While admitting it would be hypocritical to say whether a wrestling storyline had crossed the line, Paul Heyman has hit out at the WWE for last weekend’s Jeff Hardy angle.

On Sunday morning, WWE just hours before their Survivor Series PPV “reported” that Hardy had been found unconscious at his hotel in Boston.

As we reported shortly afterwards and as it panned out later that day, the “incident” was WWE’s idea of a good storyline to get some last minute coverage ahead of the night’s show.

The angle was widely considered in bad taste, but while Heyman refuses to judge on whether that is the case, he told The Sun: “For some people, the manner in which WWE presented this storyline twist was just revolting.

“The callous view taken by WWE chairman Vince McMahon and those around him, not even taking into account how brazenly insensitive this storyline may be viewed, is yet another in a long line of demonstrations by McMahon that getting people talking is paramount.

“He feels that no rules apply because ‘it’s only entertainment’ and people should embrace the soap opera-like enticements to stay tuned.

“I think it was just bad business.

“WWE made the conscious choice to present a scenario that called for speculation as to why the reportedly twice-suspended Hardy was found unconscious in his hotel.

“Not once did WWE report the entire day ‘Hardy was jumped by an unknown assailant’ – that ‘new information’ was revealed only during the PPV broadcast.

“To make matters worse, WWE acted like regional promoters in the 1970’s, appearing to be almost giddy at the fact several mainstream news agencies picked up the story as legitimate.

“”They’re buying it as a shoot!” Whoopie!

“This type of behaviour just leaves such a bad taste in the mouths of people who already look down on pro wrestling/sports entertainment.”

You can read Heyman’s piece in full by clicking here.

Phil Lowe
phil@ifight365.com