I have officially completed my November European Trip Diary blog.. BUT.. I want everyone to see this..
MATT HARDY IS 1 ON THE WWE POWER 25!I am very proud of this and want everyone to see it. To me, being listed as the Number 1 guy in WWE is just another example of my beliefs in life-anything is possible if you work hard enough and you want it bad enough.
Hey everybody! I hope everyone is doing superb and enjoying life-I'm doing my part. Sorry I haven't posted anything in a while, but I have been busier than I ever been-and that's saying something! The price of being the ECW Champ, HA! Appearance, Media, Autograph Signing, Wrestle, Media, Interview, TV Show, Wrestle, Appearance-it's a vicious cycle. But don't get me wrong, I love it! I figured since I have a little time here and there while in Europe, it'd try and keep you guys up to speed.
And BTW, get my BRAND NEW Matt Hardy T-Shirt, that I love BTW, here..
UNLOCK YOUR DESTINY Matt Hardy T-ShirtLet me know how you guys like it..
The actual beginning of my tour was on Sunday, November 2nd, 2008..
Day 1
Tampa, Florida - Myself and Jeff catch a flight out of Raleigh, NC to Tampa, Florida with one of the longest and toughest tours of the year on the horizon. We get into Tampa that evening and meet some of our friends for dinner and drinks. We check into one of our favorite hotels, a Hampton, and get ready for tomorrow's Raw event. Hhmm.. For some reason we didn't get alot of sleep. What a way to kick off a two week plus brutal tour!
Day 2
Tampa, Florida - We're at the venue at 1 p.m. because we have promotional work to do. The time goes by relatively fast that day because I was constantly busy doing several little things. That night, The Hardys reunite to defeat Kendrick and MVP in a short but fun match. After the show, we have diner with our old friend "Mikey" at Chili's. Mikey hooked us up with some "special" DVDs-good stuff. About 1 a.m. that night, Jeff and I drove to Orlando for tomorrow's ECW and Smackdown shows.
Day 3
Orlando, Florida - Jeff had to be at the building at 10 a.m. to shoot a commercial spot. I split and went to the gym and had a great, intense workout. I was back at the building by 2 o'clock and ready to do work. I actually didn't have a terribly busy day, so that was nice. That night, I opened ECW television by beating Bam Neely with the Twist of Fate. I thought I had the best match out of Bam that he's had on TV. Notice a pattern developing here.. Talent gets in the ring with the ECW Champion, "The Starmaker" Matt Hardy-and they come out having a great match and looking better.. HA. That's my goal and aspiration anyway. That night we had to drive 270 miles to Miami to fly out to Europe the next day for the Survivor Series International Tour. We ate at the Ale House with some of the guys and an old friend of mine stopped by. We ended up having a blast and didn't want the night to end-sorry, Jeffro.. We ended up getting on the road to Miami at 6:15 a.m.-yep, that's not an error-6:15 a.m. We ended up getting Beef and Cheddars at Arby's and hit the road. It's official, I'm willing to sacrifice sleep for good times and great memories. I really wanted to stay up so that I'd sleep the whole flight over the pond-yeah, right! I'm a maniac!
Day 4
Miami, FL - Travel Day - Jeff and I actually got to Miami with enough time to sleep 2 hours in a hotel, and then it was off to the airport. We were at the airport around 2 p.m. and departed around 4 p.m. for Frankfurt, Germany. After an 8 hour flight, we arrived in Frankfurt to have a 3 hour layover, and then jumped on a plane to Nice, France. Here.. We.. Go..
Day 5 - European Tour Day 1
Nice, France - Awesome sold out show last night that saw the Hardys team up and win once again. I love teaming with Jeff more now than ever, and I think the fans still dig it as well. The crowd in Nice was on fire last night. They were so enthusiastic and loud and interactive-the bar has been set high for the rest of the European audiences. It really helped the wrestlers to be energized on that sometimes tough first night. We were all coming off driving 260 miles from Tampa to Miami on Tuesday night after Smackdown, and then flying from Miami to Germany, and then Germany to France-about 20 hours of travel. Nice made it nice to perform, HA! Getting up right now, about to have some breakfast, a little workout, and travel to Brussels for an autograph signing with Maria and show number two. Talk to ya guys and gals soon!
Day 6 - European Tour Day 2
Brussels, Belgium - The ECW/Smackdown brands sell out again, this time in Brussels. After arriving in Brussels via charter, myself and Maria headed over to a packed autograph signing appearance at an electronics store. I wanna thank everyone who attended the signing for being super cool, as well as respectful. I always love meeting true MFers who have Mattitude running through their veins :-) Straight from the appearance to the building for an electric night of WWE entertainment. The team of Matt and Jeff Hardy was once again victorious against
Mark Henry and MVP. I have to give it to the crowd in Brussels, they were on fire and lived up to the intensity that Nice had the first night. I hope this hot crowd deal is the trend for the rest of the European tour. After the show, we made a 3 and a half hour bus trip to Luxembourg, getting into our hotel at 4 am. Gotta catch some Z's so I can get up and eat and train before yet ANOTHER appearance tomorrow. Who appears for their peeps more than Matt Hardy? Nobody yo! So good night amigos, I'm gonna take a hot bath and roll up in my covers like a warm little burrito.. Ha! Until tomorrow.
Day 7 - European Day 3
Luxembourg - My day started out bright and early and I got in a workout and breakfast. Had to leave the hotel at noon and made the near hour trip to Spangdahlem Air Base for a special appearance for the military. The Spangdahlem AB even did a small piece on it that you can see
HERE. One of the great things about the WWE and Vince is that they are MEGA supportive of the military. I totally respect that. The appearance was an all day ordeal, and then it was straight to the show. Myself and Jeff teamed again, and we won again. I'm on a roll-I wanna clean sweep this trip, HA! That night I actually got a little bar time with the boys to shoot the sh*t and tell stories-great times! Gotta get some sleep as we get up early and fly to Cardiff, Wales in the morning.
Day 8 - European Day 4
Cardiff, Wales - Had a late morning flight, myself, Jeff, and Carlito tuned into his new XM radio on the flight :-) Keeps you on the up and up if you know what I mean. I got into Cardiff and had to do some promotional work. They stretched me ultra-thin the first few days of this trip. I had an hour before we got on the bus to head to the show so I crashed out. Gotta get sleep when you can on this long trips. The 5 p.m. show was another packed house that lead to the Hardyz being victorious once again. After the show, I split from Jeff to go to Manchester to do ECW's television program the next day. We left Cardiff at 8:30 p.m. and arrived in Manchester at 1:00 a.m. After a late night catered meal, I ran into several important WWE figures in the bar, and had a few drinks. A couple of the newer guys showed up, including one that was a "movie buff", LOL, so the WWE figures insisted they drink. Three hours later, the two newer guys were wasted and demonstrated some regurgitation. Welcome to the business guys. Gotta get a little sleep-TV days start early and end late.
Day 9 - European Tour Day 5
Manchester, England - ECW TV was done on the same day Raw TV was this week. As I'm sure most of you have seen, I had a nearly 25 minute match against Finlay for the ECW Title. Check out the closing moments
HERE.. I fortunately retained the ECW Championship in a hard-hitting, fantastic match against the veteran Irishman. Unfortunately, something none of you at home witnessed-because it happened during a commercial break period-was me painfully hyper-extending my surgically repaired left knee. I continued that match without acknowledging it to anyone but knew I had hurt it. After the match, I was examined and diagnosed with a slightly torn PCL and stretched ligaments in the back of my knee. I could finished the tour out, but had to do some major treatment, wrapping and bracing of my knee. And by the way, I thought going into this day I had tomorrow off because it was a Smackdown only taping. I find out at the end of the night I'm needed tomorrow for both episodes of Smackdown. I guess that's what you get for being a WORKHORSE, HA! Now I already have the stress of an extremely hard trip plus a knee injury. Welcome to the wrestling business boys and girls. I felt much better when I got back to the hotel, my Smackdown crew got in, and the ECW, Raw, and Smackdown crews hit the hotel bar. I think the entire WWE drank every ounce of alcohol and liquor in Manchester that night! LOL!
Day 10 - European Tour Day 6
Manchester, England - I wake up and my knee feels absolutely horrible. I can barely walk. It's one of those moments when I ask myself how am I gonna do this.. How am I gonna perform tonight. After soaking and icing and treating and wrapping and bracing my knee thoroughly, somehow I do. I wrestled Shelton Benjamin in a Champion versus Champion match and came out victorious. I thought it was a helluva match as well. In case you're wondering, I was in excruciating pain the whole time. I also wrestled another tag match that will be featured on this week's Smackdown. I also wanna tell everyone that I was extremely proud of Jeff on this day as he had possible his best TV day performance EVER. That night, a little social time was had-but I actually got a good night's sleep. I had to-my knee and my performances for the week were depending on it.
Day 11 - European Tour Day 7
Nottingham, England - I wake up, I hurt. After working two long and hard matches the night before for upcoming Smackdown television programming, I injured myself even more. While trying to protect and overcompensate for my injured left knee, I totally pulled and strained my groin on my life side. I struggled to get out of bed, and needed the assistance of the wall to walk into the bathroom and take a hot bath. Welcome to the glamor and glitz of life as the ECW Heavyweight Champion. After a mild night of being a socialite, yet still not getting the needed amount of sleep my body needed, I get on the WWE fan favorite bus at 10 a.m. We proceed to make the 3 hour drive to Nottingham-where it's hard not to think of Robin Hood, HA! I check into my hotel, ice my knee, then heat it up in a hot bath, and attempt to stretch it out. Being hurt sucks, no doubt. But I pride myself in being a workhorse, and working through injuries in an educated matter. I walk into the venue with a major limp to see that I have a ECW Title defense against Mark Henry. Ugh! As you all know, I'm not good at curling up and dying. So injury or no injury, Mark Henry ended up being the recipient of a very unfortunate Twist of Fate at the end of our match. I had my knee wrapped and braced so tight that my lower leg was purple-no exaggeration. If you haven't figured it out yet, I do my damnedest to be a warrior. Another fantastic show on this fall's November European tour. After the event, the lady who was locally working it as our chiropractor said she could help me with my groin. I asked "How?" She said with acupuncture. With the condition I'm in, with the amount of pain I was in, I was more than happy to accept her offer. So I get acupuncture treatment for the first time ever. The lady proceeds to stick 10 or 12 needles into my lower abdomen, groin, and inner thigh. It was quite weird to say the least. But I must give her props-she relieved 75% of my groin pain. God bless her! It was well worth taking the chance because it totally paid off. We were all really excited after the show, because we have a consistent spot that we always hit in Nottingham that is hooked to our hotel. CHINO LATINO! The best sushi ever! Some town are totally linked to restaurants. Nottingham-Chino Latino. Newark-Skyline Diner. Seattle-Thirteen Coins. Boston-Kowloons. So hurt or not hurt, I'm doing it big in Chino Latino's! All the boys and girls ate there and had a great meal and even better time-even though I had ice on my knee the whole while. I was so exhausted from the last several days, I fell asleep in my tub while soaking my knee in a hot bath. Oh well, gotta crash, I have an early wake-up call as we fly to Zurich tomorrow to hit yet another country.
Day 12 - European Tour Day 8
Zurich, Switzerland - I tossed and turned quite a bit last night because my knee was so uncomfortable and in pain. I wake up at 8 a.m. and head down for breakfast and to catch the bus to the airport. After getting into Zurich around lunchtime, I head out for a corporate appearance and do my best to forget I'm human. I have an hour to spare afterwards and consider hitting the gym, but I don't wanna risk straining my knee at all. My only priority right know is finishing all of my wrestling commitments on this European tour. That night in Zurich, it's Matt Hardy versus Mark Henry in a rematch-and I retain again. It's amazing what an ACL knee taping, a refurbished ACL brace, and pure adrenaline can get you through. This night was a battle.. But.. at the risk of sounding overconfident, I'm one of the toughest, most driven mofos you'll ever encounter. I focus now on getting through tomorrow-I'm taking it one day at a time.
Day 13 - European Tour Day 9
Nuremberg, Germany - I fly to Germany around 10 a.m. and hang with my dropzone crew during the flight. I also see one of the funniest/craziest/most disturbing DVDs that I've ever seen. But that's another story for another day. After getting into Nuremberg, I take a much need nap due to the fact I can't train because of my knee. I HATE not being able to do cardio, it makes me feel like total sh*t. But.. I have to make my priority my injured knee-treating it, rehabbing it, babying it-to make sure I don't redamage my surgically repaired ACL. The show was off the grid that night, a packed house, a hot crowd-the best one we've ever had in this city. I teamed with Finlay to defeat Chavo and Mark Henry-my undefeated streak is miraculously still intact! That night in catering, myself and several of the boys and girls started drinking wine and having an in-depth romantic relationships discussion. Very captivating, fun, and interesting stuff. After 14 bottles of wine split between 6 people, things start getting a little crazy. Not in a bad way, HA! Maryse was the MVP of the festivities once she started firing full beer bottles at someone, LOL! She's great for a French Canadian-and I am sure any of the fans who experienced our outside-the-hotel activities will never forget them. "Do my entrance b*tches!" HA! We had a blast! By the way, I went to bed at 6 a.m.-at least I have to get up in 3 hours to fly to Berlin, ugh!
Day 14 - European Tour Day 10
Berlin, Germany - After flying to Berlin and busing to the hotel, we only had a couple of hours before we have to head over to the venue. Myself, Jeff, and some of the guys saw a Burger King on the way to the hotel, and we were all having Whoppers with cheese cravings. So.. We sent one the guys out to get Whoppers with cheese for a bunch of us, mmmmm! We eventually headed to the 02 venue in Berlin, which is a phenomenal building to work in, for our biggest show in Germany. With a sold-out crowd that was on fire, myself & Fit were once again victorious in tag team action. One of the coolest perks of the venues was that our dressing room had a hot-tub that we could chill in-I was definitely loving that. I actually took several pictures that night with a bunch of the boys, something that I don't do often enough. We headed back to the hotel to have late catering. I stayed up virtually all night rearranging my bags and getting my things together to leave early in the morning. I slept a whopping 1 hour that night, but I did go undefeated in Europe, LOL!
Day 15
Berlin, Germany - Travel Day - Myself and the ECW crew had to leave the tour one day early and miss the last live event show. This was due to the fact we were taping ECW in Atlanta with Raw on Monday. I got into Atlanta after connecting in Frankfurt again at about 4:30 p.m. I didn't leave the airport until almost 6:30 p.m.-damn slow customs! All my clothes are dirty and weathered, I'm exhausted, but.. I did have my pal Kimo there to scoop me up and hang out with. The first thing we did was go to TGI Fridays for a good ol' American meal-it was delicious! I then went to Wal-Mart for new socks, HA! After checking in to our hotel and winding down for a bit, we hit Spondivits by the Atlanta airport. Atlanta-Spondivits.. It's one of those deals. We had some fantastic seafood, got a little tuned in, and were now ready for a good night's sleep. Although I didn't crash until 5 a.m. or so.
Day 16
Atlanta, Georgia - I sleep in, don't eat, don't train.. i can tell this tour has taken it's toll on me. I show up at the venue and discover that I have to wrestle on both ECW and Raw. After the ECW main event 6 man tag, in a totally spontaneous and unplanned event, I end up having an impromptu match with Mark Henry. Mark was calling me out in the ring-so I basically went down that aisle and gave him a double dose of Mattitude. Later on Raw, I had a brawl with William Regal. Wrestling 3 times in one night HAS to be good on a bad wheel.. Even better than that, how about wrestling 16 matches in 13 days? And people wonder why my friends and peers call me the "Workhorse" when it comes to the business.. After the show, I ice and stem my knee, happy I have a few days off to rest and heal. When Kimo and I leave the building, we head to Spondivits and meet up with all the boys and close out the trip on a great note. Bedtime was once again 5 a.m. for ol' V1.
Day 17
Atlanta, Georgia - Travel Day- Instead of flying home at the crack of dawn, I just decide to make the 6 hour drive back with Kimo. We sleep in until noon, and then hit the road. After two great meals (including a Cracker Barrel) and several stops, I get home around 9 p.m. so I can watch ECW back as it airs. It was a helluva trip. but you only live once, so squeeze every ounce of life you can get out of yours. I promise you I am. And for the record, I had a blast and thoroughly enjoyed meeting all the people that I did across the world. Until then my friends-hope you enjoyed traveling with me vicariously!
Quote of the day - "Everyone I come across in cages they bought, they think of me and my wandering but I'm never what they thought - Eddie Vedder, Guaranteed
Matt