nisidhe
Hank Scorpio
O Superman....O judge....O Mom and Dad....
Posts: 5,725
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Post by nisidhe on Jan 28, 2022 11:09:38 GMT -5
Gail Kim eliminated herself from a battle royal on TV on her last WWE appearance. No drug test there. Clearly, WWE didn't read the room on some of their decisions leading up to that point. Seems unclear if they're capable of doing so now. Not sure what your point is on that. Jeff was said to be moving especially slowly during the match like there was something going on with him physically. Doesn’t seem analogous to the Kim situation. It's possible that Jeff had some ongoing beef with someone that didn't get resolved, or had tried to call out due to said physical issue and was told no. Somebody backstage should have had him looked over for injury, or gave a little and pulled him from the card if he was hurting. We don't know what happened for sure, but it's clear he wanted out of that match. When I suggest that WWE doesn't read the room, I mean that those backstage (the producers/agents/bookers/crew) seem to have either forgotten to ask how the talent is doing, or have made a point of not asking and/or not following up. Did WWE know that Gail Kim was that frustrated with her position/booking/the booking of the Divas as a whole? Did they care? Same thing applies here - you have a major name in the business half-assing his way through a house show match and your first reaction is to demand he enter rehab? My point is that WWE is running a very, _very_ tight roster right now and couldn't afford to lose _anyone_, but chose this as a hill to die on and lost another talent as a result - probably never to return. They're going to be very busy spinning plates for the next while booking-wise because a) they can't afford to piss off their remaining talents to the extent that they leave in less-than-ideal circumstances, and b) they can't readily replace them with the NXT prospects they have currently and can't hope to pay below market value for anyone out of the indies. Vince and company needs to treat its roster better, not only around contract time, but day-to-day. If someone is ill or having issues that might enter the ring, it's up to the company to head those off well in advance.
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Post by polarbearpete on Jan 28, 2022 11:13:52 GMT -5
Failed drug test or not, walking out through the crowd in the middle of the match, unless concussion-related, is a red flag. Which is why you suspend him until you find out what happened or what the test results say. Anything else is a massive overreaction regardless of the circumstances. If they only wanted to fire him if he had a drug issue, then that makes sense. My point was more just walking out of the match, if not injury-related, seems a fireable offense. If they’re really trying to hire him back already though, then that seems like they made a misstep.
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Post by Finish Uncle Muffin’s Story on Jan 28, 2022 11:24:11 GMT -5
TBH, the whole thing’s kinda weird to me.
If Jeff wasn’t drunk in the ring, it’s as simple as Jeff coming out and saying “Victory Road was a dark night for me and I learned from that. I’ve had some challenges since then but I wasn’t drunk in the ring at that live event.”
But, to the best of my knowledge, that hasn’t happened. Just Matt saying he’s ok. Jeff failing a drug test also seems to have not happened.
So was Jeff actually drunk? Did he somehow pull a fast one on WWE? The whole thing’s weird to me. I don’t blame WWE for being concerned about the dude.
In any event, I hope this isn’t just Matt trying to hold the fort down for them to get through some sort of reunion. I also hope this is it for them, it’s kinda sad to see them these days.
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Fade
Patti Mayonnaise
Posts: 38,294
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Post by Fade on Jan 28, 2022 11:31:06 GMT -5
What a weird situation. I guess you can chalk it up to WWE being WWE but then what was Jeff’s deal? Tie me in to being good on seeing either Jeff or Matt wrestle but that AEW run seems inevitable. They (the hardyz) recently came up on a recent STW and Conrad even mentioned the “weird timing” (as I guess at the time the episode was based on, Jeff was going through shit) and Prichard of course tiptoed around the whole thing. Didn’t even drop their names iirc.
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Post by eJm on Jan 28, 2022 11:39:28 GMT -5
Which is why you suspend him until you find out what happened or what the test results say. Anything else is a massive overreaction regardless of the circumstances. If they only wanted to fire him if he had a drug issue, then that makes sense. My point was more just walking out of the match, if not injury-related, seems a fireable offense. If they’re really trying to hire him back already though, then that seems like they made a misstep. I mean, the thing is that we don’t know what happened and it’s sort of weird we still don’t know fully? Just considering what else leaked out this past year about behavioral issues or people being paid too much that there wasn’t someone saying to SRS or someone like that about what happened and right now, the only thing that seems likely is that they jumped the gun about it (justified or not, that’s up in the air) and they basically, even if it doesn’t happen (which I sort of hope it doesn’t), gift wrapped a marketable talent to AEW.
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Post by polarbearpete on Jan 28, 2022 11:40:52 GMT -5
If they only wanted to fire him if he had a drug issue, then that makes sense. My point was more just walking out of the match, if not injury-related, seems a fireable offense. If they’re really trying to hire him back already though, then that seems like they made a misstep. I mean, the thing is that we don’t know what happened and it’s sort of weird we still don’t know fully? Just considering what else leaked out this past year about behavioral issues or people being paid too much that there wasn’t someone saying to SRS or someone like that about what happened and right now, the only thing that seems likely is that they jumped the gun about it (justified or not, that’s up in the air) and they basically, even if it doesn’t happen (which I sort of hope it doesn’t), gift wrapped a marketable talent to AEW. His contract was up by September and he can’t work until March, so they essentially just accelerated it 6 months.
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Post by eJm on Jan 28, 2022 11:42:49 GMT -5
I mean, the thing is that we don’t know what happened and it’s sort of weird we still don’t know fully? Just considering what else leaked out this past year about behavioral issues or people being paid too much that there wasn’t someone saying to SRS or someone like that about what happened and right now, the only thing that seems likely is that they jumped the gun about it (justified or not, that’s up in the air) and they basically, even if it doesn’t happen (which I sort of hope it doesn’t), gift wrapped a marketable talent to AEW. His contract was up by September and he can’t work until March, so they essentially just accelerated it 6 months. I mean, before all this, they were likely going to renew his deal. Like, I’d be shocked if they wouldn’t have at least wanted to keep him for another year and do a HOF induction or something like that. The fact they were offing that to him this year sort of tells me that might have been a plan.
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r.
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
Bye
Posts: 16,480
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Post by r. on Jan 28, 2022 11:47:11 GMT -5
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Post by polarbearpete on Jan 28, 2022 11:49:21 GMT -5
His contract was up by September and he can’t work until March, so they essentially just accelerated it 6 months. I mean, before all this, they were likely going to renew his deal. Like, I’d be shocked if they wouldn’t have at least wanted to keep him for another year and do a HOF induction or something like that. The fact they were offing that to him this year sort of tells me that might have been a plan. Oh for them sure, I just always assumed Jeff was on his way out as soon as the deal was up so he could end his career with Matt in AEW.
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Post by eJm on Jan 28, 2022 11:52:17 GMT -5
I mean, before all this, they were likely going to renew his deal. Like, I’d be shocked if they wouldn’t have at least wanted to keep him for another year and do a HOF induction or something like that. The fact they were offing that to him this year sort of tells me that might have been a plan. Oh for them sure, I just always assumed Jeff was on his way out as soon as the deal was up so he could end his career with Matt in AEW. Maybe? I just couldn’t really imagine WWE doing that even with how he was at that time without much of a fight. He still got the biggest reactions on the show so I could imagine them even seeing when Matt’s contract was running out and trying it that way.
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Post by robferatu on Jan 28, 2022 11:54:41 GMT -5
Considering his track record and history, I can completely understand WWE not giving Hardy the benefit of the doubt and cutting ties with him after the house show incident and refusal to go into rehab.
However, like everyone has stated, there still has been no follow-up in exactly what happened or what issues Jeff may have been dealing with at the time of his release and part of me is certain that we won’t hear anything of the WWE’s end until his no compete is set to expire.
Just like it doesn’t surprise me that all of a sudden that less than two months after releasing him, they’re making desperate pitches to bring him back… It wouldn’t surprise me that if information was “leaked” around the time of his no-compete clause expiring that he failed a wellness test or something.
With all of that said, the primary concern should still be Jeff Hardy’s well being and for a twenty year plus veteran the WWE touring schedule is not beneficial to Hardy and I think the best case scenario for all involved is that he doesn’t go back to that.
By WWE’s standards, him and Matt are first ballot Hall of Famers, and Jeff will certainly be inducted as a singles wrestler as well, but the Hall of Fame will always be there and I would assume considering how close he is to his brother that he’d want to be inducted as a tag team before a singles performer.
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Post by polarbearpete on Jan 28, 2022 11:56:33 GMT -5
Oh for them sure, I just always assumed Jeff was on his way out as soon as the deal was up so he could end his career with Matt in AEW. Maybe? I just couldn’t really imagine WWE doing that even with how he was at that time without much of a fight. He still got the biggest reactions on the show so I could imagine them even seeing when Matt’s contract was running out and trying it that way. Like with Cole and Bryan, might not matter what they offer him. He had those quotes last year about how great it was to see AEW and how open-minded they are versus how stuck in their ways WWE was. The writing was on the wall.
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Post by eJm on Jan 28, 2022 12:00:41 GMT -5
Maybe? I just couldn’t really imagine WWE doing that even with how he was at that time without much of a fight. He still got the biggest reactions on the show so I could imagine them even seeing when Matt’s contract was running out and trying it that way. Like with Cole and Bryan, might not matter what they offer him. He had those quotes last year about how great it was to see AEW and how open-minded they are versus how stuck in their ways WWE was. The writing was on the wall. He wasn’t the first to praise AEW and had a change of mind later on. I believe Owens and Zayn have too and picked WWE so I wouldn’t say it was 100%.
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Mecca
Wade Wilson
Posts: 25,100
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Post by Mecca on Jan 28, 2022 12:11:29 GMT -5
WWE is freaking out for 1 reason, they taught their audience that the only stars that exist are from the attitude era. They never cared before because they didn't feel any competition threat...now they do.
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Post by eJm on Jan 28, 2022 12:18:02 GMT -5
WWE is freaking out for 1 reason, they taught their audience that the only stars that exist are from the attitude era. They never cared before because they didn't feel any competition threat...now they do. I wouldn’t say they didn’t, though. One of the reasons they hoarded so much was because they didn’t want people to have the opportunity to utilize on the talents that have the mainstream exposure. It wasn’t like there was no competition, TNA was growing steadily and even with the missteps, it would have taken another Kurt Angle level guy to potentially shoot them up higher. Now that didn’t happen but it stood out to them, likely. Especially with how much someone like Matt Cardona has faired after his years long isolation from doing anything of note.
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salz4life
Grimlock
Prichard is a guy who gets that his job is to service his boss.
Posts: 14,007
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Post by salz4life on Jan 28, 2022 12:20:57 GMT -5
the way its worded leads me to believe that there wasn't a positive test in the first place. if i am reading the tea leaves correctly, and going by what the hardys have stated publicly: he got tested and they preemptively released him expecting a positive test. that's why they were offering to bring him back. he's still under contract until the beginning of march, but i would imagine he might have a bitter taste in his mouth from the experience. honestly, i'd guess embarrassment for jumping the gun and just not wanting to get around to it. similar to punk's royalty checks that he had to pester them for. I didn’t really want to basically say that was the case but it does make the offers make sense if that’s what happened. And if that was the case, Yikes. Yeah.... this is an embarrassing look for the WWE if true.
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Post by TWERKIN' MAGGLE on Jan 28, 2022 12:46:52 GMT -5
"We'll make you wear a tux and write a speech for no extra money" is not incentive they think it is in this scenario.
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Post by This Player Hating Mothman on Jan 28, 2022 12:53:56 GMT -5
"We'll make you wear a tux and write a speech for no extra money" is not incentive they think it is in this scenario. It's amazing how the people running this heap of flaming trash are still such marks for themselves that they think "Oh sorry we pissed on your foot for no reason, please don't go get another job, we'll put you in our Hall of Fame!" is some kind of sweet deal. It's doubly amazing when you consider just how much they treat this institution they care about so much like a piece of trash and smash against its reputation.
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Post by polarbearpete on Jan 28, 2022 13:12:33 GMT -5
"We'll make you wear a tux and write a speech for no extra money" is not incentive they think it is in this scenario. It's amazing how the people running this heap of flaming trash are still such marks for themselves that they think "Oh sorry we pissed on your foot for no reason, please don't go get another job, we'll put you in our Hall of Fame!" is some kind of sweet deal. It's doubly amazing when you consider just how much they treat this institution they care about so much like a piece of trash and smash against its reputation. To be fair, a lot of the talent seem to take pride in going into the HOF.
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Post by Perpetual Nirvana on Jan 28, 2022 13:22:24 GMT -5
Well I can't speak for Jeff but if I was him the only way I'd go in the HoF is if I was going in with Matt.
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