The Mercy Side: The Hardy Complex

This is going to be a slightly different edition of The Mercy Side than usual. I’m going to talk about wrestling in this article, but I also give you some life advice. It may not apply to you but you never know. Enjoy the article anyway. 

“Hardy! Hardy! Hardy!”, the little boys and girls shout at both WWE and TNA performances whenever Matt or Jeff Hardy are in the ring doing their stuff. They’re an incredibly popular tag team, and make a claim for the most popular tag team in history in terms of the general fanbase loving them (smarks tend to like Edge and Christian more, and in the past five years, Beer Money). They have really cool entrance themes, flashy clothing, cool tattoos (in Jeff’s case), and they do some excellent tag team moves (Poetry in Motion while not technically brilliant, it’s still a cool signature move). They’ve had excellent matches, both of them as a tag team and individually. Who can forget the TLC triple threat match against Edge and Christian and The Dudley Boyz? Brilliant stuff.

But… as the intelligent internet wrestling fanbase is aware… all is not as it seems with the Hardy Boyz. They have a side to them, an ugly side, which rears its head once in a while. Don’t get me wrong when sober and interested, both of the Hardy’s I can really like in the ring. Really like. Jeff Hardy’s last run in the WWE was the best Jeff Hardy I’ve ever seen. Matt Hardy had his form back a few years ago when he was feuding with Edge. I like them in the ring. I saw TNA live earlier this year, and saw both Hardy’s wrestle. They weren’t that bad. Jeff Hardy had a lot of abuse from some of the smarks, including myself and my good Irish friend John, and he took it all on the chin. We had some excellent chants, like “Hardy’s wasted” and “Just eat grapes” (for Matt). They were excellent professionals when I saw them live and I give them credit when they work hard at their craft. Despite a lot of heckling at both the Hardy Boyz from the smarks, there were still passionate kids chanting “Hardy! Hardy! Hardy!”. Only John Cena nowadays, in a bigger venue on a bigger chant, get such a strong mixed reaction on a constant basis.

Why is this? Well if you haven’t figured much out on the internet, but the reason why both men left the WWE for TNA are because of their problems with the company. Jeff Hardy’s contract was running out and it seemed quite obvious that he wanted to start using drugs again. He still has court cases dating back around two years now, for having loads of drugs at his property. As for Matt Hardy, he felt he was underused in the WWE, that he is better than some (or all) the other guys getting a big push. He caused scenes on tour. He got suspended, and wriggled out of his contract. Both guys then went to TNA, Jeff Hardy around two years ago, and Matt Hardy earlier this year.

Jeff Hardy - idol of many. It's such a shame he's such an idiot.

In this time, the Hardy Boyz had problems. Personal problems. They took their feuds with both the WWE and certain wrestlers (CM Punk being one of them) to the internet. They ripped wrestlers off on the net. They used Twitter to air their grievances. Jeff Hardy’s last match in TNA was an absolute mess. He had a match against Sting, and stumbled to the ring, completely wasted. Sting finished him off quickly and took the title. Now TNA shouldn’t have let Jeff Hardy get to the ring in that state, but Jeff shouldn’t be fucked up at work in the first place. Taking drugs is one thing, but to do it at work, regardless of your profession, is just plain stupid. Jeff claims he was just tired due to his hectic schedule, but that was bullshit; his schedule for WWE was much bigger than it ever has been for TNA. And what's even worse? He has a wife and child. Does he do drugs around his child? I certainly hope not. That would be Jeff's lowest possible ebb.

And then there’s Matt. Now for the most part, there hasn’t been any evidence that Matt has any drug problems, or he takes drugs at all for the contrary. But his attitude in general just stinks, much worse than Jeff’s for the most part. He just thinks so high of himself, heck, both Hardy brothers do. On the top of their game, Jeff Hardy is a great talent capable of having great matches, and is world champion material. Matt is a step below that; capable of having good matches with most people yet never really deserving a place in the elite. That’s my frank opinion of them both, when they’re sober and motivated. But Matt just thinks he’s better than everyone. Their attitude is disgusting.

And the thing that pisses me off the most? Is usually around December/January time, when Matt Hardy promises to himself and to his fans that “a new era of Matt Hardy has begun”. Every year he says that, without fail. He can’t come to terms with the fact that Matt Hardy is actually passed his prime. He can’t compete as well as he could in the past. He can still go, but his ability seems to be on the wane. He just thinks far too much of himself, and can never take a look in the mirror and see his true self. Matt Hardy’s worst moment of past may not have had anything to do with drugs like Jeff, but it was harming his girlfriend, Reby Sky, who I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know via Formspring. He and Jeff tasered her, live on camera, before putting it on Youtube, to the horror of many people. How fucking sick is that? Abusing your own girlfriend on camera? As I said, I’ve spoken to Reby a few times and she seems like a really nice woman, someone that really loves being with her boyfriend. But things like this just disgust me personally.

And then we come to the news from this weekend. Matt Hardy crashing into a tree, drunk. TNA immediately fire him, it was obviously the last straw for them. His reaction? He denies it, and hints at a move back to WWE? How pathetic! The WWE won’t want to go anywhere near Matt Hardy. He really must think too high of himself if he even thinks they’ll touch him again based on the problems he caused less than a year ago, and for his reckless actions. He denies it, but there’s no evidence for or against it at present. Matt and Jeff Hardy deny any wrongdoing they ever do. They just think they can do what they want, when they want and because they have a certain element of celebrity status and star power, they get away with certain things.

Matt "I wasn't drink-driving" Hardy.

Which brings me to my point for this article – The Hardy Complex. Now this article is mainly about wrestling and the Hardy Boyz in particular, but it’s also about a life lesson in general. What is The Hardy Complex? It’s a term me and my wife came up with a good six months ago, when looking at these two brothers. The Hardy Boyz have their fans, many of them. Probably in the millions. And whenever things go wrong for them, if they crash into a tree, take drugs, tase their girlfriend, or turn up to a PPV mainevent fucked up, they blame someone else. They don’t take responsibility for their actions. And The Hardy Complex? They seek comfort and sympathy from those that love them. They go to their fans; their blind fans, who will stick by them no matter what. They go to these fans who will agree with them, that it’s ‘all the others’, and never their fault. It’s not Matt Hardy’s fault he crashed into a tree, drunk. It’s not Jeff Hardy’s fault he decided to take drugs. It’s the WWE’s fault for not accepting them for the way they are, as their talent warrants this behaviour and this lifestyle. It’s TNA’s fault as well no doubt.

That’s The Hardy Complex. It’s a lot more popular than you think. You probably know many people that have it. You know, they have a problem, they don’t accept responsibility for it, and then go to all their friends and family and seek consolation, knowing that the love they receive will make them truly believe that they are not the reason their life is fucking up. I know a few people myself. The best thing to do is to stay away from them, let them believe they are not responsible for the shit that happens in their life and concentrate on your own. The Hardy Complex. Seriously, if you are having shit happening in your life, look at yourself in the mirror and truly seek a way out of the problems that occur. Don’t blame people, or things. There may be small things that make the path you’re currently on harder, there may be small things that aren’t actually your fault. But for the most part, you are the reason you are where you are. Not other people, or things. The Hardy Complex.

“Hardy! Hardy! Hardy..." what their fans be saying really is “Hardy's. Look at yourselves. Sort your life out”. Thanks for reading.

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