In a night that will be remembered for all the wrong reasons, Jeff Hardy lost the TNA World Heavyweight title match in 2011 to Sting because he arrived to the match high off Soma. Before the bell could ring, Eric Bischoff’s music hit and he came down to the ring while cutting an impromptu heel promo and even going as far as changing the match to a No DQ match. After the promo, Bischoff shook hands with both Hardy and Sting while keeping the microphone lowered so you couldn’t hear what was being said. It turns out, Bischoff caught on to how out-of-it Hardy actually was and instructed Sting to hit his finisher immediately and get the pin. Sting was visibly and audibly angry at what was transpiring before him. After only a few seconds, Sting was victorious and the match was over.
Bully Ray talked to Vliet about the incident and his idea for an alternative ending:
I remember being in the gorilla position and Eric was flipping out. I said to Eric, ‘Let me go down there, I’ll save this for you.’ And he goes, ‘What are you going to do?’ I said, ‘I’ll slide in, I’ll attack Sting, I’ll pull out a table, and I’ll have Sting put me through the table.’ I said, ‘As long as that table breaks and its the last thing people see, they’ll go home happy.’ He said, ‘Uh, no, no, no.’ So, no big deal. I was just trying to come up with an idea last second and try to save the show. I remember him coming up to me the next day or next week or whatever. He told me, ‘Man, I really appreciate that.’ Blah, blah, blah. You know, ‘Thanks for stepping up to the plate.’ Whatever he said, he was acknowledging the willingness for me to go out there and allow myself to get put through the table.
Unfortunately, they did not go with Bully’s suggestion and what we got was a wildly disappointing main event for their top title. You can catch the full interview here: