One Soccer: Jeff Hardy

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Jeff Hardy

Jeffrey Nero "Jeff" Hardy (born August 31, 1977)is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his stints in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he is a former two–time TNA World Heavyweight Champion and World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment (WWE).Before gaining prominence in WWE, Hardy performed for the Organization of Modern Extreme Grappling Arts (OMEGA), a promotion he ran with his brother Matt. After being signed by WWE, the brothers worked as jobbers,before gaining notoriety in the tag team division, partly due to their participation in Tables, Ladders, and Chairs matches.With the addition of Lita, the team became known as Team Xtreme and continued to rise in popularity.As a tag team wrestler, Hardy is a six-time World Tag Team Champion and a one-time WCW Tag Team Champion.Hardy has also experienced success as a singles wrestler and is a five-time world champion, having held the WWE Championship once, the World Heavyweight Championship twice and the TNA World Heavyweight Championship twice, a four-time Intercontinental Champion, and has held the Light Heavyweight, and European Championships once each. He is also a former Hardcore Champion, having held the championship on three occasions. He received his first major main event push towards the end of 2007, including challenging for the WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble in 2008, and eventually won the WWE Championship at the Armageddon pay-per-view in December 2008.Hardy went on to win the World Heavyweight Championship twice, before he left WWE in mid-2009. He returned to TNA in January 2010, and in October of that year, he won the TNA World Heavyweight Championship for the first time.Moreover, Hardy is involved in motocross, music, painting, and other artistic endeavors. He is currently a member of the band Peroxwhy?gen.

On TNA's first live Monday edition of Impact! on January 4, 2010, Hardy made his return to TNA, along with Shannon Moore.He was attacked by Homicide after emerging from the crowd, but hit Homicide with a steel chair and performed the Twist of Fate on the Impact! Zone ramp.He later appeared in backstage segments throughout the evening. The following day, it was reported that Hardy had signed a new contract with TNA.Hardy would make his next appearance for the company on the March 8 episode of Impact!, saving D'Angelo Dinero, Abyss and Hulk Hogan from A.J. Styles, Ric Flair and Desmond Wolfe.The following week Hardy defeated the TNA World Heavyweight Champion A.J. Styles in a non-title match. On the April 5 episode of Impact! Hardy was introduced as a member of Team Hogan for the annual Lethal Lockdown match, where they would face Team Flair.At Lockdown Team Hogan (Hardy, Abyss, Jeff Jarrett and Rob Van Dam) defeated Team Flair (Sting, Desmond Wolfe, Robert Roode and James Storm). At Sacrifice Hardy defeated Mr. Anderson.After the event, Anderson turned face and eventually managed to convince the skeptical Hardy that he really had changed, after which the two went on to form a tag team.At Slammiversary VIII Hardy and Anderson, now known as Enigmatic Assholes, defeated Beer Money, Inc. (Robert Roode and James Storm) in a tag team match.On the August 19 episode of Impact! the TNA World Heavyweight Championship was vacated and Hardy was entered into an eight man tournament for the championship, defeating Rob Terry in his first round match.At the semifinals at No Surrender Hardy first wrestled Kurt Angle to a twenty minute time-limit draw, after which Eric Bischoff ordered a five minute period of extra time. After that and a second five minute extra time period also ended in draws, it was ruled that Angle was unable to continue and the match ended in a no contest. After wrestling a draw on the September 16 episode of Impact!, it was announced that both Hardy and Angle would advance to the finals at Bound for Glory, where they would compete with Mr. Anderson in a three–way match.At Bound for Glory, Hardy turned heel with Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff and with their help defeated Angle and Anderson to win the TNA World Heavyweight Championship for the first time. They were then joined by Jeff Jarrett and Abyss, revealing the group that Abyss had been referring to as "they" for several months.On the following edition of Impact! the stable was named Immortal, as it formed an alliance with Ric Flair's Fortune. Meanwhile, Hardy debuted a new dark character, using cryptic messages as he explained the reasons behind his turn. At Turning Point Hardy retained his title in a defense against Matt Morgan, a replacement for Mr. Anderson, who was sidelined after suffering a concussion during an attack by Hardy. On the following episode of Impact! Hogan presented Hardy with a new design of the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, which he dubbed the TNA Immortal Championship. At Final Resolution in December, Hardy successfully defended the championship in a rematch against Morgan after incapacitating the special guest referee Mr. Anderson and having a replacement referee count the pinfall. On January 4, 2011, Hardy made his debut for New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) at Wrestle Kingdom V in Tokyo Dome, where he successfully defended the TNA World Heavyweight Championship against Tetsuya Naitō.On January 9 at Genesis, Hardy's brother, Matt, made his TNA debut as a surprise member of Immortal and defeated Rob Van Dam to prevent him from receiving a match at Hardy's championship. That same night Hardy gave Anderson a match for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, immediately following Anderson's victory in a number one contender's match. Despite Matt, Flair, and Bischoff interfering in an attempt to help Hardy, Anderson defeated Hardy for the championship.On the January 13 episode of Impact! the Hardy Boyz reunited and defeated Anderson and Van Dam in a tag team match, following interference from Beer Money, Inc..On the February 3 episode of Impact!, Hardy received his rematch for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. The rest of Immortal interfered in the match, but were stopped by Fortune, which led to Anderson retaining the championship.[164] On February 13 at Against All Odds Hardy defeated Anderson in a ladder match to regain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. Hardy held the championship for less than two weeks, defending it once against Rob Van Dam, before losing it to Sting on February 24, at the tapings of the March 3 edition of Impact!.On March 13 at Victory Road, Hardy received a rematch for the title under No Disqualification rules, but was defeated in ninety seconds.TNA had made the decision to cut the match short after deeming that Hardy was in no condition to wrestle.The following day it was reported that TNA had sent Hardy home from the week's Impact! tapings. On the March 17 episode of Impact!, Immortal severed their ties with Hardy.