At WWE Armageddon 2008, Jeff Hardy defeated Edge and Triple H to win his first world title with the company.
Freddie Prinze Jr., who was working on the WWE writing team at the time, previously recalled how Triple H didn’t think Jeff was dependable enough to be the top champion.
The latest episode of the Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast focused on Jeff winning the title. Matt noted that the decision was essentially voted on, and while Edge supported it, Triple H was against it. He said,
“I remember that day, before then going into the production meeting, and we were just waiting around. They didn’t know if it was gonna happen or not. There was a lot of division there because there was Hunter and the people that kind of sided with Hunter, and then there was Freddie and Michael Hayes. Vince wanted to I think roll the dice on Jeff, but he also understood where Triple H was coming from, about his dependability and how much can the company rely on him, representing WWE as the champion. So it was really interesting. I know they specifically went to Edge. ‘What do you think we should do?’ He’s like, ‘I think we should put the title on Jeff. I remember he was a big vote for doing that. Hunter was a nay. But I know Freddie Prinze, Michael Hayes, and apparently Vince kind of surveyed everybody that was in these meetings, and it seemed liked the majority was like, ‘Jeff should win the title.’ So Vince went with the majority.”
Matt was also asked whether he thought Triple H voting no for Jeff’s win was personal.
“No. I think Triple H, overall he liked Jeff, and he respected the sacrifices. He just saw him for who he truly is, which is this human being who doesn’t put politics first, doesn’t put WWE, doesn’t corporate stuff first, isn’t really a businessman so to say. So I’m sure that’s where he was very weary of Jeff being the champion. What if something happens again and it embarrasses the company? That’s the perspective he’s coming from. I think as far as personally, no, I don’t think it was personal against Jeff. I think that was literally just his professionalism and now he viewed him as someone who would represent the WWE as the champion. He was just worried about it.”
Matt later stated, “I’m sure Hunter doesn’t see eye to eye with Jeff, as far as just personal life. Hunter is definitely all business, straight and narrow. Jeff’s just like, ‘Okay, I’m good at this. I love doing this, so I wanna go out and entertain the fans, but I’m not gonna take myself too serious.’ So they’re very opposite when it comes to that capacity.”
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(h/t – Fightful)
