Jeff Hardy has come a long way. He certainly had his fair share of personal problems in the past. Before he left WWE the last time he had already racked up a couple violations of WWE’s Wellness Policy. There might be a chance those violations could still count against him too. It’s a good thing he appears to have changed his ways.
Demons in pro wrestling are anything but scarce. Unfortunately, it is a tale as old as the business itself. Jeff Hardy recently spoke to Colt Cabana on his “Art Of Wrestling” podcast and went into hitting rock bottom at Victory Road 2011 and the problems he had with drugs leading up to that night.
“I knew deep down, I can’t live my life like this. I can’t depend on this pill every day to get this feeling — I knew better” Jeff Hardy said. “Luckily for me I never got withdrawals.” He said he wasn’t sure why he never experienced withdrawals from the opiate and soma pills he was taking. Jeff said he had witnessed his brother Matt go through drug withdrawals in the past. But it never happened to him.
“I left WWE in ’09. I stayed a couple extra months because Undertaker wasn’t ready to come back or something. Long story short, I basically left. Two weeks later I was arrested. Too many pills. It was crazy sitting in a jail cell going ‘what the f—? My life’s over.'”
Jeff said this happened before somas were a controlled substance and he could get them mailed to them. He said he kept taking them but cut out the other drugs the best he could.
“In 2011 with Sting, I was taking somas” Jeff said, “I went out there f—– up. Man, I couldn’t even wrestle. For the first time in my life, I went too far. I couldn’t wrestle with my idol basically: Sting. And he had to do the right thing and shut me down and pin me.”
Jeff said he watched the Victory Road 2011 main event against Sting to gain an epiphany. He said that 1-minute 28-second match was his eye-opener to him. We’re very glad Jeff had that moment of clarity. It helped him overcome a terrible time in his life.
Now Jeff is back with WWE and has a great story ahead of him. We can’t wait to see what he’ll do next. Let’s just hope he doesn’t slip back into addiction. But right now, he looks like he’s got all of his charismatic ducks in a row.
If you use any quotes from this article please credit “Art Of Wrestling” with a H/T to Still Real To Us for the transcription.
