Sunday night -- in one of the worst TNA pay-per-views of all time, Victory Road-- the main event of Sting vs. Jeff Hardy for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship was seemingly cut short because Hardy was in no condition to wrestle. This information hasn't been confirmed as of this time, but there are enough clues from the video from Victory Road (and truthfully, from Hardy's previous behaviours) to lead one to believe the story is true. For one, Hardy is late entering the "iMPACT!" Zone.
For two, Hardy stumbles into the ring, after struggling to take a sign away from a fan in the front row.
For three, the ref, Brian Hebner, after talking to Hardy in the ring, is shown giving an "X" sign to the hard camera. He then whispers something to So Cal Val at ringside.
For four, when Bischoff comes in the ring, he talks to both Hardy and Sting off-mic for extended periods of time.
For five, Sting seems to hold Hardy down after giving him the Scorpion Death Drop, and it looks like Hebner would have made the 3-count either way.
And finally, while walking up the ramp after the match, Sting says, "I agree" several times, in response to bullshit chants.
Putting it all together, it seems like either Hebner, Hardy or Sting (likely Hebner) called an audible in the ring to go home quickly. Bischoff was sent down to deliver the message to Hardy and Sting.
Having said all of that, if this is a work, it would be the epitome of the Vince Russo worked-shoot that makes no sense, and can go nowhere.
But I'm sure that it's not. Instead, this is an embarassing culmination of months and months of mismanagement, for a company that lost its way a long time ago.
16 comments: on "TNA Is An Embarrassment"
Off topic but I think Dan-E-O on a recent TIFG called out Tazz on "Hencewhy". He says this all the time. http://www.english-for-students.com/Hence-Why.html
One of the worst PPVs ever. TNA and beyond.
This was the last straw for me, I'm now DONE with TNA for good
Thanks for posting it, I couldn`t find it on youtube
Jeff said on-air at WWE during the C.M. Punk angle that he "did it on his own" and never went to rehab. It may be time. I really do want to see Jeff succeed.
I feel really sorry for his wife and daughter :(
Jeff just doesn't seem to be grounded in this realm of things.
janko
Hardy is an embarrasment, don't put it all on TNA. If it was a work (indeed IF it was) TNA should apologise because it is out of line. If it wasn't, Hardy is to blame for his piss poor behaviour.
The PPV was great, apart from the Hardy incident. Let's not act as if the rest of the roster didn't work hard to put up a great show...
this is the first time i have heard a lot of comment about TNA in years.
Things didn't go TNA's way at the PPV but I wouldn't say it was their worst PPV ever...
Up until the final match things were ok/good not "great" but still ok/good, if the final match had been good the the PPV would have been a pass grade.
TNA's talent deserve some respect for the show they put on, but Jeff Hardy should be fired, or at least made to come out and make a full and public apology to every single TNA fan and every Wrestler on the TNA roster for the disrespect he has shown them and the company.
Unfortunately all of TNA will lose out because of this, and that means all their wrestlers and all us fans will lose out too, and that is not a good thing.
Time to decide whether you leave the TNA scene or you hang in there and still give them your support.
For myself i'm willing to watch the product they put out, with the knowledge in the back of my head they they will screw up on a consistent basis, but I am not willing to allow 1 wrestler who couldn't say no, to ruin the product that TNA could eventually be.
SteveH UK
Anonymous #2/Lukewarmer - I thought the PPV was dreadful up until the main event. There was the usual diva nonsense, the stupid Jeff and Karen Jarrett segments that lead to NOTHING, a horrible Morgan-Hernandez match with a fucked-up ending, and Mr. Anderson-RVD was very, very bad too. The main event put it over the top.
I feel really bad for those people who spent 30-40 bucks on this ... and would expect that some of those people won't be paying customers for a long time.
The Beer Money match was good (they always are) and Matt Hardy had his first good match in TNA. That's it.
A "great" PPV, or "ok/good"? Not even close.
I respect a lot of people and their talent in TNA. They have a lot of talent. But the saddest thing of all (except for Hardy's condition, of course) is that these talented people are not put in positions to succeed.
Sure, most of them worked hard, but fuck, it doesn't matter how hard you work when the writing is the shits.
There are SO many people in the company that deserve better than this.
As for who's to blame? Yes, Hardy was very unprofessional. He should be fired. But who let him go to the ring in that condition? That's horrible management.
Really, they should have never hired him in the first place. He was coming off the drug suspension in WWE, and then they hired him shortly after he was arrested for drug possession and trafficking. I understand wanting to have one of the biggest wrestling stars in your company, but you shouldn't hire people with that track record. Not to mention he burned TNA in the past by no-showing shows.
Anyways, I SO want TNA to be good and succeed. But in order to do so, they need new management, or at the very least a new writer/writers who can put the talent in position to succeed. It's the main reason why I got excited last summer when there were rumors that Heyman was coming in.
Something needs to change, or it's going to be the same old, dysfuntional TNA.
@Andy Gray...
I don't watch TNA for the consistency of the writing or booking if I did I would have stopped watching 3 years ago, I watch it because of the quality of the matches that they can produce.
TNA knockouts match 6/10 far better than anything that WWE does with their Diva's with the exception possibly of Gail Kim but she's only just gone over to them.
Morgan Hernadez 5/10 not a great match but Morgan has upped his game and is getting better, Hernandez was a bit disappointing but thats only because of what we have come to expect from him. The problem came from the booking not the wrestlers....
Anderson Vs RVD 6/10 what do you expect from an RVD match though really comon, he's past his prime and at least it was another match that Anderson got through without and injury. and again the booking ruined the match not the wrestlers.
AJ Vs Matt Hardy 8/10 Matt was really good and AJ delivered again, AJ needs more fire though.
Kazarian vs. Robbie E vs. Jeremy Buck vs. Max Buck 6/10 Kasarian and Robbie stole the match and i'm actually starting to like Robbie E which I thought would never be possible.
Ray vs Dreamer 2/10 the downlight of the show waste of time nobody cares about a Dudley in a singles match.
Jeff Hardy Vs Sting 0/10 Jeff screwed it up big time for the whole PPV and you could see it in Stings face in Bischoffs face and in the crowd reaction.
TNA does need new writers, it does need new management, and they do need to carry the can for hiring Jeff Hardy in the first place, But if they don't take calculated risks then they wont get anywhere.
And maybe this is going to be the catalyst that gets it all started in that direction.
@ Andrew Gray:
The majority of the matches on the PPV were good if not great. The Dreamer-Bully Ray match for one was excellent. Now, if you don't like either of them obviously it won't do anything for you, but if I heard Al Snow correctly a couple of weeks ago, this was a good match. Screw 5-star matches, just tell me a story and do it well. I'm buying the Bully Ray gimmick because he does it well. Does that mean there aren't any glitches in how they do it? Hell no, but who cares?
There's no pleasing the IWC, so why bother?
Lukewarmer - It's true that the writing has been bad for years ... I'm hoping that this will be the tipping point for change in the company.
For me, I expect better than one 8/10 match, three 6/10 matches, one 5/10 and one 2/10 match before the main event comes on (your rankings). That's not a good PPV in my book.
Anonymous - The Dreamer-Bully Ray match was the same hardcore match that those guys have been doing for years. It's not my cup of tea. One hardcore match doesn't make for a good PPV.
What great stories were being told in the matches at Victory Road?
And don't try to pretend that because people are disappointed with this show, that it's symptomatic of the "IWC" never being pleased. That's straight out of the Eric Bischoff playbook.
Andrew, I agree with you.
A CHANGE has to come in. Obviously the biggest mistake Dixie made was bringing in Hulk, but, when you roll the dice you take chances.
Victory Road is evident that she rolled snake eyes and its time to revert back to when they were gaining momentum.
Thanks for posting this.
Think Sting regrets his choice not to got to WWE and feud with Undertaker now?
Jeff is lucky that Sting is such a pro. If he had been in there with a JBL or Bob Holly type he would be leaving with a few bruises, to say the least.
It's an interesting question, Kidd. But you know what? My guess is that Sting doesn't regret his decision -- if he wanted to go to WWE he would have done it one of the other times he was offered.
What he gets from TNA is a lot of money (not WWE money, mind you)to work limited dates, with limited pressure. It's not a big committment for him.
WWE would be unfamiliar terrain with a lot of pressure.
He's 50+ years old ... I don't blame him for taking the TNA deal (as much as I would have liked to see a dream match at WrestleMania).
By the way, the Victory Road video has gone viral -- almost 255,000 views since Monday.
Not great news for TNA.
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