Jeff Hardy deu uma entrevista ao Alternative Nation. Eis os melhores
momentos:
Moving onto wrestling, the first thing I’ve got to
ask, is what’s your reaction to the reports that SpikeTV won’t be renewing
their contract with TNA, and all of the crazy stories flying around?
I don’t know, I’m not a social network guy, I don’t even read timelines
or tweets. But I’m sure negotiations are – I still have hope. It’s not really
my problem, but I hope we remain on Spike, I hope they can work something out.
Gosh, I hope 1 or 2 years from now we’re still coming on every Thursday night
on Spike. I don’t know, I go to the shows, I do the best I can in the ring.
That’s my commitment to the company, is to do what I can do to make the show
good. It’s their job to use me in the right fashion. As far as re-signing with
Spike, I don’t know what’s going to happen. I hope we remain.
You’ve gone through a lot of character changes in
the last year. How did bringing your Willow character to TNA come about, and
when and why did you go back to being Jeff Hardy recently?
Years ago, I think my 2nd year in TNA on this 2nd run, my buddy Shannon
Moore and his wife, she’s a phenomenal seamstress, and she made me a Willow
mask. We’d thrown the idea around, but my hair was short, so I was like: ‘I
need to grow my hair back if I want this to really look right.’ She made the
mask, and then some time passed, and then maybe a year and a half or so later,
my hair got longer. Jeff Jarrett and I started talking about the possibility of
bringing Willow to TNA. I was like, ‘Yeah!’ I was kind of intimidated, but it’s
one of those things that when I look back on my career, I’ll be glad I that I
did it.
It’s something I would have loved to do years ago, but the timing was
never right. WWE never would have went for it. They would never want ‘Jeff
Hardy staying covered, because [he’s] this money maker.’ But that’s what’s so
cool about TNA being open-minded, they take a few risks, especially with me,
and letting me do that. Because instead of that aggressive heel bad guy
character that Willow was back in the OMEGA days, I think now that we’ve
experimented with it, it can be a more kid friendly type of deal. Because my
daughter Ruby just loves Willow, Kurt Angle’s son Kody loves Willow too. When
Jeff Hardy came back, I was just starting to see masks in the crowd, it was
just getting rolling good.
But then the reason for Jeff Hardy’s return, is obviously because Matt
Hardy came back, and naturally we wanted to do some Hardy Boyz tag matches.
That’s the big match this week on Destination X, Thursday night at 9PM on
SpikeTV, it’s going to be the Wolves and the Hardy Boyz for the World Tag Team
Titles. But that’s basically why Willow is not around right now, because the
Hardy Boyz have reunited.
You mentioned Matt being back in TNA, your facing
the Wolves on Impact, and Team 3D on an upcoming episode. What’s it like
tagging with Matt again after awhile being at such a good place in your life
now? Also what was it like being back in the ring with Team 3D after so many
years, and do you think you will continue tagging in TNA, maybe some other
matches, like getting Beer Money back together?
Oh, that that would be amazing if that happened. But as Matt goes, I
don’t know if he’s going to sign a long term deal, I don’t know what he wants
to do. But I think the coolest thing for me, I did a few independent shots with
Matt back in June, we had two tag matches and they were just great. The guys we
worked were just awesome, and we just felt like we were just as good as we were
back in the day. Now bringing that back to TV, after Matt and myself, we went
through our dark period, and to come out of that and the other side still
rocking it, it feels really good to say that we can still go out there and be
the Hardy Boyz, and for the fans to still vibe on our style.
That run ended obviously with the Victory Road
thing with Sting, and you had a match with Sting on Impact too and wrestled him
a few times. What was your
relationship like with Sting over the years, when he was in TNA?
It was great, I
was still always a bit starstruck every time I would say hello to him at TV’s,
because he’s the man. He’s a huge influence for me, back in the day it was him
in the NWA, and The Ultimate Warrior in the WWF, that was the combined Jeff
Hardy. It really shows now, I’m 36 years old, I think that influence shows
pretty clearly through who I am now. But yeah it was great, I can’t wait to
see him pop up here in the future.
A guy you did a lot with in the past was CM Punk,
who recently reportedly retired. There have been different things said between
you guys during the years, but it’s been 5 years now, how do you look back at
that now as being a key feud in your career?
It was one of the biggest, pretty close to the best. We had a good
chemistry, completely different people, but at the time it was perfect. He is
so good, he is so good. That’s another collection as far as feuds go, that I am
going to look back at and go, wow I am glad I got to work with that guy and
create some immortal artwork that is going to go down in the history books.
It’s all good now, I went through my times as far as the way I felt about him,
but he’s a good guy, and a good wrestler, he’s done great.
In a perfect world, who would you like to wrestle
before you retire? May it be from WWE, TNA, ROH, or wherever?
I think deep down, it would have to be Jushin Thunder Liger. When I
first started watching Japanese wrestling way back in the day, he just stood
out to me. A lot of the inspiration for Willow back then, was from [him], as
far as the mask, superhero, or villain. Oh my gosh, to know he’s still flying
over here and working every now and then, makes me want to say: ‘Hey, I want to
be part of that dream match.’ So more than
anything, I’d say it’s Jeff Hardy vs. Jushin Thunder Liger.