WWE has been known to turn real-life events into angles but one, in particular, went too far for Matt Hardy.
Back in 2008, Jeff Hardy’s house burned down and his dog died as a result. Matt told reporters that he initially thought his brother was a goner but thankfully that wasn’t the case.
WWE decided to use this as a storyline on TV with Matt acting as if he started the fire.
“This Is In Poor Taste”
Speaking to Freddie Prinze Jr. on Wrestling With Freddie, Matt Hardy looked back on the uncomfortable angle (h/t WrestlingNews.co).
“That was an event that was so tragic and so sad. Literally, his house burned down. All the old tights and all his old gear were lost in the fire.
“His dog died. It was a really traumatic event for him. Just for them to put that in our storyline was almost like it was in bad taste. I’ll never forget them burning a dog collar and then I held the dog collar.
“I remember saying, ‘I don’t know. I mean, I’ll do it. If this is what you guys want me to do, I’ll do it. But like, this could be too much.’ I could just feel the air coming out of the crowd. It’s not that they were mad at me because I’m playing the bad guy in the story. They were mad at me because this is in poor taste. So that’s how it felt.”
Jeff chimed in and said that he was irate when WWE management tried getting him “fired up” over the angle. He was shown a video package featuring his dog and nearly burst into tears.
He felt there was a complete disregard for how he was feeling following the tragic event.
