Jim Ross on Why the Edge & Jeff Hardy Rivalry Worked So Well

On a recent episode of his podcast, Grilling JR, Jim Ross discussed a wide range of topics including the Edge vs. Jeff Hardy feud in 2009. Here are the highlights:

On the Edge vs. Jeff Hardy feud in 2009: “These two guys had paid their dues, as we say — probably too much. But they looked at this as a great opportunity. Two guys who are primarily known as tag team wrestlers as a result of the TLC matches. So now you split them up a little bit, and you got Edge and Jeff Hardy who already had a relationship, so to speak, a rivalry. They knew how to work with each other. So I thought it was good, I had no issue whatsoever with that match closing the show. There might have been some talent who did, because of the entitlement thing. But I thought he was a good man.

“It was what we needed to do. We needed to get some new blood in the main event slots to see how they were going to do. And I thought both those guys delivered famously… Two young guys who made their mark and tag team wrestling, finally getting a singles opportunity to close a pay-per-view for the title. You don’t need to say much more than that. And they took that as a challenge, and they went out there and had a hell of a match. I thought it was just outstanding. I thought these guys could have used a little bit more time if they needed it. But it was good, it was really good.”

On Jeff Hardy: ” All those guys like that were looking for opportunities. And we saw that Jeff Hardy was going to be a big star. The audience just gravitated to him for whatever other reason — and I’m not saying that in a negative way, they loved the guy. He excited them. He gave them something new and fresh. And during that time, I didn’t know that we had a better heel than Edge. He might have been the best we had. I don’t know who [else] would be. But he was great because he worked at it, he perfected it. And I just really had a lot of love for both those guys.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit the Grilling JR podcast with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.