A mystery wrapped up in an enigma covered in fluorescent body paint. With apologies to Yogi Berra, that's the Jeff Hardy of 2004 in a nutshell.

In the late 1990's, Hardy broke out as one of the most electrifying and innovative competitors in WWF. Jeff and his brother Matt became one of the federation's elite teams and engaged in epic feuds with The Dudley Boys and Edge & Christian. Jeff in particular, seemed to have superstar potential as a singles wrestler, made all the more apparent by his upset win over Triple-H for the Intercontinental title in spring of 2001.

While Hardy was used to soaring off the tallest ladder he could find, even he wasn't prepared for the crash landing his career was about to take.

That I-C title reign lasted all of six days and did more to hurt his career than boost it. After he dropped the European title to I-C champ Rob Van Dam in a unification match in July 2002, Hardy's competitive fire seemed to die out. He appeared to be just going through the motions in the the ring at times, as if his mind was miles away. He even began arriving late for cards. In late 2002, Hardy was released by WWE, and he seemed happy to put wrestling behind him.

Hardy pursued other interests, including art and making music with his band, Peroxwhy?gen. When he returned to the ring at a Ring of Honor card in 2003, he was heckled mericilessly by fans who saw him as either a prema donna who cared less about wrestling than they did or a has-been. That rejection deeply bothered Hardy.

But TNA management saw Hardy as one of the top free agents in the game and managed to sign the enigmatic daredevil this summer. With the help and urging of Dusty Rhodes, Hardy put his signature on a TNA contract, and soon he had himself an NWA title match. On September 8th, Hardy faced NWA champ Jeff Jarrett, only to lose after Jarrett blasted him with a guitar.

Shortly after that match, Hardy sat down with Senoir Writer Dan Murphy. "I had a limited time with Jeff, and he really wanted to focus on the present and future rather than the past," Murphy said. "We talked almost exclusively about TNA, and Jeff was extremely candid and surprisingly outspoken in his remarks."

Q: Jeff, I'd like to thank you for taking a few moments to answer some questions after such a hard-fought match. Obviously, the first thing I'd like to know is your thoughts on you loss to Jeff Jarrett here tonight.

A: Well, I'm disappointed, of course, but not just with the result of the match and the events leading up tp it. I'm also disappointed with myself.

Q: Let's start with how you're disappointed with yourself. From my perspective, you wrestled a pretty solid match, and it looked like you were on your way to winning the title before Jarrett whacked you with that guitar. Why are you disappointed with yourself?

A: I didn't wrestle my type of match. I allowed myself to get pulled into Jarrett's strategy. It's been a few years since I've had such a high profile match for a major championship, and I guess I got caught up in the moment. I shouldn't have been fistfighting Jarrett throughout the building. I should have kept the match inside the ring, where I know I'm a better athlete than Jarrett and where I can do things my way.

Q: As for the result of the match, I assume you mean you're disapppointed about the guitar shot.

A: That's right. In this day and age, for a championship match to be allowed to with such a blatant violation of the rules, well, that's just hard to understand. Jarrett smashed a guitar over the back of my head right there in the middle of the ring. He made no effort to hide it at all. The referee actually had to move a piece of the guitar out of his way to make the three-count. Shouldn't that send up some red flags? Shouldn't someone have common sense to realize that just maybe that guitar didn't climb into the ring by itself and self-destruct?

Q: And just a few moments earlier, Jarrett had taken a swing at you with a baseball bat Vince Russo had brought to ringside.

A: That's the other thing that has me a little upset. This was supposed to be an NWA title match between me and Jarrett. Midway through the match, I look up at the ramp and see Monty Brown and Abyss standing there, just waiting for an opportunity to interfere. Then Raven came out, so Dusty Rhodes came to the ring to watch my back. Then here comes Russo with a bat, sending Dusty to the back and conveniently leaving his bat right there on the apron for Jarrett to grab.

Q: Do you think Russo is in cahoots with Jarrett?

A: That's not really my point. I don't know, and I'm not going to waste any energy trying to find out. I'm trying to concentrate on one of the biggest matches of my career, and here come all of these guys trying to get the rub off us-trying to get their own little piece of the spotlight. Those guys don't deserve to be out there during a title match. Management or Russo or somebody should be stopping guys at the curtain. You want to watch the match? Fine, there's a lot of monitors in the locker room. Don't try to grandstand and steal the spotlight from the guys who actually earned it.

Q: Instead, Russo was right there along with them, making sure to get his face time during the main event.

A: Not only that, he brought a weapon to the ring with him. How can you possibly respect a - what's Russo's position here?

Q: Director of authority.

A: Eactly. Vince Russo doesn't look like much of an authority to me. How can you respect an executive who is so afraid of his talent that he feels they need to carry a bat around with him? Does [NFL Commissioner] Paul Tagliabue do that?

Q: In the weeks leading up to the match, word around the locker room was that several wrestlers resented the fact that you were almost immediately given a title shot without having to do that much to earn one. How have you been treated by the other TNA wrestlers?

A: It seems like I've got haters everywhere I go these days. Listen, I've been wrestling for well over 10 tears now. I've held the WWE tag team title five times. I've held the Intercontinental, hardcore, and European titles. If anyone thinks I haven't paid my dues, then I invite them to get in the ring and say it to my face. That's one of the things I hate about wrestling. Wrestlers are notoriously two-faced. They suck up to you backstage and act like you're their best friend because they think they can get something out of you. Then they'll trash you behind your back to whoever will listen.

Q: Looks like I hit a nerve.

A: Put me in the ring and I'm happy. I'm 100% at home. It actually relaxes me. But all this other political b.s. just makes me question whether it's worth it. Maybe I should just go back home and concentrate on my music, but hell, that would be making things too easy for Jarrett, wouldn't it? I'm sure that's what he'd like me to do. I still have a lot to prove to everyone, including myself. Jeff Jarrett hasn't seen the last of me.

Q: Clearly, you're upset with the match and I think that's more the disappointment talking than anything else. Jeff, tell me, was it difficult making the transition to the six-sided ring here in the TNA? How does it affect your wrestling style?

A: If I answer that honestly, people will accuse me of making excusses. I think the six-sided ring has it's advantages, especially for a guy like me, but I haven't spent enough time inside that ring to really get used to it yet. It throws you off a little. You go to Irish whip a guy off the ropes and you have to look around for a second and see if he's going to go off the ropes and back to you or if he'll land in a corner. That little hesitation is just enough for a guy to counter what you're trying to do. I'm sure I'll adjust, but I'm not quite there yet. I guess it's the same for all of us, though.

Q: You grew up in North Carolina, the heart of NWA country back in the day. How do you think Jarrett compares with NWA champions of the past?

A: I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for the NWA, and it truly was an honor to compete for the NWA title. But like I said, around here it seems like people are more concerned with putting themselves over rather than putting the title over. The NWA title has become secondary at times, and that's sacrilege. As for Jarrett, he's a hell of a wrestler who's been around for a long time. Do I think he's a capable NWA champion? Certainly. Do I think he could ever have had a run like this during the late 1970s and 1980's? Not a chancce in hell. Not the way he's doing it now at least. He wouldn't have gotten away with this kind of stuff back then. Jarrett couldn't hold Harley Race's jockstrap. I won't even do him the priviledge of mentioning him in the same name as some of the other guys who dominated the NWA in the 1980s. He's a coward. If he wasn't a coward he wouldn't need a guitar in every match.

Q: Jeff, I'd be remiss if I didn't ask this, though I know it's coming out of left field. What are your thoughts on your brother, Matt's love triangle with Kane and Lita?

A: (Laughs) What can I say about that? Matt is recovering from his knee surgery, and he's doing pretty good. Um, as for whatever else is going on....I guess we'll just have to see how that plays itself out. I have a feeling there's another wrinkle in that on the way. At least I hope there is.