On a recent edition of his “Something To Wrestle With” podcast, WWE executive Bruce Prichard discussed Jeff Hardy challenging Randy Orton for the WWE Championship at the 2008 Royal Rumble pay-per-view event.
You can check out the highlights from the podcast below:
On WWE’s approach to Jeff Hardy: “You have to take a wait-and-see approach otherwise that’s bad business. You have a situation here where you have a great talent, unbelievable talent who can do any and everything with a great attitude and a huge upside, but they’ve got demons.”
On WWE officials waiting to see if Hardy was ready for the top spot: “The belief amongst everyone was one of, Jeff has everything. Jeff had the world in the palm of his hand and every time the demons kind of come and grab him. He’s just such a wonderful, warm, nice guy and you want to help him. But, at some point, you have to help yourself, and that’s what they were waiting for.”
On why Hardy didn’t win the WWE Title at Royal Rumble 2008: “It would have been great to be able to have been able to crown a new champion there, but cooler heads prevailed, and I think it was the right call.”
Hardy failed to dethrone Orton at the event. The Charismatic Enigma would win his first WWE Championship later in the year at WWE Armageddon 2008 in December.
