D’Lo Brown Served As Agent For Jeff Hardy vs. Sting At TNA Victory Road 2011, Had To Inform Officials Something Was Wrong With Jeff

At TNA Victory Road 2011, the main event between Jeff Hardy and Sting was cut very short as Jeff was in no condition to perform.

On his Lo Down podcast, D’Lo Brown was revealed as the producer for the match, and he recounted what went down on the night in question.

It is noted by co-host Derek Sabato that D’Lo saw Jeff 20 minutes before the match, and he was asked if he noticed anything wrong with Jeff.

“None whatsoever. Our last walkthrough the match, we were right outside studio 31, and we were talking it over. As an agent, a lot of agents write down notes. I hear a match and it’s in my head. I don’t write notes down, I just have it in my head. We walk right through it, no problems at all. Jeff and Sting went separate ways. I went and produced one more match before. We had a walkthrough and everything was fine,” he said.

D’Lo said that he produced the Ken Anderson vs. Rob Van Dam match that went on before Sting vs. Hardy

“As I recall, I remember getting that match together and then turning around and walking back because there were some pre-tapes happening, and this is where I interacted with Jeff for the last time. This is when I knew there was an issue,” said D’Lo.

“You have the final, ‘Is everybody ready? Is everything good?’ That’s when I had a sense that there was something off with Jeff. I remember coming to the headset and saying, ‘Hey guys, we might have an issue.’ Everyone is like, ‘What?’ I kind of ran down what I had a feeling of and they were like, ‘Are you sure?’ ‘I’m not 100% sure, something feels a little off.’ It’s Jeff’s music, he goes to the ring. Eric (Bischoff) is near me, right over my shoulder and seeing all of this. Eric is making the call because he’s in charge of all of production at this point. Eric and I discussed what the first spot of the match was. I told him, ‘If he doesn’t get through this, we have an issue.’ Sting goes out, and I love Jeff, this is not going to be a beatdown session or killing Jeff, it is what it is and Jeff will tell you he was in a bad place at that point. Just from the opening spot and opening seconds, you could tell something was amiss.”

D’Lo continued, “The first spot of the match was supposed to be a jump start. That’s when Jeff tries giving out the t-shirt in the middle of the jump start. That’s when we all knew. Eric is calling an audible in the ring and is delivering messages back and forth to Sting and Jeff to try and salvage what we have going on.”

Asked what is happening backstage, D’Lo says, “For me, I’m talking with (Brian) Hebner and going, ‘This is plan A, B, and C. Let’s be alert for whatever we need.’ At some point, I told Hebner, ‘When Sting puts his shoulders to the mat, I don’t care if he kicks out at one, whatever you do, you count three.’ We had to get through it.”

D’Lo noted that Hebner gave him a signal to confirm that he understood what D’Lo was saying.

Asked if Sting was aware of Jeff’s condition, D’Lo replied, “Sting is aware that Jeff is not 100%. It would not be in anyone’s best interest to let Sting walk out there blind to that. It’s telling him what’s going on and Sting is like, ‘Okay.’ As long as he’s aware of it, he can handle it his best once he gets to the ring.”

Asked what happened after the bell rang and the match ended, D’Lo replied, “The storm is about to hit. When everyone comes back, I know there is going to be a lot that will happen in a few minutes and I know we’re going to be moved away and whisked into a room and everyone who is part of this will be, ‘What’s going on? Tell me,’ and we’re going to get to the bottom of this. One, it’s a relief that no one got hurt. Two, it’s a relief that it’s over. Three, it’s disappointing because that was such a built-up main event, and to deliver an underwhelming main event was disheartening. Then it was, let’s get to the root of this issue.”

D’Lo said Sting was visibly disappointed and upset, but he didn’t get angry or yell.

Jeff was off television from March to August following the incident.

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