10 Impact Wrestling decisions that they still regret

#2 Sending Jeff Hardy to the ring impaired

Letting Jeff Hardy work in an impaired state was a huge mistake.

The Victory Road 2011 main event was a disaster. Sting defended the world title against Jeff Hardy, only Hardy came to the ring legitimately impaired by substance use. So, after a slow minute or so, Sting abruptly forced him into a pinning position for the win. The match was an embarrassment for everyone involved.

Fans chanted expletives, and Sting yelled back that he agreed. In an attempt to make good, the company offered PPV buyers free access to their on-demand service. While it was a reasonable gesture, the offer did little to quell discontented fans or erase the memory of this ugly occurrence.

According to reports at the time, Hardy did not seem dangerously impaired until moments before he came to the ring. This seems at odds with Hardy’s state when he did actually get in front of cameras, and it portrayed the company in an awful light that they’d send someone who seemed at all impaired out to the ring, let alone to work such a high profile match.