So What Is Happening With Willow?

[Alex]

So the character of Willow debuted at Lockdown helping Team MVP to win ownership of TNA and ushering in a new era (kind of pointless now but still)

Now here we are three months later and we still have no idea as to the reasoning of the character. I like the character. I've always enjoyed the crazy, unhinged characters in media. However I also like to know the reasons they're crazy and so far we haven't got that yet. I thought the slow burn to the reveal as to why Jeff Hardy became Willow would be cool but unfortunately that slow burn seems to have gone out and hasn't been reignited.

Since debuting Willow hasn't really done much. He's had a small feud (if you can call it that) with ECIII and Rockstar Spud and currently seems to be the foil for Magnus and Bram (which is more about them than anything)

So what exactly is happening here. Is it TNA doing the usual thing of sitting on something for ages before doing anything with it/they don't know where they're going with it. Or is this slow burn simply going at a snails pace.

Also side question what would you like to see as the reasoning for Jeff Hardy becoming Willow. I've said it before but I'll say it again. I'd like to see Willow as Jeff Hardy's calling. He thinks Willow is what he always should have been as it's the weird wacky character that he always felt he should be but he felt people wouldn't accept it and he eventually just went 'sod it' and did it anyway.

 

[Animeboy010]

Honesty, have no idea I'm still trying to figure out What is the purpose of this persona? Jeff Hardy is way too established to be repackaged into a new gimmick., One would think with both Sting and AJ gone, TNA would,push Jeff as the top draw but nope. You don't see WWE doing this to Cena.

 

[Animeboy010]

My interpretation of what's happening, is Jeff Hardy got burnt out by the whole Dixieland nonsense. Leaves the company, on the understanding that he will return later on when he feels the time is right to do so. He returns as the psychotic alter-ego Willow, who then goes on to attempt to destroy all of those who were involved in Jeff's leaving in the first place - Spud, EC3 and the former World Champ, Magnus.He seems to be fighting Magnus now'', but I honesty stop,caring...



There's a reason why you shouldn't give everyone creative control. Willow is suppose to be Jeff's dark, twisted, out of control side of his persona but it is failing miserably. He speaks random prog rock gibberish in a high pitched voice. He wears the same Hardy clothes except he's wearing a mask now. His Immortal days minus the heavy drug use is the character he should be going for. But TNA will keep giving Jeff all the creative freedom he wants because that is what he cares about. If it was about money, he would had long left for WWE.


Honesty, The Willow Gimmick has failed and time to bring back The Charismatic Enigma''..

 

[George Steele's Barber]

Wasn't Hardy fired and came back as this thing in order to usurp his firing? Otherwise Jeff Hardy has given us 10+ years of back story in and out of the ring. I think you just have to accept that Jeff Hardy is a weird dude that does weird things and has been pushed so mentally and physically that he has become something else or has to become something else just to get by in life.

Or it is all those drugs he has taken.

 

[overkill]

I hate the Willow gimmick, his ring attire looks shabby to with the mask on, hes ment to be unpredictable but he acts the same as Jeff Hardy minus the stupid laugh

 

[Notorious718]

I initially thought Willow came to get some sort of measure of revenge on Team Dixie for screwing him out of the world title against Magnus. Fast forward several months later and I honestly don't know if there is any concrete long term plan for Willow. I think at the moment it's to put over both Magnus and the new Bram character? And really, at this stage of Hardy's career, he should be putting over the young talent.

 

[TDFG]

I don't get the umbrella gimmick, but I'm willing to give the character time, the Undertaker & Sting were able to pull it off, Hardy is trying to do the same, something which is a big gamble but fair play to him.

The Willow character like a lot in TNA is just lost at the minute, TNA could probably do with a TV Title for the likes of Willow, Shaw, Magnus, EC III but they don't have a lot of airtime for it.

 

[horseman5]

it's pretty much going nowhere. I'm all for Hardy doing what ever he wants. As a TNA fan on PPV, Hardy has given his blood sweat and tears, for us. I'm not really into the Willow thing though.

 

[horseman5]

He probably got a pay cut, that is not enough for Jeff Hardy.

 

[GameOver]

I don't get the umbrella gimmick, but I'm willing to give the character time, the Undertaker & Sting were able to pull it off, Hardy is trying to do the same, something which is a big gamble but fair play to him.

The Willow character like a lot in TNA is just lost at the minute, TNA could probably do with a TV Title for the likes of Willow, Shaw, Magnus, EC III but they don't have a lot of airtime for it.

Except both of those were made to look dominant during the rise from obscurity, whera as Willow is not he's a glorified jobber atm, jobbing to Madnus and the other dude for no reason other then to make Magnus look heelish again, stupid.

and the commentry team dropped the ball on him from day 1, he was meant to be a "mystery" who is this Willow they said and then soon as he made his TV debut they immediately said it was Jeff Hardy. <FACEPALM> ok well it was obvious to most people but not everyone.

Seriously i think it stinks, they want everyone to believe he has a different style when it's clear he's not doing anything different barring from the occasional more violent action, Sting went completely mental, Taker was abducting people, stabbing people, they obviously want him to still be a kid hero and fighter for "the people" but portray the opposite

 

[GameOver]

I don't get the umbrella gimmick, but I'm willing to give the character time, the Undertaker & Sting were able to pull it off, Hardy is trying to do the same, something which is a big gamble but fair play to him.

The Willow character like a lot in TNA is just lost at the minute, TNA could probably do with a TV Title for the likes of Willow, Shaw, Magnus, EC III but they don't have a lot of airtime for it.

They have alot of air time they waste it, for one thing they have a 2hr time slot and there's only 80mins of actual TV air time at most, the show finishes 20mins early most of the time on Australian cable and they waste 2/3rds of the show with backstage segments and recaps and like WWE does(tho they have the extra time to do it). Start the show with a monolog then in the middle further that monolog and make a min event out of it thats a hell of a lot of waste air time.

 

[Alex]

Well it seems that they've revealed a Tyler Durden type relationship between Willow and Jeff Hardy.

The depressing thing is it was in a promo that was only five minutes long and it was to hype a match between Willow and Magnus. I would've thought they would've put more effort into it. Unfortunately this is TNA and they do seem to cock up some very interesting things.

 

[scottyshowman82]

I am a Hardy fan and Willow was kind of up my alley. I'm a mark for the face paint (ala the Road Warriors) a mark for masks (Ala the Great Muta) and funky get ups (like Jushin Thunder Liger and Pychosis.) The segment that focused on the upcoming Willow vs Magnus feud at Slammiversary on iMPACT was one of my favourites of the week.

I gotta say I like this Bram dude. He's wild, he intense and he's nuts. He's just what everyone wished would come out of Magnus in the Brit's title reign and it's almost like TNA picked up on that and brought the former of member of WWE's Ascension in. Bram adds an element of danger and unpredictability and is right ally that Magnus needs to get where he wants to be.

This promo involving Magnus, Bram and Willow on iMPACT this week was crazy. You have Willow out there with his crazy get up and that crazy high pitched voice ,talking like he's Venom from Marvel Comics, saying "we" want to fight you guys. You have Magus calling Willow crazy and saying how he beat Jeff Hardy and made him turn into Willow. Bram, who's such a wide eyed psycho calling Willow a psycho. And then Willow reveals that Abyss is going to be his tag team partner, the monster that Magnus kicked to the curb not too long ago. I don't know about the rest of you but this is why I watch pro wrestling. I want to see something that I don't see in my everyday life. I want to see larger than life characters. I want to the out of the ordinary, the ultra aggressive and what happens when they all collide together.

I really think that Willow is the darker and most out going version of Jeff Hardy. Willow is everything that Jeff Hardy can't be. Hardy in is core is an artist. An adrenaline junkie that wants to do right by his fans. Rather than get audiences to watch matches through promos he has a mysterious introverted demeanor while at the same exciting fans his daredevil antics thus getting the nickname "The Charismatic Enigma." However now this "Enigma" seems to letting more of his mystery out. Willow is a lot of ways is everything Hardy is not. Loud, black and white rather than colourful, and free to walk on the dark side. The funny thing is if you followed Hardy through his career you can see him go from a quiet happy go lucky person, who slowly put on a little face paint here and there, to wearing a lot of face paint and now going full out Willow. I remember one of my female friends telling me she loved Hardy but wish he'd stop wearing that scary face paint. I suppose that was a side of Hardy wanted to break out for a long time.

Well it seems for the time being that Willow is here to stay. I agree with the OP, Alex that Willow is an interesting character. I'm interested to see how far this artistic expression of Hardy will go. What will happen when Willow & Abyss face Magnus and Bram at Slammiversary. All these personalities may be too combustible for one ring to hold. And I'll be looking foward too see all the chaos that is sure to explode.