What if Jeff Hardy was ever a heel...in the WWE?

[Savion83]

Has anybody ever noticed during the in & out WWE career of Jeff Hardy that out of all six wrestlers who fueded with each other during the epic TLC match-ups (Edge, Christian, brother Matt, and the Dudley Boyz) that Jeff Hardy never played a heel?

I mean the "E" teased a Jeff Hardy heel turn back on RAW in early '03 when Jeff was going through a losing streak so to speak. And HBK had questioned Jeff's path he was going down before super-kicking Jeff. But that's about it, if you don't count Jeff Hardy being in the "New Brood" faction back in the atittude era.

So if Jeff Hardy was ever a heel in the WWE, would Jeff had been more better of a all-around wrestler and would a heel turn for Jeff been a good fit for his charactor? He might have won a world title sooner than '08.

 

[Goliath Uterus]

No, I don't think Hardy would have ever been a succesful heel, children and women love him too much and he doesn't have enough natural charisma to make people hate him. Not to mention that he is small, and if your a small heel, you better be able to talk your ass off, which Jeff certainly cannot do.

But if a heel turn had happened, it would have been an epic failure, he would have been almost immediatley buried, and never, ever, been world champion and prolly would have faded into obscurity and eventually end up in......... The same place he is now.

 

[CH David]

They tried in early 2003, I think. He attacked RVD and HBK. But such a thing was so awful that they reverted him back to a face a month later, patching up with Michaels. Just read that you said that, don't feel like deleting this.

Also, Jeff could not be a heel to save his own life. If Vince said "Jeff, I'll let you smoke as much weed and do as many drugs as you want, just be a successful heel" Jeff still couldn't be a good heel.

His personality is one to get the fans behind him, not against him. His mantra is living for the moment, being extreme. Fans backed him for all the crazy shit he put himself through. He just cannot pull off being a bad guy. You wanted to see him succeed. It wouldn't have helped him either way. He wouldn't get the belt longterm due to liability issues, so him winning it before Armageddon in '08 isn't really feasible unless he was clean.

 

[Ferbian]

I think the fact that Jeff Hardy is a very entertaining guy to watch in the ring, his personality as CH David noted is something the crowd gets behind.

Jeff Hardy has always been some kind of face character, he's the kind of guy you just can't truly see being a heel, Matt Hardy is the heel of the two brothers.

Jeff has the whole high flying thing going for him that will make the crowd get behind him like no other, he has the stomping in the ring (outside for tag team wrestling) and all the natural things to be the perfect face, so turning Jeff heel at any given time wouldn't have worked.

They tried but it didn't work, and I'm actually happy they didn't, he's one of the few guys that functions better as a face than a heel, and if you got that going for you, why lessen yourself to a state you can't work as well?

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I could never see Jeff Hardy as a heel, everything about him screams fan favourite. Women love him, kids love him, his high-flying moves make him popular and he isnt good enough on the mic to cut a convincing heel promo in my opinion. It would have to be some booking genius for me to buy into Jeff as a heel.

Not that theres anything wrong with playing a face your whole career, he has been pretty succesful if you ask me, and would have been even more had he not been a dirty smackhead

 

[BK Styles]

It just wouldn't work. Well, back in '03 it didn't. He's got too much about him that connects with the fans and puts him over face. His moveset for one thing. I think (pardon the TNA mention here) AJ Styles is an example of how NOT to turn a high flyer heel. Look at Gregory Helms/Hurricane a few years ago. As the face superhero he does so many high flying moves. BUT when he turns heel, he tones down a bit with the flying. If jeff toned down the extreme, high ristk stuff, there wouldn't be enough left for a substantial character.

Thats my thoughts anyway.

 

[Viola Moonlight]

The WWE had a real big opportunity to turn Jeff Hardy heel when he brought in his face-paint and showed a darker side of himself back around 2008 as he tried to win the WWE Championship. He became much more sadistic with the way he talked and he took many more risks in the ring, sometimes damaging himself more than his opponents. He started going against guys like Undertaker and Triple H, both at the time where real big face characters. Jeff was not golden on the mic like someone of Miz's stature, but his best promo's I feel were when he portrayed himself as the broken soul. The situation was right for the turn and Jeff was doing a well enough job for a convincing heel turn.

But, the guy had such a large fan base in the WWE that making the switch would have been stupid on the WWE's side of things at any point in his career as an established wrestler. He was a big draw that people loved. It would be like making Rey Mysterio into a heel today... nothing but shock value would arise from this. I don't think he'd have the commitment of being a heel neither, due to how the guy wrestles in the ring.

If there was ever a time he could have gone heel, it was in 2008... possibly in 2003 as well (as mentioned by other posters above me)... but it would have required so much thought to accomplish that it was easier to keep him face.