eff Hardy could have very easily become the second biggest babyface next to John Cena had he stuck around only a little while longer, though as CM Punk so often does (such as when he won the ECW Championship and both Money in the Bank briefcases), he took advantage of another performer's absence to possibly succeed even further than he would have. Hardy might be the top seller in TNA and he might have been one of the best in WWE, but Punk's the only man besides The Rock who's outsold John Cena in recent years. Should Jeff return, I'm confident he'd be in the top five of WWE's babyfaces, but he'd still trail behind Punk and Cena, who at this point hold an enormous lead over Sheamus, Orton, Mysterio and other popular babyfaces.
(By the way, I'm kind of working off the assumption that CM Punk will one day revert back to a babyface, maybe within the next year or two. His heel character is very effective, but his popularity persists in all the smark cities and even among some marks who didn't appreciate him prior to his last face run. While the next year of Punk's career will be dominated by his fantastic heel persona, I think if his body holds up he'll ultimately resume a more long-term role as a top babyface.)
Back to Jeff Hardy, for the sake of competition I rather TNA keep hold of him. I rather not WWE hold all the best cards. Jeff Hardy's an entertaining performer, a solid worker and a top draw that reminds some WWE fans they exist. I rather TNA keep hold of such big names like Kurt Angle, Sting and Jeff Hardy, so they have a firm foundation of veterans upon which to build new stars. Are they always good at doing that? No. Better more recently with the likes of Bobby Roode, James Storm and Austin Aries (all vets to the industry, but only these past couple years have they become main eventers of a mainstream program), but still TNA possesses a shit track record for building new talent.
