Shortly after Jeff Hardy made his return to television earlier this year, WWE turned his problems with substance abuse into a storyline.
Specifically, his feud with Sheamus had many controversial segments that upset fans. Some angles they did include a DUI hit & run angle, drug testing that resulted in Hardy throwing urine in the face of Sheamus, broken bottles, and more. They even had a bar fight.
In a recent interview with the Daily Star, Hardy spoke about this. The current Intercontinental Champion defended WWE’s decision to go with this storyline.
“The stuff with Sheamus that’s happened most recently, I knew there was a great outcome in it. I knew that bar fight was going to be cinematic and good.” Hard stated. “All the stuff building up to that match, I just knew the outcome was going to be fantastic. And it’s good to face challenges like that because there’s so much negativity in the world. Hopefully, I’m doing that through the television screen and helping people I’ll never know.
Hardy stated that he doesn’t read comments or the negativity of people who thought it was wrong or WWE was treating him badly. Instead, he has confidence in himself to get through with the feeling that something’s going to be good so he runs with it.
“There was some heavy stuff there in the beginning, especially with the wreck scenario. It was just very heavy stuff. Hardy said. “Throughout all of that, so long as I can continue to do good, especially with this, my last chance to get it right, it is going to inspire people around the world that I’ll never meet, that need to stay sober to survive.”
He said the idea of the bar fight was thrown out there and he came up with a script about how the match could go. Although most of his ideas didn’t happen, he loved doing it. He stated that it did feel good to have ideas they liked and at least be able to bring them to life as he comes from being involved in the recovery world.
You can check out the full interview here.