Finding out that Jeff Hardy had a World Championship match with Tetsuya Naito at Wrestle Kingdom conjures up images of one of the most exciting matches ever.
In one corner you have one of the most exciting talents in New Japan Pro Wrestling, Tetsuya Naito. The Stardust Genius was a high-flying marvel who was tipped to be the man to dethrone Hiroshi Tanahashi as the next Ace of the promotion.
Meanwhile, in the other, you have one of the most beloved wrestlers in the world.
Jeff Hardy was fresh off a run in the WWE that saw him become world champion for the first time, walking out of the company at the peak of his popularity to join TNA, becoming their World Heavyweight Champion soon after.
Due to the relationship between TNA and NJPW, which saw stars like Kazuchika Okada and Hiroshi Tanahashi appearing in the US, the American promotion had a presence at Wrestle Kingdom V in 2011.
Rob Van Dam and Beer Money Inc both wrestled matches before Jeff Hardy defended his TNA World Heavyweight Championship in the third match from the card. You’d think this match would be brilliant, but it had numerous issues that turned it into one to forget at Wrestle Kingdom.
There Was Very Little Build To The Match
The actual storyline leading up to the match was…nothing.
No, it was just another cross-promotional “dream match”. Admittedly, if this was Naito just a few years later against 2011 Jeff Hardy, the term “dream match” certainly would have applied.
However, in 2011, he was not the same Tetsuya Naito who is the most popular wrestler in New Japan Pro Wrestling. At this point, Naito was still part of No Limit, the babyface tag team where he starred alongside Yujiro Takahashi.
He was a prodigy, no doubt, a brilliant in the ring. His flashy style, complete with the impressive Stardust Press made the Stardust Geniuses matches can’t miss.
Naito was drawing comparisons to Hiroshi Tanahashi, although the fans had yet to turn on him to ruin his dreams of main eventing Wrestle Kingdom. That would happen just three years later.
He showed little interest in the match, which was announced just days before Wrestle Kingdom. Jeff Hardy was feuding with Mr Anderson and Rob Van Dam at the time (the latter of which faced Toru Yano at Wrestle Kingdom V) while Naito was still a tag team wrestler with No Limit.
At the Wrestle Kingdom V press conference the day before (which Jeff Hardy did not attend), Tetsuya Naito did his best to drum up some interest for the match.
He mentioned the “cool looking title”, having clearly never seen Jeff Hardy’s atrocious TNA title, saying he wanted to have a cool-look belt around his waist.
Jeff Hardy Did Not Want To Wrestle Tetsuya Naito
The interest from Jeff Hardy in the match was even less than that, if you can imagine. He admitted that he didn’t really know who Tetsuya Naito was, with the limit of his knowledge being that he used to wrestle in TNA before Jeff Hardy got there.
“I’m not too familiar with him.” Jeff Hardy said about Tetsuya Naito. “I understand he was in TNA before I was in TNA. I understand he’s younger, faster, maybe stronger so its gonna be unpredictable to me.”
His lack of knowledge about his opponent for Wrestle Kingdom was disappointing, but the reason for it was clear. Jeff Hardy clearly had no interest in wrestling Naito as he had his heart set on wrestling one of his idols in Jushin “Thunder” Liger instead.
“I’m very excited. This is my first time wrestling for New Japan. Its an honour for me. Long-time fan of Jushin ‘Thunder’ Liger.” He said. Rob Van Dam asked Jeff Hardy if he’d worked with Liger before, to which he said he hadn’t but he wish he has at the Tokyo Dome, infer that he’d rather face the Japanese legend than a youngster in Naito.
“No. I wish I was. Just to be on the same card of him is an honour. I’m always into new experiences so I’m very pleased to be a part of New Japan.”
Luckily for Jeff Hardy, he did end up working with Jushin Liger twice in NEW back in 2016.
So, to recap. Tetsuya Naito clearly knew little about Jeff Hardy, only that he was the champion of a gaudy belt that nobody could ever love.
Meanwhile, Jeff Hardy was intent on wrestling Liger but was stuck with Naito. This has all the makings of an okay, phoning-it-in match between two of the world’s best wrestlers.
However, it was so much more than that.
And by “more”, I mean horrendous.
Jeff Hardy vs Tetsuya Naito At Wrestle Kingdom 5 Went Very Badly
For such a historic match between two of the all-time greats, Jeff Hardy vs Tetsuya Naito went very, very badly.
Hardy looked very out of place in the Tokyo Dome. His face paint was cool, with the black-and-white design looking like it was inspired by the Great Muta.
However, his black trousers and shirt made him look like somebody who had just wandered in, not a finely-tuned athlete ready for the fight of his life. NJPW has a very sports-like presentation and Jeff Hardy was the antithesis of this.
Naito didn’t help, wrestling with a t-shirt on, as he does all matches that don’t matter. He was probably annoyed at Hardy’s effort in the match, as well as him likely being drunk or high throughout the bout.
Yep. While we have no confirmation about his mental state on January 4th 2011, Jeff Hardy seemed like he was intoxicated for his match against Tetsuya Naito.
It seems clear from the performance that Jeff Hardy wasn’t right. Given his history and future abuse of drugs, it is safe to assume that he was somehow intoxicated during this match, which is an incredibly unprofessional thing to do.
The speed in which he moved in the ring was glacial. Naito did he best to run around like a maniac, trying to get something out of this match. But not even the Stardust Genius had the power to make Jeff Hardy not look like a mess.
When looking back on a blog for NJPW, Naito said Jeff “stank of something”, and that is all he would say on the matter.
Given that this match was mere months before the infamous “Victory Road” debacle against Sting, I would not it behind Jeff Hardy to go out in front of thousands of fans completely off his head of various substances.
One of the key parts of the match – and not for a good reason – was just two minutes in, where Jeff Hardy realised he had left his mobile phone in his pocket.
This seems too outrageous and stupid for any wrestler to ever do. Mainly because most wrestling attire doesn’t have pockets, but still. While being stomped by Naito, Hardy grabbed the mobile from his trousers and tossed it out of the ring.
It was incredibly unprofessional, but this was 2011 Jeff Hardy. Anything could happen, and probably would (except for wrestling a good match).
The match was poor. Naito flew around the ring as much as he could, but the lumbering Hardy looked like a man 15 years older (in fact, he moves better in 2025 than he did in this match).
The most egregious moment was when he rolled on his back and stuck his legs in the air, supposedly for Naito to do some kind of move to him. However, this was horribly mistimed and his opponent was nowhere near in the position to do anything about it.
Jeff Hardy was left on his back, legs in the air and looking like a dog who was begging for a belly rub for the Stardust Genius.
The American star predictably won. They weren’t going to have a tag team wrestler in Japan win TNA’s World Title, so Jeff Hardy pinned Naito with a Twist of Fate.
Neither the crowd, viewers nor New Japan were pleased with the performance, especially given the physical state Hardy was in.
This was just one of a few reasons why the relationship between TNA and New Japan Pro Wrestling imploded in 2011.
It will come as no surprise that Jeff Hardy has not wrestled in Japan since. However, that is likely more because of his criminal record than any heat he was with the New Japan higher-ups. He hasn’t even wrestled on a WWE Japan tour.
He wasn’t a part of the AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door show, although again, not due to the Wrestle Kingdom V fiasco. For the first one, he was suspended after his DUI and for the second he was written off TV due to being unable to get into Canada due to the aforementioned.
Jeff Hardy vs Tetsuya Naito could have been a classic match. While it wasn’t a peak Naito, the idea of two of wrestling’s biggest names battling it out had so much potential.
But Jeff Hardy had to ruin it. Just like so much of his career.
