Sting talks debacle with Jeff Hardy at Victory Road, says he's glad to have him back in TNA

Back on March 13, Sting defended his TNA heavyweight title against Jeff Hardy at the Victory Road pay-per-view in the main event. The match was an absolute disaster, lasting just over one minute because Sting and Eric Bischoff had to call an audible on the spot thanks to Hardy showing up in no condition to perform.

Which is a nice way of saying he was zonked out of his head.

Because of the debacle, Hardy was sent home by the company and ordered to finally get some actual treatment for his drug problems. He never did and he was eventually sentenced to 10 days in jail, of which is he now serving as of this writing, for his arrest back in 2009.

Sting has remained largely quiet about the nature of that now infamous match but recently gave an interview to Fighting Spirit Magazine (via The Sun) and had this to say about it:

"I knew there was trouble a couple of hours before the match and it seemed to get worse as the night progressed. I had high hopes that by some miracle it would pan out - and we would be able to actually have a match - because we had something pretty good worked out. It didn't happen that way. It just deteriorated, it got to the point that what happened, had to happen. I knew going into it that if it had to happen like that, then you've got people who are buying the pay-per-view who would be disgruntled. You'd have a live audience that's p***ed off and confused, as well as the wrestlers in the back. The ripple effect is gigantic - it affects a lot of people."

You can see the match, as well as get a lot more background on Hardy's various drug issues, by clicking here.

Despite this, Sting went on to endorse Hardy by saying he's glad that he's on the trail back and hopes he keeps his head on straight during this supposed last chance with TNA.

"My heart goes out to Jeff and I'm glad that he's on the trail back. He seems to be great. I've talked to him a couple of times, he seems really, really good and he is remorseful. But he understands that his words mean nothing at this point - time is going to be the only thing. He's going to have to build the bridge of trust back one brick at a time - and he knows it. He's an incredible, unbelievably talented wrestler. He's creative, innovative and he's got so much going for him. If he can keep his head on straight, I know there's a lot of good years in front of him and he'll be a benefit to this company."

Sting has very publicly battled through an addiction to painkillers and has had his fair share of issues in the past. Not to mention, he's still a religious man who is undoubtedly more willing than most to give Hardy all the chance in the world to clean himself up.

But can we really expect that to happen?

Considering his issues date all the way back to as early as 2003, at least publicly, there's no real reason to believe he'll do anything to finally clean himself up. As noted previously, Hardy began serving his jail sentence today and TMZ got a hold of yet another mugshot.

You take a look and tell me if you think this man won't blow it within the next few months.