411’s WWE 24: The Hardys Woken Report

411’s WWE 24: The Hardys Woken Report

-Money in the Bank is over and from what I saw it seemed like a decent show with a hot crowd (as expected). I did see all of the NXT Show and yeah, it was amazing. It seems there is no post show with this PPV as instead they are debuting a new episode of the great series, WWE 24. This one focuses on the Hardy Boys and from the previews we are going to get TNA/Impact Wrestling footage.

-We start at the Hardy Compound as they talk about living near each other and their dad being across the street. They busted their asses to achieve their dream of being WWE SuperStars and towards the end it made them broken and they didn’t want things to end badly with the WWE.

-Some back story as Matt says they grew up as rednecks and while they didn’t have a lot of money, they had a lot of land and could use their imagination. We see home videos of the wrestling group they created called the TWF and from that day they wanted to be pro wrestlers. This is a very quick history as everyone knows their story by now as they made it to the WWE and became massive stars that helped bring in a new golden era of tag team wrestling.

-They highlight the Tag Team Ladder Match with Edge and Christian that put all 4 of them on the map and then touch on the tables match at The Rumble, Triangle Tag at Mania 2000 and TLC II at Mania X-7. That Edge spear of a hanging Jeff is still a spectacular car wreck spot.

-We start getting a little darker as Matt talks about that habit of going all in all the time and it was such an insane pace that it took a toll on his body. Edge says that if you do something really good, then you want to do it every night and that is not possible without suffering damage.

-The Big Show says that Jeff was in a bad place in 2009 and he was worried about his health. Jeff always said he was good, but Show could see he was in pain. That is when Jeff started abusing pain medication and he says that he doesn’t blame wrestling for his issue, he blames himself. It was in 2009 when Jeff left the WWE (lost a match to CM Punk which isn’t mentioned).

-Matt was dealing with his own issues as he had a broken hand and a bad back. Christian says that Matt is his friend, but drug addicts lie and it pissed him off to be lied to. They show video of Matt being interviewed for a DVD and he is just gone as he is incoherent and can’t keep his eyes open. Show mentions that he saw his friend, Matt Hardy, passed out in his food. That video of Matt was scary and shows just how far gone he was. Matt says that he took some somas and pain pills and went to catering and was called out for his drug issues. Christian flat out told him that if this keeps up the way it will end is with Matt dying.

-Sept 11, 2009: Jeff is arrested on drug charges and they actually get the investigator on the case to show up as a talking head. Jeff was getting drugs illegally shipped to his house and they were able to track him down and nail him. Jeff says that they busted down his door and had he and his wife face down in handcuffs. He called it the worst experience of his life. He was charged with a few felonies for trafficking and other drug related issues.

-It was just after this time In 2010 that he was signed by TNA (as mentioned on the screen) and Jeff says that TNA actually helped him a lot. It let him wrestle through a dark period in his life and he thought he would be the savior of TNA, but it never happened that way. Bischoff shows up and says he was a bit worried about Jeff due to his past reputation and that they had a group of interns that had the sole job of finding where the Hardy Boys were hiding.

-Matt says that the arrest wasn’t enough to break Jeff from his addiction and when he got to TNA it made matters worse. Jeff talks about how he and Matt would be filmed out in towns while drunk and high on pills. He remembers cutting a shoot promo on CM Punk and looking back it is embarrassing. They show the video of the Punk shoot and Jeff just rambles on about Punk needing to accept that there are other ways of living, outside of how he thinks.

-They show a video of Matt being out of his mind deciding to jump over a fire and he nearly falls back into it as the girl filming yells at him. It’s videos like all of these that justify why I made the decision to never touch any kind of alcohol or drugs.

-Shane Helms talks about a dinner he had with Matt and again he was about to pass out in his food. Because they were Team Extreme they kept taking things to the Extreme and again, these videos are just sad. Samoa Joe says that things got worse and culminated with the Sting match. Oh Boy!

-For those unaware Sting/Hardy was the Main Event of a TNA PPV and Jeff was pilled out of his mind. Bischoff says that against his better judgment he let Jeff go to the ring and realized it wasn’t going to work. Sting mentioned that he was excited to face Jeff and felt they were going to tear the house down. Bischoff comes out before the match can start and he says something to Jeff that previously wasn’t heard as far as I know, but they have an angle that shows Bischoff telling him, “Stinger Splash, Scorpion Death Drop, and you are out of here.” He then tells Sting to end it quick as I told him he is out of here. This is fantastic and amazing we are getting this stuff on the WWE Network now.

-Jeff says that Sting is one of his favorite wrestlers of all time and he was out of his mind on Somas and blew the whole deal. Jeff says that AJ Styles was pissed off and Styles says that he gave his body for TNA and someone like this was throwing things away. Jeff says that was the night that things were the worst and looking at that “match” now makes him sick. It was from there he started to get things back on track, but Matt was spiraling at the time.

-Matt started posting suicide notes on YouTube and Shane says that Matt liked the controversy and bragged about the likes and comments he would get. Jeff says that “Matt was off his rocker.” When you have Jeff saying that, then you are just so far gone. He follows up by saying that he and his brother weren’t close as that time. Reby says that she had periods where she didn’t see a future with Matt and wasn’t worried they would break up, but was worried he was going to die. Matt says he tried going cold turkey and when he couldn’t sleep he listened to someone who told him to take synthetic xanax. Matt says they were basically bath salts and that was when he was started having a string of bad decisions after bad decisions and legal trouble.

-His family and friends tried interventions. Reby actually is the one that blew the whistle and called the cops when they had an argument. For her it was a desperate, last resort to force him to get help. During a domestic dispute she told the police about the drugs and the cops found steroids and ecstasy.

-He finally went to rehab and he was busted for drinking in there and sent home. He says that a guy in there was hiding booze in the ceiling and he figured it was okay since he was trying to get off pills. He was tossed and when he flew back home the cops were waiting to arrest him. He had a million dollar bond and mentions there are people who do really bad things and don’t get that hefty of a bond. He knew he needed to get his stuff together and needed tough love. They show a video he shot before going to rehab where he breaks down talking to his fans.

-Two weeks later Jeff begins his sentence for his 2009 arrest. He was given 30 months active probation, but also had to spend 10 days in County Jail. He thought was going to go crazy as he spent 23 hours in the same room, but he was give a pencil and paper. He kept a journal to keep his sanity.

-Back to Matt and he says that he has been clean ever since. He has no desire to take anything and he doesn’t want his kids see their father like that. He thanks his wife because she saved his life and he needed someone on his ass like she was. They show footage of Matt with his kids and this is great to see after watching what he just went through. These videos have been bad enough and I can’t imagine what it was like for friends and family to live through it.

-Jeff also has stayed on the straight and narrow. He has 2 daughters (Ruby and Nera) and that is something that has helped him. He talks about his mother (Ruby) and in honor of her, that is where his first daughter got her name. They show both Haryds at their mother’s grave and talk about how she never drank, smoke, cursed and that was how they were raised. Matt says he never had a beer until he was 25 and they know she would have been disappointed in the decisions they made and scared about how they would end up. They both agree that their mother helped them through their issues even with her being gone.

-Matt talks about returning to TNA and he felt that he had matured and grown. He was given a blank slate and that is where he started getting the idea for being broken. Jeff calls Matt a genius and puts over the character as being the one that saved his career.

-Matt wanted the character to be like when the Undertaker first debuted. He knew people would think it was either amazing or the worst thing to ever happen to wrestling. They had the idea of The Final Deletion, and Jeff says it was a special night. They had a game plan and just ran with it. It is still amazing we are getting to see this on the WWE Network. Senor Benjamin! AWESOME! Jeff says the most important thing was that it was fun.

-The match went viral all over the place and it was fulfilling for both of them. Drew McIntyre mentions he was the Champion at the time and it was a tough act for him to follow. Jeff says it was just like them as kids filming movies. They talk about filming at a zoo and that is where they met Smoking Joe. Jeff says that the kangaroo got him good a few times and he nearly lost it laughing when Matt kept yelling “punish him Smoking Joe.” Hilarious!

-All this put them back on the WWE’s radar and they got a call from Michael Hayes. They spoke with Vince and it was all signed. They talk about working for Ring of Honor and winning their tag titles. They wanted to keep their Mania 33 debut secret, and would say anything to throw people off the scent. I will say that I figured it was coming because of the match being turned into a ladder match just days before the show. There was no other reason for that decision.

-We get backstage footage from Mania with them being hidden in a bus away from everyone. Matt talks about how crazy it was just getting to Gorilla and we get some great footage of them meeting Cena, Michaels, Flair, and Vince.

-The New Day announce the match as being a Fatal 4 Way and backstage Hayes tells Jeff to breath and he agrees that is a great idea. The New Day tease being the 4^th team, but no way that was happening. The Hardy music hits and the crowd goes absolutely bonkers. Easily the best moment of Mania 33. They have audio of someone at Gorilla screaming “oh my, that’s a pop.”

-The Hardys win a wonderful match where they hit all the right spots and gave the fans everything they wanted to see including Jeff killing his body for our entertainment. Jeff says he kept telling Matt to take in the moment because it was special.

-They run into Show in the back and he was so happy to see them. The look on Show’s face is fantastic and you can tell he really cares about them. AJ talks about how it was cool they they got him with the return. Reby cries as she talks about how happy she was to see Matt so happy.

-Back to Cameron on the farm as the brothers talk about Jeff’s torn shoulder. Jeff thought it was dislocated at first and then found it was a torn rotator cuff. They show footage from the surgery and it’s nasty looking as you would expect.

-With Jeff being out of action, they finally go all in with Matt being woken. He thinks Vince actually watched some of the Final Deletion and wondered what the hell he was watching, but gave them a chance.

-With that we get The Ultimate Deletion with Bray Wyatt and Matt says he had been thinking about this moment since he signed his new WWE deal. He knew there was pressure on him and he worked so hard getting to that moment that he wanted it to be good. He was happy with the match and says it was a launching pad. Jeff talks about how hard it was to watch as he wanted to play a bigger part in it and hopes there will be more.

-Jeff gets arrested in North Carolina as they show the local news story and mugshot. He was pulled over after a single vehicle crash. Jeff says that he wrecked his car because he was drinking and driving. Matt says that he was pissed and that sometimes his brother still worries him. Jeff says that he goes to counseling twice a week and he has to own it and block out the negativity.

-Mary 2018 we catch up with Jeff at the Performance Center as he works to get back in ring shape. He was nervous walking in the building because of his recent legal trouble. He says that his shoulder feels great and he needs to make up for his issues.

-On to Mania 34 with Matt leading the crowds on Bourbon Street in “delete” chants while he receives beads from fans. Matt talks about working in the Andre Battle Royal, and we get highlights from the match while they also show Jeff watching on a monitor in the back. Matt wins the match thanks to the help of his new friend, Bray Wyatt. Matt bowing down to the Andre statue was a wonderful character touch.

-Jeff says that he has no plans for tomorrow other than showing up at RAW. He ends up making his return in a 6 man tag. He says that he was nervous, but once he went through the curtain he was back at home. He thanks the fans for getting him back in the groove and most important to him was that his shoulder felt great.

-Back to the farm as Matt says that some entity feels they still need to be around and have work to do. We get a great video package of their life and careers. Matt says Mania 33 completed his redemption story and now he is just writing new chapters. They talk about life not being perfect and how nobody is too far gone and you can always come back. Jeff wraps it up by saying the sky is the limit.

-Amazing piece of business here and easily one of the best 24 episodes ever. On first watch this is right up there with the Angle one released last year. Redemption stories are always great as we root for people to fight back and get over what had control over them at one point. The battle with self may be easier to understand than anyone 1 vs 1 battle and that’s what this show presented. I loved that this story could be told now without having to skirt around the TNA era and kudos to all parties involved for working together. Both these guys have come a long way, but Jeff’s recent issue shows that the battle never stops and hopefully they will continue to get the support they need to stay on the right path. As for the show, again this is a must watch and this series continues to be hit it out of the park.