Jeff Hardy: ‘I Loved Working With Punk’ (Must-Read)

Jeff Hardy recently spoke with Wrestling101.com about his expectations for himself in the coming year, working with CM Punk and more. Check out the highlights:

On which wrestlers inspired his early wrestling persona: “More than anybody I would have to say Sting and Ultimate Warrior combined with Sting’s charisma and the Ultimate Warrior’s insanity, those two combined just pretty much inspired me back in the day to paint my face and act strange, so I would have to put down a lot of what you see in Jeff Hardy today down to those two.”

On working with Edge, Christian and the Dudley Boyz in TLC matches: “They are legendary matches, I had a ladder match against Austin Aries at one of our recent PPV’s Turning Point which was huge. But before going into that match I actually watched some of those TLC matches and the ladder matches that I’ve had with The Undertaker, Edge and CM Punk. Whilst watching them back I was just thinking, “oh my god these are so memorable,” we have done so much it is kind of hard to stay creative, fresh and new. But anytime I go back and watch those TLC matches I always think how magical they were to be a part of and they always will be, fans will talk about those matches for decades to come.”

On his expectations for himself in 2013: “Hopefully to remain the world champion for as long as I can, even before the start of 2012 I set a goal for myself just to have a tremendous year and it went well beyond my expectations. I’m setting another goal for myself for 2013 and that is at Bound for Glory I want to perform a song from my bands album live on the PPV and hopefully I can achieve that.”

On Vince McMahon and Dixie Carter: “I love Vince McMahon, I don’t have anything bad to say about him, we get along, we have had our ups and downs but he was a great boss. With Dixie it is more about family, like my daughter actually knows her kids and it is much more family like here in TNA and that is kind of what I like. Naturally the schedule is a lot more laid back so whenever I can have more time with my family that is crazy important. I think Dixie is a lot more personal whereas Vince is more professional.”

On working with CM Punk: “It was great working with CM Punk, we have different beliefs in terms of our outlook on life but he is so talented it’s crazy, we had many great matches together and it was a pleasure to work with him.”