During a recent episode of 83 Weeks, Eric Bischoff spoke on the match between Sting and Jeff Hardy in TNA that saw Hardy show up to the event too intoxicated to work. Here’s what he had to say:
Once I got close to Jeff, if it was obvious he was fucked up. Whoever the agent was, he says he’s fucked up, and he’s too fucked up to work. Then it became, who’s calling this? Because it wasn’t my job. I was the executive producer of the television show, and I technically had no authority whatsoever and no official role in the pay-per-view unless I was a talent or was asked for input on creative. So, I was just kind of standing there waiting for someone to make a decision and no decisions are being made. Now Jeff is making his way out to the ring.
There was no captain of the ship in Gorilla. Dixie [Carter] was there, and it was my exchange with Dixie that was the catalyst for me to say fuck it, nobody else is gonna do anything. The bell is gonna ring, and it can’t go down like this. I don’t want to make it sound like I’m putting myself over or I cared so much about Sting…..it was the show. I was concerned about the show. I didn’t want Sting going out there and trying to have a match with a guy who was completely fucking wasted. I wasn’t worried about Sting getting hurt. Sting was able to take care of himself. But the match would’ve been the shits, and I didn’t want Sting to be in that position. Sting didn’t know, and he had no idea Jeff was gonna show up fucked up.
I literally walked through the curtain not knowing what I was gonna do……there were two things that were crossing my mind. My first instinct was because I was a heel, I thought I might – and this is gonna sound like tough guy shit, but my daughter could’ve knocked out Jeff Hardy at that point – just go out and knock him out. Drop him, have the referee call the match, disqualification. By the time I walked through the curtain and got halfway down the aisle, I realized that wouldn’t work because of the no DQ thing. So, I started to improv the story and laying out a promo. What I was trying to do was buy time to figure out how to communicate to Jeff, the referee, and Sting. So, I did what I did. I told Jeff to take his finish. I went to Sting, and that’s where it got a little creative because I was trying to talk to Sting at the same time I was trying to cut a promo and trying to hide it all to make it look like it was part of the show. That was it.
You can listen HERE.
Credit: 83 Weeks. H/T 411Mania.