one more time and you do not want to miss this
match this week on TNA Impact Wrestling,. It’s a show-stealer.
Mike Chiari: With yourself and
Matt wrestling a couple matches as a team in New York, is the Hardy Boys reunion
in TNA just a short-term deal or do you anticipate and expect to be teaming
together for the foreseeable future and getting back into the tag team scene on
a more permanent basis?
Jeff Hardy: It’s kind of the unknown. I mean, I don’t know what Matt’s going
to do or what he wants to do as far as a long term deal. I’d like it to be long
term, but right now it feels short term, but I can’t speak for Matt. So, we’ll
see what happens.
Brandon Galvin: Jeff, you and Matt
have always been among the most innovative tag teams in the business. Now that
you have a bit more freedom in the ring when working together, how often do you
two discuss new maneuvers and has there ever been something you’ve wanted to try
in the ring but haven’t had the opportunity to do so?
Jeff Hardy: I’ve had some recent new ideas that I’ve talked to Matt about but
we haven’t debuted them yet, but are pretty possible. It’s like riding a
bicycle. Matt and I teamed for a long time and we did an Omega show at the high
school that Matt and I graduated from and wrestled the Briscoe Brothers and the
whole show from beginning to end was so good and the Briscoes vs. the Hardys was
a killer main event. I also did a few other Indy shots with Matt and we were
just as good as we’ve ever been. And now, to be wrestling the Wolves and they’re
an amazing tag team and we tear it up. There’s so much to do that hasn’t been
done, it’s just about following through and trying to conquer it.
Donald Wood: The Hardy Boys teamed
up in TNA in 2011, but the run was short lived. With both of you being in a much
different place in your lives, do you appreciate the ability to work together
again more now that you have overcome adversity?
Jeff Hardy: Oh, now more than ever. We both went through the dark periods and
on the other side of those dark periods, we came out on the better side and to
be performing the way we are, whether he’s on an Indy show or Ring of Honor and
I’m doing my thing, we’re still rocking. To reunite and to be just as good as
we’ve ever been pays off for us and the fans. It’s a good feeling. I’m 36 years
old and to get back together and still rock the house is a good feeling.
Mike Chiari: There’s no question
that the Hardy Boys are one of if not the greatest tag teams in the history of
professional wrestling. As someone who has seen and done it all in the tag team
ranks, who do you consider to be the greatest tag team of all time aside from
yourself and Matt?
Jeff Hardy: I don’t think there’s such a thing as the greatest of all time or
the greatest in the world. If I had to choose, I mean, the Legion of Doom, I
loved those guys as a kid but then the Rockers, the Rock N’ Roll Express, back
in those days. I don’t think there’s one best in the world or best of all time,
but I’m going to go out on a limb and speak with confidence and say Matt and
myself are in that category.
Donald Wood: If you had to pick
one, Legion of Doom or Demolition, who ya got?
Jeff Hardy: I’ve been doing interviews all day and I think this is the
perfect answer: In my opinion, for me in the NWA it was Sting, WWF back in the
day it was the Ultimate Warrior; myself combined I was both of those guys. In
the tag team world, I mean, LOD NWA and WWF Demolition, I was those as well
combined, that’s my style, that’s my vibe. The other worldly vision of these
painted faces and huge men that are just incredibly talented and going to war.
If I had to choose, I’d go with LOD, but I don’t have to choose.
Brandon Galvin: Jeff, I often feel
the Hardy Boys vs. Dudley Boys’ first-ever tag team table match in WWE is
overlooked when discussing the Hardy Boys’ top defining moments. Do you too feel
that match is overlooked when discussing the history of the Hardy Boys and how
do you feel about having the opportunity to wrestle the Dudleyz again now that
both teams are in TNA?
Jeff Hardy: It’s almost surreal. If you had asked me what I would be doing 10
years from now when I was 26, I would’ve never said ‘oh, we’ll be wrestling Team
3D in TNA’, but that’s how everything just falls into place in the universe. The
stuff we did back in the day, with Edge and Christian as well, those few matches
and in TNA today as well with myself, Matt, Devon and Bubba, it’s incredible
that we’re still able to do what we do from what we put our bodies through and
to be as good as we are.
Donald Wood: Impact Wrestling is
returning to New York City and the Manhattan Center on August 5, 6 and 7. What
was it like to return to a wrestling-centric city like NYC for the last set of
tapings and do you expect more of the same from the raucous crowds when you
return next week?
Jeff Hardy: I think so, yeah. I had done one live event there in that
building previously and there’s been so many killer shows that took place at
that venue and naturally the fans are harder and you’re going to hear some
graphic chants. It’s intimidating to many people and leading up to the New York
tapings last time it was intimidating to me, but the overwhelming response I got
and the matches I had I mean, I hope we remain there as long as we can.
Mike Chiari: You showed your range
as a performer over the past few months with the Willow character. Having always
worked as yourself in TNA and WWE, what type of satisfaction did you gain from
switching things up from a creative perspective and going in a totally different
direction with Willow?
Jeff Hardy: One thing that none of my fans truly know is that Willow is Jeff
Hardy. In the days of Omega, I was Jeff Hardy, with the painted face, the
babyface, and then I was Willow later in the show, wrestling my brother later in
the show as the bad guy, the demon from down under and I was completely
different back in the day, but that was before I got tattooed up and now it’s
very hard to cover my tattoos and it’s just not reasonable. The thing about
Willow and Jeff Hardy is that Willow is the idea I had and a figment of my
imagination that has inspired so many of Jeff Hardy’s moves and Jeff Hardy’s
style and the cut up sleeves on my arm that originally came from Marilyn Manson,
I thought that all would be great for Willow and I would be rocking that back in
Omega where it originated and it became one of the top merchandise items of all
time. The coolest thing about TNA letting me do Willow is that they were
unafraid to let Jeff Hardy express himself, like an extended version of himself,
and they weren’t afraid to put a mask on me, which WWE probably would’ve never
done, but I truly believe, and you’ll see in the future, that it’s going to
work. Jeff Hardy, with his Imag-i-nation and the figment of it that is Willow,
you’ll be able to see a cool visual of what actually goes on in my mind and you
might see Willow every now and then, but for the most part it will be a glimpse
into my mind.
Donald Wood: You are one of the
top singles competitors in the sport today. While joining forces with your
brother is something the fans are going to enjoy, do you still have the taste
for the World Heavyweight Championship and is that something you’d like to
achieve in TNA again?
Jeff Hardy: Oh, for sure. That’s that feeling that never gets old and when
you talk about holding onto something as long as you can. Whether I retire a
year from now or not I would like to hold that title one more time and keep it
until that point that breaks me, whatever it may be. I would love to end my
career as World Champion. I can’t be Jeff Hardy without taking chances, if I
feel like I do now, I’m going to keep going out there like I did against Bobby
Lashley a few weeks ago. I’m going to go all out and go hard and go for it to
win that title.
Donald Wood: Would you go through
your brother Matt to win the world title?
Jeff Hardy: Oh my god, I would love it. I think it could be done so tasteful
it would be insane in TNA. I would love that more than anything. I’d love to
work Matt, especially for the world title, it would be so good.
Mike Chiari: TNA has obviously
done a good job of locking up a lot of its talent to long-term contracts in
recent months. Have you given any thought to your contract situation? Would you
be interested in a long-term deal to remain a focal point of TNA?
Jeff Hardy: Possibly, yeah, I mean I’m locked in pretty much for two more
years because I re-signed, and it’s up to TNA to keep me around. I’ll make that
decision as we get closer to the time, but right now I pretty much have a dream
job. I have a three year old daughter and I’m fortunate enough to be able to
have this dream job and so much time at home each day with her and I take
advantage of it. As long as I keep going now with this schedule, it’s perfect
for me. As far as 5, 10 years down the road, I can’t say.
Brandon Galvin: If you had the
opportunity to book your last match, would you guys prefer to wrestle against
Matt or as a tag team with him?
Jeff Hardy: Oh, that’s a good question, ultimately it would be killer to
wrestle Matt because we dove into this journey wrestling each other and we’ve
done it so many times. Yeah, that would be the perfect last match, to wrestle
Matt.
Check out the complete interview below.
— Also, in case you missed it yesterday, the following are
highlights of a new Main Event Radio interview with Jeff Hardy:
What have been your favorite
memories working for TNA Impact Wrestling? “For sure it was coming back after Victory
Road 2011. 2012 was the best year of my pro wrestling career. Being clean and
straight up. Looking great, loving life. 2012 was huge with me, every match.
Winning the World title in a killer match-up against Austin Aries. The #1 year
for me.”
Victory Road 2011 – I would assume
that that had to be the worst night of your career? “I was too f—ed up to even try to get
through the match. You see yourself on video, not knowing how bad you were. It’s
embarrassing; it’s terrifying watching yourself. Me seeing myself in that shape
devastated me. A huge let-down for the fans. Everything that was bad in me
pretty much died that night.Thank God they didn’t fire me that night. After
Victory Road, that was a huge eye opener. I had a huge decision…I had the
chance to do a 120-day outpatient rehab. It was good for me. It saved me.”
When you came back later that
year, how did it feel to be forgiven and embraced by the fans? “When I returned I had to go and apologize
to everyone in the locker room. I could barely talk, it was horrible. I went in
there and went through it, begged for forgiveness. I begged everyone for one
last chance. I came out of that whole situation better than ever.”
Recently you were portraying the
character of Willow, which we know you’ve done in the past – What brought Willow
back in TNA? “We through it
around maybe my 2nd or 3rd year. But my hair was cut short and I had to grow it
longer for the character to work. One of my best friends, Shannon Moore, his
wife made me this awesome mask for it. But it just wasn’t the right time for it.
Me and Jeff Jarrett actually talked about it. Some time went on and then I had
some time off in January and February this year. Then they called me and I tried
to get it ready really quick. Try to develop my approach to the character.
Debuted at Lockdown, lasted awhile, and was pretty cool as far as I’m concerned.
It will be around, basically as a part of Jeff Hardy’s imagination.”
Reuniting with your brother Matt,
the Hardy Boys “It was
great. Matt’s been doing his own thing on the indies and Ring of Honor. I’ve
been doing my thing in TNA. He went through his own dark period too. Now both of
us are on the other side of that.”
Who he would like to work
with: “The Wolves, I saw
them in ROH and I thought these guys are special, crazy talented. There are so
many young talents. We will work with anybody. Devon’s back in TNA. We’re older
now and we have so much history with Team 3D. So amazing considering what we’ve
put our bodies through and still going out there and doing what we do.”
Do you plan on bringing back the
TLC match/Full Metal Mayhem (as it’s known in TNA), maybe at BFG vs the Wolves
and Team 3D? “That would be
a crazy main event and a definite show-stealer and is entirely possible.”
You recently had a world championship shot against Bobby Lashley. You did
a Swanton Bomb and landed directly onto the steel steps. You’re now 36, I’m
thinking that your body doesn’t heal as quick. Why put yourself through such
risks? “People have texted
me while watching Impact saying that I look great. I wish I felt great. It was
rough after that match and I had to tape a few more days. I’m so blessed to be
in TNA. I can go hard for 3-4 days then I have 2 weeks to heal. I see a
chiropractor 3 times a week. I work hard then I go home to heal then I go hard
again. My mentality will probably never be right. Each time I go out there and
wrestle I think it could be my time, my luck could run out. Luckily I still have
a little in me. I’m going to let my body decide. If I feel the same way I do in
5 years from now I will still keep doing what I’m doing right now.”
If you could go back in time and
talk to a younger version of yourself, what would you say? “Don’t f*** up man. You know better. Don’t
let a substance control you. There’s a long road to recovery and it’s crazy how
long it took me to get it. I basically say get it now before it’s too late.
Thankfully it never became too late; I never died. But I let the substances
control me.”
TNA TV Deal thoughts: “I hope in two years you’re still
watching me on Spike every Thursday night. I love being on Spike. I hope they
work something out in their negotiations. They use me for my talents and I show
up and do the best that I can. It’s not up to me to make that decision, out of
my control and I just hope for the best. Ultimately, I would love to remain on
Spike.”
Your current goals, as a singles
competitor and as a tag team? “I’m
not sure if Matt wants a long-term deal or not. As long as he is around we will
team. We’ve both got great solo careers also. To win the world title again would
be great but I just want to do the best I can. I want to make Jeff Hardy and
Willow work in the “3 faces of Foley” character kind of way. In a way that the
fans get a glimpse into my mind. When I’m getting ready for a match, the fans
see me in as a dark room as Willow seeing what he is telling me in my mind and
the fans get to see it and get pumped up. I want to make that work as the
Charismatic Enigma.”
Check out the complete interview at MainEventRadio.com.
