WCW Region, Chicago Subregion, First Round: (14) Jeff Hardy vs. (19) Steve Williams

[klunderbunker]

This is a first round match in the WCW Region, Chicago Subregion. It is a standard one on one match held under WCW Rules. It will be held at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois.

#14. Jeff Hardy

Vs.

#19. Dr. Death Steve Williams

​

Polls will be open for four days following a one day period for discussion. Voting will be based on who you feel is the greater of the two competitors. Post your reasons for why your pick should win below. Remember that this is non-spam and the most votes in the poll win. Any ties will be broken by the amount of posts of support for each candidate, with one vote per poster.

Also remember that this is a non-spam forum. If you post a response without giving a reason for your selection, it will be penalized for spam and deleted.

 

[It's...Baylariat!]

Dr. Death Steve Williams was a mean, tough sum bitch. He was strong as an ox, as agile as a luchador, and had a bad, bad temper. The man stood toe to toe with the likes of the Four Horsemen, Terry Gordy, Stan Hansen, and numerous others. His reputation in Japan was even better than it was in the US, and he had a sterling rep in the states.

Jeff Hardy takes lots and lots of high risks. Like getting in the ring with a man that can eat his lunch right in front of him.

Don't sleep on Dr. Death. He might not have held a major American belt, but that doesn't mean he'd have trouble with Meth Hardy.

Dr. Death with the Oklahoma Slam.

PINATA!

 

[GI Cake]

Jeff Hardy is so loaded with pain medication that he won't feel a single thing Dr.Death does to him. No seriously, Jeff Hardy likes drugs.

Jeff does a swanton for the pin, and then later goes to get really fucking high with his brother.

 

[Tastycles]

Oh Dr. Death, we barely knew ye. In North America anyway.

This is the hardest one to call for me, because I think Steve Williams is probably better, but there's no denying the fact he hasn't, domestically at least, had the impact that Jeff Hardy did. I think on that fact, and the fact that Jeff's in one of my favourite ever matches, I'm going with him, but I don't think there's a stupid vote here.

 

[Alex]

Jeff Hardy.

Jeff's tough as hell and has beaten guys who are bigger than him. Sure it took a lot out of him but he still beat them. It would be an entertaining match I'm sure but Jeff hits the Twist Of Fate, then a Swanton for the win

 

[Danger Burger]

Dr. Death Steve Williams was a mean, tough sum bitch.

Dr Death was supposed to be a mean, tough sum bitch, till Bart Gunn knocked him flat out in WWFs Brawl For All tournament and sent him packing back to Japan.

Hardy has achieved more on his own merit, whereas Death mostly held tag titles. World Champ in both major American promotions and a slue of mid card titles beats 86 days as heavy weight champ in Japan in my books. Hardy steals it.

 

[Mr. Artistic guy]

A very close match up where, frankly, I don't much like either competitor.

Stevie Williams was an American killing it in Japan. Something that hasn't happened very often, and less on the scale to which he succeeded. But I hate watching him work, in Japan of in America.

Similarly, Jeff Hardy was also a fish out of water in his success. Hardy was THE perennial high-flyer in the WWE in the early noughties but was so successful with it that he got a world title shot again The Undertaker. He didn't win, but nobody expected to. Then he moved sideways to TNA and was much on the same level there competing for the X divison title and being upper mid card talent at most.

In a very strange Twist of Fate, it's the one example I can think where WWE have valued an ex-WWE talent higher than TNA has. He went from high spots in TNA to being world champion in his return to WWE, and being hella over with his creatures. Since that point (when not high as a kite) he's been consistently successful and has managed to maintain a large section of his core fans.

Hardy, just because I think in two similar stories, Hardys is the better one.

 

[HBsam31]

Hardy has beaten men the likes of Steve Williams. Williams never had the impact here that he had elsewhere, and Hardy is known for beating bigger men. I initially wanted to vote for Dr. Death, but I can't hardy has just done to much here, and in Chicago Hardy gets the win.

 

[deem]

If this match had fell into an international stadium, I'd probably be arguing for Dr Death here. The guy went 4-3 against Muta, 5-0 against Jun Akiyama, 6-2 Vs Taue, 8-3 vs f Kenta Kobashi and only came out 4-5 vs Misawa. That's an incredible record for a guy I personally consider more adept at tag team wrestling. He went out to Japan, where Americans tend to do poorly on their visits, stayed and ABSOLUTELY dominated.

His form vs American's is a lot worse though, so it's really hard to picture which Dr Death we would see here. For what its worth;

[youtube]ZZEZqCw6m0o[/youtube]

I find myself weighing up Dr Death's unshown potential in the US. He was primed for title shots a few times, instead shifting himself to Japan and forming a HUGE legacy out there.

Onto Hardy - I actually think his kayfabe prime is slightly weaker than a lot make out. Cleanly going over HHH in a #1 contender match is pretty spectacular, but then he was cleanly beaten by Randy at the Rumble. A strong showing in the Elimination Chamber sure, but then nothing else until winning the WWE title late in 2011 in a triple threat for a one month reign. When I'm looking at the records wrestlers have, a big thing I discredit is wins in multi-man matches one-fall finish matches. If Hardy had seperately beaten Edge and HHH there it'd give it much more strength. As it is, he got screwed out of the title after just a month at the following PPV, before having a couple of brief world heavyweight title reigns in a feud he came out a loser of against a progressive CM Punk, not at the same superstar level we see now.

So I see a huge push, massive popularity without ever dominating at a high level. Which makes this VERY hard to call. I think Jeff would give more to the tournament going forward from a booking point of view due to his huge popularity - Japanese fans may have an interest in supporting Steve Williams going forward, but they have plenty of their own country men to cheer instead. And against that, I kinda think Steve Williams has a kayfabe edge vs Jeff all things considered.

Yeah, I really don't care who progresses here but if I were to picture this tournament happening, I see Jeff advancing, battered and bruised and put over by the huge beaten he was able to absorb and get through at the hands of Dr Death. There is no WAY I'm putting him over Randy in the next round without huge supporting evidence thoug.

 

[The Brain]

This is an interesting match and a tough one for me to pick. I could see it going either way but my instinct is to say Dr. Death. I see Hardy using his speed and high flying offense but I see him eventually making a big mistake and Dr. Death capitalizing on it. When Hardy makes that mistake Dr. Death will simply overpower him and move on to the second round.