#2 Jeff Hardy vs Sting at Victory Road
TNA Victory Road, 2011. The Icon, Sting, was scheduled to defend his TNA Heavyweight Championship against one Jeff Hardy.
Now there have been countless pro wrestlers over the years who’ve wrestled under intoxication. On some level, it used to be an encouraged practice because there was a popular theory that it took the edge off the bumps they had to endure.
To give you an idea of just how commonplace it was, there was a time when even the gold standard of pro wrestling, The Undertaker, used to have his stomach pumped out before his match as he used to turn up to wrestle in a drunken stupor every day.
But what Jeff Hardy did was one step too far even for an industry, like pro wrestling, that operates almost entirely in the grey.
Even as he stumbled to the ring, swaying unsteadily, it was apparent to viewers that something wasn’t right. His eyes were completely unfocused and even beneath his elaborate make-up, you could discern that the man was completely out on his feet.
The match would last just over a minute as Sting – made aware of his opponent’s inability to compete – called an audible and forcibly kept Hardy’s shoulders down for the three count.
The whole episode remains, till today, one of the saddest debacles in pro wrestling history.
