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Matt Hardy talks about his autobiography
THE HARDYS TALK ABOUT HEYMAN, MCMAHON, TRIPLE H, LITA, AND MUCH MORE
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Brief recap of Jeff on Canada
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LAW interview Part 2
Law: Earlier in the interview we talked a little bit about you and your brother setting up the trampoline in your backyard with the garden hose putting up the makeshift ropes. The company I guess towards the late nineties started putting out PSA’s you know “hey kids don’t try this at home, everyone on our roster is professionally trained, we don’t encourage backyard wrestling”, this kind of behaviour and the backyard wrestling that goes on now is certainly different then when it was with your brother growing up, but do you think that there’s an inconsistency there in the respect that here they are talking about how kids shouldn’t try this at home The The Hardy Boyz who really started their crafty in the backyard are on the roster, not only on the roster but push hard.
Jeff: There was a commercial advertisement a while back, I don’t think they air it anymore, but it was kinda creepy coz I remember one of the last things that shows is Droz laid out
Law: yeah after the D’LO move
Jeff: I don’t think they should air it all the time, it gives people a good idea of what happens but it’s so hard to like tell kids, coz I remember what its like to wanna do things I’d seen on TV, what it was like to be inspired by or influenced by wrestlers on TV, kids are gonna do it man, their parents are the only ones who can stop it.
Law: What do you say to a lot of the younger indy kids that are growing up, I’m sure you must, first of all they must send you tons of video tapes
Jeff makes a noise (I’m unsure whether it an uh-huh or a uh-nah)
Law: You must get that everywhere you go, what do you say to a lot of these kids that say “y’know Jeff Hardy I saw all your TLC matches and jumping off the ladders into stacks of tables, I’m gonna jump off that 30 foot ladder, I’m gonna show you, I’m gonna go one better” coz pro-wrestling has always been about sitting on the shoulders of those who came before you, you always have to be bigger than the last match that just went out, but there comes a point, as we’ve talked about in this interview where your body just says no, I can’t do this and with age comes wisdom, I mean you’ve been through this before, what do you say to a lot of these kids that say “y’know what I’m gonna get over the same way you did, but I’m gonna do it off a bigger ladder and through more tables”?
Jeff: When it comes to advice you can say “don’t do it” or whatever but man I know what it’s like to watch someone on TV and wanna do exactly what they did and to say stuff like “you’ll see me in the ring one day” but umm advice for like making it as a wrestler, Shannon Moore said this best, y’know Matt’s little M’Fer, someone asked him what advice he gives kids, he said “I’d say you need to run a term in the white house first”, its politics man, I was like “I love that answer, like for that question”
Law: But that’s the real sport though, it’s funny you talk about how you need to become a politician to be a pro-wrestler and that’s how you succeed, but its true, if you can’t navigate through the sharks in the ocean, in that locker room, in that backstage area, you’re dead.
Jeff: That’s for sure man, its politics all the way man.
Law: At what point did you realise this, coz growing up everyone thinks everyone in the locker room gets along and everyone’s working for the common good and whatever Vince says is gonna go, the reality is quite the opposite.
Jeff: Oh yeah, I think it was pretty fast as soon as we like started on the house shows, we went full time, in the book it mentions about Bradshaw and how much, man he gave us a hard time, we’d go to shake his hand and he’d say “Go to hell” y’know and wouldn’t extend his hand, that’s just y’know there braking you down, whatever, it’s crazy but I realised it right way.
Law: That right away you realised?
Jeff: that I had to play the game, like to be accepted.
Law: The moment you walk in and go and shake everyone’s hand and never turn down a good chance to keep your mouth shut.
Jeff: That’s it man, that’s the main thing, walking around making sure you’d get to everybody and shake their hand.
Law: Yeah, there’s a protocol backstage a lot of people don’t know this, but the moment you get in there, you go and make eye contact and shake hands with everybody, make sure you’re friendly with everybody, put everyone over, y’know “that match was great man”, “that match was Flairs steamboat man”, “that was steamboat Savage”, “that was awesome”, that’s really the way it is!
Jeff: Oh yeah for sure and I didn’t speak about the TLC match, I was gonna mention this, like when you’re talking about what you’re gonna do next after you’ve done such a great job in a match, like those TLS matches, I feel we have kinda ruined the TLC match because I don’t know how it would be topped, I don’t know what we’d do next coz it was so hard discussing those and topping the first ones we did and everything so…
Law: Is there one that sticks out in your mind that your most proud of?
Jeff: Probably the one form Raleigh, North Carolina, our home, I think it was the first one that we hung from the gimmicks, or whatever the belts, that was my idea at the end of or very first ladder match at No Mercy, in like whatever year that was, it always feels good to have a vision and then see to y’know real on TV.
Law: That bump is dangerous too, one you’re hanging from the belts and then you take that bump, that to me is almost as scary as bumping all those TLC matches, that’s the final spot, knowing the big huge bump is coming right at the end.
Jeff: That spear man, when Edge speared me off the belts, I love watching that man, at the time it naturally hurt and everything but that’s such a good feeling to see that back.
LAw: But that’s feast or famine too.
Jeff: Yeah that’s true
Law: I mean if you’re slightly off
Jeff: Yeah, yeah it’s a risk man, but we were very fortunate, one time I tried to walk across three ladders at the Houston, I tried that at WrestleMania, I was bummed out coz I never made it, I fell but I came up pretty good after.
Law: Ever say no to anything, you’re one of those guys that people look at on TV and say “that guy has never said no to anything”
Jeff: I have actually, like there’s one tie that stands out most that I said no to, and that was at one timer they wanted me to kiss Lita and that was one thing Matt and I had discussed and had said we would never do if they tried to do something like that, so that was a time when I just had to say “no I’m not gonna do it” and I was like “fire me, whatever”
Law: Repercussions for saying that?
Jeff: Oh Yeah! Yeah like getting beat pretty much, but that don’t phase me at all. I’ve always looked at wrestling as a great show, like a respectable show and I’ll applaud a winner and a loser but at the same time, the way it is now, the fans are lie, twisted, like the other night they were shouting “Rocky, Rocky, Rocky” and the same time coming with me so being both ways, strange crowds these days.
Law: The Matt Hardy split certainly gave you more TV time obviously on your own, more time to shine, the moment that people started to appreciate what you can do in singles was that ladder match with The Undertaker on Raw, which people watched and y’know you took a lot of risks in that bout, put your health at risk and a lot of times during that match it really looked to me for the first time that Jeff Hardy wasn’t, maybe not sure isn’t the right way to put it, almost a little bit hesitant to do a lot of stuff in that match but still went through with it anyway. That to me seemed like a really gutsy match for you because I think you had come to a point in your career where you realised “I’ve gotta start changing the way I work, but y’know what this match could make me on Raw”, what were your thoughts going into that Undertaker match?
Jeff: It was weird, the build up for that match was awesome, I remember probably getting to say a few things on the mic, after matches building up to it, which was great, every time somebody talks about that match or is asking me about it they say “y’know that was great, next week the ladder match” and the challenge was made, I was torn up basically, I was nervous man, going down this was another dreamlike situation, where I’m in the ring with the Undertaker and the ladder match is et up and I’ve challenged him to it, but y’know I was just hoping for the best and like I’m so proud of that match man, and there’s a bit of a difference to doing a TLC match with three teams, there’s so much more you have to do and that’s the whole deal with singles competition, there’s no resting on the apron, you gotta be in good condition.
Law: and remembering spot after spot, especially for that match
Jeff: oh yeah
Law: The story was Taker beats Jeff Hardy and beats him down but Jeff Hardy keeps getting up.
Jeff: um…yeah I forget what year it is (laughing), but yeah it’s different, real different.
Law: We talked about earlier in the interview, about injuries, the Cauliflower Alley Banquet was last weekend in Las Vegas and a lot of the talk from the older guys was that y’know all the stuff we’ve been saying about this stunt orientated style of wrestling is starting to catch up with the industry right now, and everyone’s sorta forced to rethink what a pro-wrestling match looks like and you need to work on telling a story, working the body parts, psychology “don’t worry if you get the boring chants the fans will be with it for the refinish, chill out”, talk to me a little bit about your mind, how you think you can re-educate this fan base that is used to the big bumps and how you can still grow your property and still grow your characters and not have everyone bail at the same time
Jeff: Ummm when it comes to psychology like and layouts of matches like man everybody’s got their own as far as I’m concerned, there’s not just one certain way to do it, RVD for example is very similar to myself, I think when it comes to putting matches together and psychology that’s the way we think it’s right or whatever…ummm…errr…what was the question again?
Law: In your mind, how do you change your style, without alienating your fans, people expect Jeff Hardy, spot after spot, up on the top rope, he’s flying he’s moving, how do you re-educate your fan base or change your personality to save your body.
Jeff: right, with signature moves like that I have now I think that that there are pretty enjoyable, as long as they see those moves they have a good time and they are satisfied, but with like the swanton that’s a move that takes a beating, I mean it put a beating on your spine, if I ever shoot it at a slight spin it kills my lower back and umm y’know I think I’ve got enough signature things and I’ve slowed down a lot that people just enjoy seeing it and I don’t have to do as much crazy aerial stuff.
Law: It’s almost a double edged sword, I know a lot of the boys have been told y’know calm it down we’ve got many guys injured on the roster, I mean going into WrestleMania you were losing a wrestler every single week or someone’s career was in jeopardy and suddenly agents had a mandate from Vince saying “calm it down, tell more of a story in the ring and you don’t need to do y’know outrageous bump after outrageous bump and then a lot of guys that would do that especially on house shows would come back behind the curtain and their agent would go “y’know we kinda needed something a little more snug in there “or “we kinda needed a few more bumps off the top”, do you feel there’s almost a mixed message in a lot of was when it comes down to the matches, on the one hand the agents and Vince wanna protect the health of the wrestlers but also need to have these expectations of these crazy matches
Jeff: That’s one thing where TV is so rushed, sometimes time gets sliced man, like you gotta rush, it’s horrible, it’s hard to stay cool in a situation like that where you don’t have much time, but saying things like that you’re right, I’m a big believer in hesitating is when you get hurt, say for example jumping off a ladder and you think what if I break my back, that’s kinda when you think about it too much, and that’s one thing I hate when people say you’re safe up there you can’t get hurt, I could break my leg walking down these stairs here leaving this building, it can happen at any time, I’ve always been a big believer in that, but holding back to a certain extent especially with my style is the right thing to do, I mean they take it a little to far when they try to push too many guys that are hurt out there, that can happen at any time, it’s just a job.
credit: jnh.com
COMPLETE RECAP OF JEFF ON THE LAW
LAW: Congratulations on what I think is really a superior effort, WWE?s been kinda hit and miss with the books, Mick?s stuff was great, Hogan on the other hand not so great, when I first read that the Hardy Boyz were releasing a book I was kinda sceptical at first, I didn?t now what to expect, I mean it?s not like you guys have been in the business for 15 to 20 years, I didn?t know what the frame of reference was gonna be but, I thought it was a really outstanding achievement, how do you feel?
Jeff: I feel great about it..uh..we were concerned how it was gonna be laid out at first being we?re the first and only tag team to do a biography?ummm?but I don?t think it could have been laid out any better. The interview form it?s in is great, we?re very happy with it.
LAW: Who?s idea was it, did you come to them ?hey me and matt wanna do a book? or did they say how about you guys
Jeff: Yeah they came to us, man, we were really surprised. Like, like especially me being 25 years old y?know, if felt kinda early to have a biography out there, hopefully in the future we?ll get to do separate ones or something, maybe, ourselves or whatever.
LAW: Feedback from some of the other guys I would imagine, Lawler?s book was an outstanding effort that thing was huge going back to the Memphis days against Lance Russell and all the great stories from Mid-South, certainly he has a historical perspective he can draw from, have any of the other guys outside of Lawler, maybe some of the other guys have commented on you literary efforts.
Jeff: Yeah, everyone?s been very happy with it and everyone?s complemented us good when they?ve reedit. The stories of us like making it are the best, you know and everything?umm?we?re happy with it.
LAW: That to me is really the strength of the book, coz your like, post 97 in the WWF now WWE has been well documented, plenty of websites, plenty of word of mouth, radio discussions, everything that is going on in pro-wrestling, not a lot was known in the formative stage of you and your brother becoming pro-wrestlers, can you talk a little about, and this is certainly in the book, talk a little about the impetus for Jeff and Matt Hardy to get into pro-wrestling in the first place.
Jeff: Umm?it was WrestleMania IV, we were watching it together and it was when nacho man won the title, that was kinda when we had our first sight of wrestling and we kinda fell for it?so?um at that point we said ?man lets start wrestling in your backyard? so and you know we eventually got a trampoline and went out in the woods, cut some trees down, got some garden hose and put them up for ropes, had shows like every Sunday and like would emulate what we had seen on TV.
LAW: Never hurt yourself?
Jeff: Oh no no, not too much, like some of the backyard stuff you see today, we didn?t do anything like that, that stuff is mad, it?s kinda outta control, but we were real, like kept it cool, and everything happened very like erm..everything worked out fine. I remember graduating high school and telling myself ? I?m just gonna give it like two years? coz I was wanting to go to college to give it full board, wrestling y?know and two years later we signed a contract right before the two years was up.
LAW: It?s been an amazing run, you were the main stays of Heat for a number of years, you were always the insiders picked and it was like ?hey man, when the hardys get picked it?s gonna be phat, it?s gonna be huge? and when you guys got your main stay on Raw and the tag team really took off I don?t think the company had seen a tag team like that in quite some years, you can argue that they hadn?t seen anyone like that work that style that outrageous since really the British Bulldog, especially the dynamite kid, were you surprised at how quickly you got over once you got over from Heat onto Raw?
Jeff: Yeah I was, it feels good to be kinda a part of like revolutionising the tag team ranks or whatever coz it was kinda dead when we came on the scene and like together with The Dudley Boys and Edge & Christian y?know we kinda rebuilt it and refilled the soul of the tag team competition, so it fells good to say we done that and being smaller guys too is another thing I?m real proud of coz it used to be like the land of giants, y?know if you weren?t 250 pounds you weren?t gonna be a WWE star, with 1-2-3 kid and X-Pac he was one of the first, Shaun he?s not huge, we were like the first small tag team.
LAW: There is a price for that too, the way for smaller guys to get noticed is to do the more outrageous bumps and the element of the stunt show in the matches, how?s your health right now?
Jeff: It?s alright man, it could be a lot worse I feel pretty good y?know, I can?t complain, with our style Matt?s slowed down, I?ve slowed down, coz you kinda have to, you can?t do it forever, I think it?s about time for, there?s gonna be another young crazy y?know person or kid to come in and jump of the 30 foot ladders do whatever, I?m almost down with that, coz I wanna keep my spine functionable.
LAW: With all the neck injuries right now, Adam Copeland is gone for a year, looking like Kurt was gonna be gone for a year, he?s gonna try some revolutionary type of invasive surgery as opposed to the vertebrae fused together, Steve?s neck is thrashed, Dr Youngblood has said that?s it no more wrestling for him, neck injuries are certainly a concern. How?s you neck?
Jeff: My neck is good, I hurt my neck bad one time in an indy show, it was kinda creepy coz I was trying to play it safe and instead of doing this big flip move I did a little pull back cross body and I ended up busting my head on the concrete, I temporarily couldn?t fell my legs, it was a creepy moment. That was the worst time I hurt my neck. I held up from that, I?ve been very fortunate and very lucky. Lita had surgery too.
LAW: That wasn?t from a wrestling match though.
Jeff: No No No
LAW: That was from doing television.
Jeff: Right, but she'll be back in like 3 months, I think, she was out for a year too. Wrestlers necks take punishment, that?s all there is too it.
LAW: The Hardy Boyz as characters have gone through various revolutions as well, how do you craft that character, the Jeff Hardy persona?
Jeff: Um?it just kinda happens like, with me, being in the singles ranks right now, being that I?m split with Matt, from Matt, we?ve got to do our own thing and I?ve got to do more that, y?know, I couldn?t really do with Team Xtreme, like I stood out too much. Now I just fell like I go with the flow and whatever kind of colour I feel like painting on Raw I just do, I don?t worry about whatever people think and I don?t worry about the other wrestlers being mad sometimes coz they got paint all over them, but that?s one of the things, one of the statements I make, with the fans I?m reading fan mail all the time, like they thank me for showing them don?t worry about what other people think and don?t be afraid to be yourself.
LAW: Speaking of your brother Mat Hardy, a couple of times, in fact they?ve had to pull the trigger on a singles feud between the two of you, that certainly is a staple when a tag team work together for any period of time and inevitably you have to do the split and one goes baby face and one goes heel and you do the program for as long as possible till it plays out, it always seemed you guys were never really into doing those singles matches against each other or maybe the company was hesitant to really go 100% with it. How come the singles programs they tried to push between you guys never really took off?
Jeff: I enjoyed it, I mean I remember at the time, we?ve gotten into real fights backstage coz there?s been so much tension between us, like with Lita there too, I mean, Matt hated it, every match we had he was like ?they don?t wanna see that?, he was right, that?s all there is to it. The fans didn?t want to see us fight. I enjoyed it, brothers fight all the time, I thought it was kinda cool, y?know to see us fight and kinda make up, I enjoyed it man. I?ll never forget the one night we?ve gotten into a fight coz matt was all over me about ?you forgot this, you forgot that? and I was like ?whatever?, this was backstage, I ended up stomping away to get myself together.
LAW: You know it?s gotta be difficult for a tag team that is so over as baby faces and not just individually, both you guys as a tag team were outside of, jeez, The Dudley Boys at the height of their popularity, the most popular baby face tag team the company has seen in the last fives years trying to pull the trigger on a singles feud between the two really asks a lot of the fans and that?s why I though it didn?t work, because no-ones gonna pick a heel here, you guys find there?s no way the fans are gonna, at the end of the day Vince says there?s your shades of grey, there?s no white/black hat bit there is really is an element in matches of a baby face and heel, the fans were able to say ?ok this is the good guy, this is the bad guy?
Jeff: You?re exactly right, that?s exactly what it was like, it was obvious the fans were like that.
LAW: On of the thrills for you must be working with Michael Hayes, I know you were a big fan growing up, he?s now an agent in WWE, working backstage, what?s it like working with someone that you grew up idolising. Is it tough?
Jeff: It?s crazy, it?s weird, it?s very dreamlike, even like in the ring with The Rock the other night, like, that stuff like only happens in dreams, it?s still hard to really y?know take in, but it?s real, it?s reality, it?s cool, I couldn?t ask for a better job y?know, to work with someone like Michael Hayes, some one you watched as a fan is just the best and he has such a brilliant mind for wrestling and putting matches together.
LAW: Is it hard to have a real conversation with Michael, I mean idolising some one growing up and then being able to work with them in some respect must be star struck a little bit, especially at first, is it as you?re laying out a match is it difficult to say, you know what Hayes I don?t like this right here or maybe we changes this around and you know what I don?t like the heat over here let?s move this. Is it difficult to get all of your thoughts out when you having a conversation with someone that you grew up respecting as much as Michael Hayes.
Jeff: At first it?s real weird, like now we?re sp close after being on the road with somebody for like month after month you develop a bond y?know, you feel comfortable around them like, right now if I feel something different I don?t hesitate to bring it up, y?know as far as opinions go. It?s weird at first, I just met Goldberg and that was weird, y?know I was watching him while he was in WCW
LAW: What?s it like having Bill around? He?s a new shark in the water/
Jeff: He?s great man, he?s a nice guy man. He?s awesome, he looks like a lion whenever he turns around and screams (Jeff does his best Lion impression)
LAW: No-ones ever gonna accuse him of being Ric Flair but he has amazing physical charisma.
Jeff: That?s for sure
LAW: Exciting having a guy like that in the locker room. Does it feel like there?s a new superstar around, does it feel like here?s someone who can give the business a shot in the arm.
Jeff: Yeah definitely, and I think there is only one more talent to come back and that would be Sting if here were to sign up, I heard that he?s in negotiations or whatever. Its great Bill Goldberg will do nothing but boost the ratings.
credit JeffNeroHardy[DOT]com and Nikki_Swanton