For those of you who don't know, I am a professional wrestling fan. I love the business and can't get enough of it. Becoming a part of the business on the wrestling side is a living dream of mine. I eat, breath, sleep pro wrestling. As of recently, one of my favorite pro wrestlers and an inspiration of mine has returned after a long and unnecessarily drawn out court battle. His name is Jeff Hardy.
In a nutshell, Jeff debuted with what is now World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in the late 1990s. After being exposed to the life on the road at the young age of 16, Jeff fell into drugs and had gotten in trouble with WWE brass frequently causing his release. Jeff then wrestled for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) which is now Impact Wrestling. After about 3 years, Jeff returned for another run with WWE in which he won the WWE Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship. Jeff declined to resign his contract with WWE and went to wrestle for TNA for a second time. Jeff quickly rose through the ranks and became the TNA World Champion in the middle of a "heel" or bad guy turn. After a few months as the champ, Jeff arrived at a TNA Pay-Per-View in no condition to compete. TNA then sent Jeff Hardy home until his drug court case-which had been going on since his return to TNA-was over with. As of today, Jeff Hardy has plead guilty and will serve 10 days in jail, 30 months of probation and pay a $100,000 fine. Also, Jeff Hardy returned to TNA or Impact Wrestling tonight and apologized to the fans for what he had put them through.
As I said, I'm a huge Jeff Hardy fan. I love how he wrestles and he is one of many inspirations of mine to become a pro wrestler. On the other hand, watching Jeff's rise to fame, fall from grace, rise again, fall again and hopefully another rise has really made me think of the kind of person I want to be when I become a pro wrestler. I understand that there are many temptations to become friends with a bottle of alcohol or pills but seeing all the repercussions it is brought not only Jeff but many other wrestlers has made me really think of how I will combat these temptations. In no way has Jeff's career in or out of the ring made me rethink my dream but it has made me think ahead. I want to remember my time in front of the camera, not just pretend to. I plan on being a family man. To me, my future family comes before my career. I will do any and everything possible to provide the best life I can for them and I know that booze and pills can't do that.
Jeff's one of the lucky ones. By that, I mean despite everything he does out of the ring he's still alive. There probably hasn't been such a heavily followed drug case involving a pro wrestler since the Chris Benoit incident in 2007. Chris's steroid problem caused him to kill his wife, son and them himself. It also nearly killed the WWE. My plea to those who read this is truly inspect your heroes lives. Just because you want to do what you see them do doesn't mean you should do what they do when the cameras are off.
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