WWE SmackDown Smacks/Downs: What a tone-deaf opener

Down: using Hardy’s substance abuse issues (again) in angles

Look, I understand this is all in an attempt to further the feud between Hardy and Sheamus, who seems like the obvious culprit in setting up Hardy to take the fall (it was a “wrong place, wrong time” situation for Elias). I understand a good portion of pro wrestling angles and stories involves the shock factor. I understand real-life situations are kayfabed all the time in pro wrestling. I understand wrestlers at Hardy’s level generally have the power to modify or approve angles pitched to them.

That doesn’t excuse WWE (again) using Hardy’s substance abuse history as part of a story.

Granted, every viewer above the age of 10 probably understands he was set up and he didn’t relapse, but that is a thin line to walk.

I don’t need to go into the details of his past as most of us know his tribulations, including bottoming out (wrestling-wise) at Victory Road in 2011.

To recap, the show opened with a shot of Elias on the ground and a car propped up on a curb with its hood and driver-side door opened. Renee Young continually updated the situation as the camera went between different shots.

The “police” found an open but full liquor bottle in the car (that one sniffed) and registration showing it was Hardy’s rental car. The police and some WWE producers (including Jason Jordan!) ran towards the back and found Hardy moaning and in pain. He was then arrested and taken into custody on charges of public intoxication, driving under the influence (DUI), and hit-and-run.

Just a reminder that Hardy’s most recent troubles with the law included charges of public intoxication and DUI, so yeah…

They even suggested he might be inebriated, and not, you know, maybe concussed due to the “impact” of the accident…or being jumped by Sheamus.

It’s all the more perplexing and frustrating they ran this angle considering they spent four weeks on the “Jeff Hardy Comeback Story.” Yes, one of the four videos discussed his personal, legal, and substance abuse issues, but his videos framed as him having finally overcome those vices.

It helped rebuild a cache for Hardy with a certain segment of the audience who have been scorned one too many times by his troubles, as well as painting a redemption story that now seems moot. Why are they so quickly reverting to the “Jeff Hardy relapsed again” story, even if just a smokescreen?

WWE is very selective in which real-life situations they kayfabe. It’s not like we’re having redemption angles around Randy Orton’s use of the n-word (though props to him for tweeting #BlackLivesMatter in response to the death of George Floyd) or his Wellness Policy violations (beyond poking fun at them).

It’s not WWE is actively pushing Jake Atlas as an openly homosexual wrestler even after touting him as such when they signed him. It’s not like WWE explicitly stated that KofiMania was about being Black and a Black World Champion.

No. Instead we have WWE harping on substance abuse issues, an issue affecting millions of people in this country, in a negative light with seemingly no steps towards morality. If WWE used more tact in these situations (and they haven’t even just with Hardy), I would have more faith that this angle could possibly help achieve some shift in consciousness.

Now, if we turn to the pro wrestling aspect and examine the angle in a more micro sense, there were plenty of details missed that made me want to yell in frustration. First, look at the car. There are no dents, no shattered windows, nary a scratch for a vehicle propped on the curb and its hood open. Speaking of the hood, it looks like someone gently opened it and walked away rather than it being forced open due to impact.

Elias was also (from what we could see) unscathed, but unconscious. Wouldn’t there be some visible marks or scratches/blood after being hit with a car and landing on asphalt? Considering WWE.com reported that Elias has broken ribs and a torn pectoral muscle, one would think there would be more visible signs of damage.

I already mentioned the visibly full open liquor bottle with no spillage (remember, the car was propped up and angled). Did you notice when the cops ran back with the producers to find Hardy, they told Young, “Stay back miss, this is a crime scene,” but didn’t seem to care that the producers and camera operator were running back there with them?

Further, once they found Hardy, it didn’t seem like anyone was trying to figure out what happened to Hardy; they already assumed the worst. Even more egregious was the rent-a-cops deciding to arrest Hardy without conducting a single field sobriety test. They would have known then that he didn’t do it rather than spending the time (and kayfabe taxpayer dollars) taking him to the precinct to conduct tests there.

Details, details, details.

WWE.com did release a statement saying Hardy passed sobriety tests at the precinct, “therefore absolving Hardy of the charges.” That helped explain how he was able to show up at the end of the show to thwart Sheamus’ second attempt in the Intercontinental Championship Tournament, but was offset by the confusion of announcers Michael Cole and Corey Graves, who were befuddled at how Hardy could possibly appear.

This was just bad all around from the tone-deafness of using Hardy’s sobriety issues to the micro details of booking the segment that escaped WWE. There was a much easier way to book Sheamus against Daniel Bryan and maintain heat on Sheamus without reverting to poor-taste, controversial angles…