WWE has had a mix of characters over the years both inside and out of the ring and there are not many that can match the journey Jeff Hardy has been on.

He has been arrested at an airport, charged with trafficking controlled prescription pills and possession of anabolic steroids, found guilty and placed in jail for ten days.

But in the ring he has also been a part of some of the most memorable times in WWE or the then-named WWF. The Hardy Boyz are a tag-team partnership between Jeff and brother Matt which first captured the imagination of the wrestling universe from 1998 to 2002.

In his own right Jeff went onto win the WWE Championship twice and became the TNA champion on three separate occasions, and it was in the latter company where he became most infamous.

Particularly, a match with legend Sting in 2011 saw Hardy turn up drunk and completely out of it, something which made for awful viewing for fans in the arena and at home watching on TV. 

Sting, who attended the Wales Comic Con in Wrexham last Saturday and took part in a Q&A session, explained what it was like to face Hardy that day and what he had to do to make sure everything went as smoothly as it could.

“Jeff was in a bad way, he was deteriorating as the day went on, by the time our match rolled around it became clear that he couldn’t compete so I had to take him down quickly,” Sting admitted. “He has since turned it all around, I love Jeff, I love his work. I hold nothing against him and wish him all the best.”

The good news for Jeff Hardy and the wrestling public at large is that he’s managed to turn his life around, as Sting alludes to above.

He made a second return to WWE this year at WrestleMania 33 alongside brother Matt as the duo landed the Tag Team Championship once again by defeating teams of Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, Cesaro and Sheamus, and Enzo Amore and Big Cass in a ladder match for the Raw Tag Team Championship.

The Hardy Boyz lost the title in a steel cage match against Cesaro and Sheamus at Extreme Rules. Jeff Hardy has since suffered a shoulder injury in September and will reportedly be sidelined for around another three months.