Jeff Hardy's Heel Turn; The New Raven?

[The Underking]

I have to admit when I first saw what happened at Bound for Glory I thought screw TNA I tried to watch it for weeks but this wow I'm surprised but why the hell should I care Jeff sucks at promos and he's most likely going to do a Hollywood Hogan style thing.

I watched this week and say the line "Don't Judge A Book By It's Cover" should be listned to in wrestling THEY acttualy are getting me to watch TNA on a weekly basis unlike how I used to watch every other week.

Now all they need is a long title reign for Jeff and then I will acctually believe TNA won't fall by 2012. Now all they need is to disband Fortune it's practically nothing at this point after Lethal Lockdown anyways.

Just cause it's a catchy line

I Crossed The Line

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I was suprised to the way Jeff Hardy performed on iMPACT as a heel. Perhaps there is life to this gimmick change after all.

When I first saw the title of this thread my first thought was "HELL NO, no way can he be the new Raven" as obviously I am a big Raven mark. But, after seeing him on iMPACT and thinking about it more, I do think Hardy has a chance of pulling this off. If TNA want to re-create a Raven-style character at this time, then there is noone more suitable to do it than Jeff Hardy.

He would really suit the leather jacket, ripped jeans look and if he grew his hair again and kept the facepaint he would look the part. With Raven in TNA right now, he would be able to coach Jeff along, helping him become accustomed to his new role and help him to improve his promos.

I would agree with putting Raven as the mentor and manager of Jeff too, but with Hardy being part of Immortal I cannot see this happening, as I really doubt Raven would ever be inducted into the faction.

But, yeah, I could actually see Jeff becoming a Raven-alike if this weeks iMPACT was anything to go by. I am very interested to see where TNA will take this in the next few weeks

 

[TheTheDude]

I'm sort of mad that I fell asleep and missed seeing that promo as it aired last night. Definite similarities to vintage Raven. But who is going to end up playing the Tommy Dreamer to Jeff's Raven?

 

[@smarkmouth]

I fully agree about Jeff's two promos last night. The first was a bit lackluster, but the second rocked it. I've always thought Jeff was a bit mic-shy in the ring. However, when I saw his face on the screen, I knew we would get a treat.

You want to compare Jeff Hardy to the Joker? Anyone remember this one? Jump to 1:50

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mG_sPMr3jIg

If they want to keep the heel persona strong, this is where Jeff is at his best; closer to a camera then a crowd. On top of that, Jeff fancies himself a visual artist. Give him some room to play with these videos, and we might just have a truly unique, threatening, and more importantly, credible heel.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I think people are blowing this way out of proportion. To hear some of the comments posted in this thread, you'd think that Jeff Hardy set new standards for the way a promo is supposed to be cut. Maybe because TNA is so bad that people immediately get excited over the smallest of bright spots, I don't know, but let's take a deep breath and not jump the gun.

I thought the first promo was the better of the two. It was solid, short and sweet and that's probably the way to go for the time being. As for the second one, I found it laughable that Hardy refers to himself as the new Anti-Christ of professional wrestling. He's hardly established himself as this dark, menacing figure that's dominated TNA through his "evil" actions. It's a bit early to be channeling his inner Kane at this point.

Hardy was better last night than I think most were expecting, but let's not try and make this as some astounding feat of mic work. Hardy was generally solid last night and that's a start, but a start is all it really is at this point. For all I know, last night was a complete fluke so I'm definitely going to wait and see if they can sustain this before jumping on the bandwagon.

 

[BigT1011]

I think Jeff would have to develop more of a psychological presence than he has had in the past. Raven had his from the get-go back in the original ECW. I don't think Jeff has had the time to incorporate such a deep mindset into his character yet. It's never to late though. For just starting with the level of heel work he's doing, I would say he's doing pretty good for himself. With due time, I think he could go far with the new psychological aspect of his character

 

[@smarkmouth]

I think people are blowing this way out of proportion. To hear some of the comments posted in this thread, you'd think that Jeff Hardy set new standards for the way a promo is supposed to be cut. Maybe because TNA is so bad that people immediately get excited over the smallest of bright spots, I don't know, but let's take a deep breath and not jump the gun.

I thought the first promo was the better of the two. It was solid, short and sweet and that's probably the way to go for the time being. As for the second one, I found it laughable that Hardy refers to himself as the new Anti-Christ of professional wrestling. He's hardly established himself as this dark, menacing figure that's dominated TNA through his "evil" actions. It's a bit early to be channeling his inner Kane at this point.

Hardy was better last night than I think most were expecting, but let's not try and make this as some astounding feat of mic work. Hardy was generally solid last night and that's a start, but a start is all it really is at this point. For all I know, last night was a complete fluke so I'm definitely going to wait and see if they can sustain this before jumping on the bandwagon.

I agree with you for the most part. Although my post expressed excitement, I am excited at it's potential. As you said, it's a start, and that all it really was, but it's a jump start. It's a hot topic, people are interested. It has alot of potential, and let's see where it goes.

Now, his first promo was short and sweet, yes. The words were great and explained his turn, but I just felt he was rushing through it. Any more rushed and his turn could have been a foot note to this new regime.

You called the second promo laughable. I thought that it worked, but I can see where people would think otherwise, so I won't argue that. However, comparing the two, Jeff took his time in the second promo and yes, that's a big deal. It's a fine line to walk in promos to let the words sink into the audience without boring them and in that one, whether the words were cheesy or not, the promo stuck with people.

Again, keep Jeff behind the camera.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

I think people are blowing this way out of proportion. To hear some of the comments posted in this thread, you'd think that Jeff Hardy set new standards for the way a promo is supposed to be cut. Maybe because TNA is so bad that people immediately get excited over the smallest of bright spots, I don't know, but let's take a deep breath and not jump the gun.

I thought the first promo was the better of the two. It was solid, short and sweet and that's probably the way to go for the time being. As for the second one, I found it laughable that Hardy refers to himself as the new Anti-Christ of professional wrestling. He's hardly established himself as this dark, menacing figure that's dominated TNA through his "evil" actions. It's a bit early to be channeling his inner Kane at this point.

Hardy was better last night than I think most were expecting, but let's not try and make this as some astounding feat of mic work. Hardy was generally solid last night and that's a start, but a start is all it really is at this point. For all I know, last night was a complete fluke so I'm definitely going to wait and see if they can sustain this before jumping on the bandwagon.

He didn't refer to himself as the antichrist of professional wrestling, Jack, he said that some are now referring to him as such — there is a difference.

Had he simply proclaimed himself the antichrist, it'd have been controversial, but not nearly as impacting as it could have been had he simply started to build his new heel persona, I agree — but he alluded to the fact that others have given him the stigma, which removes the burden of needing a reason to be called as such from him entirely.

I have no issue with it whatsoever — in fact, I loved it. I loved when pro-wrestling used to walk the line of what constituted being politically correct or not, and this is no different.

Hell, I'd love for him to start emulating all types of dark arts in his gimmick. Come out dressed as a fucked up priest. Come up with a new finisher and name it after something blasphemous. Burn bibles. I don't care — anything that creates controversy and will garner them exposure as a result is A-OK with me.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

He didn't refer to himself as the antichrist of professional wrestling, Jack, he said that some are now referring to him as such — there is a difference.

Had he simply proclaimed himself the antichrist, it'd have been controversial, but not nearly as impacting as it could have been had he simply started to build his new heel persona, I agree — but he alluded to the fact that others have given him the stigma, which removes the burden of needing a reason to be called as such from him entirely.

I have no issue with it whatsoever — in fact, I loved it. I loved when pro-wrestling used to walk the line of what constituted being politically correct or not, and this is no different.

Hell, I'd love for him to start emulating all types of dark arts in his gimmick. Come out dressed as a fucked up priest. Come up with a new finisher and name it after something blasphemous. Burn bibles. I don't care — anything that creates controversy and will garner them exposure as a result is A-OK with me.

Awww come on, let's not reduce this to the semantics of word games. If there are "some" that've referred to Hardy as the new Anti-Christ of professional wrestling, then it's TNA creative. And, if TNA promos aren't heavily scripted, then it's likely Hardy came up with it himself. Sorry, just not buying into the whole little word game scenario.

As far as being politically correct and all, doesn't bother me at all. My problem with the whole Anti-Christ comment isn't religious, it's just because he has no legitimacy right now. What exactly had he done in the roughly 24 hours after his heel turn, which was the same night last night's show was taped, to be considered evil? It's like a wrestler saying he's the greatest of all time without ever having even wrestled in a main event match. If Hardy decides to come out and do something controversial involving religion, it might be done in a fun and entertaining way. But just because it's controversial doesn't mean that it's good. There were plenty of controversial moments during the Attitude Era and not all of them were exactly what I'd call quality. If Hardy did do some of the things you suggested over the course of a few weeks or a month, or just did some "evil" things to potential opponents, then the Anti-Christ moniker might not seem so tongue and cheek to me as he'd actually done something to possibly deserve to be what "some" have called him.

 

[Dean Winchester]

I love Jeff to have Raven and Ministry of Darkness Taker persona with crow Sting aswell. And Jeff dressing up us a fucked up priest would be great, he could be one of those religious fanatics and extremists who think what he is doing is in God.

 

[The Assassin IX]

I wouldn't go far to saying he's the new Scott Levy but I've always saw potential on Jeffrey Nero Hardy as a heel after trash talking Levesque back at 2007.

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

i dont know about anti christ or raven but i surelyliked the idea of turning jeff into a slightly crazy "joker"(from dark knight)type heel.usually evil types of heels have worked well in the past and i cant see any reason why it wont work now.

here's the story.angle begins chasing jeff for the title but jeff retains each time by interference from immortal.angle finally demands a cage match to decide things once and for all.jeff initially refuse saying each time that he is scared.but something is not right about the way he says it.hogan thinks jeff is scared of losing the title so he assures him that immortal will be there to back him up

so at the ppv its a close match but just when it seems like angle is going to win jeff goes ballistic on angle hitting him with 4-5 chairshots and finisshing him off with a swanton through the table from the top of the cage

next night jeff comes out saying that he was scared....of what he might do to angle and its all angle's fault that the only olympic gold medaalist in pro wrestling will be never seen in tna ever again

that could get jeff over as this feared heel.all the more reason for the fans to get behind the babyface because at first they just wanted to see jeff lose but now they will aalso fear for the babyfaces' safety

 

[mrbooker]

i dont know about anti christ or raven but i surelyliked the idea of turning jeff into a slightly crazy "joker"(from dark knight)type heel.usually evil types of heels have worked well in the past and i cant see any reason why it wont work now.

here's the story.angle begins chasing jeff for the title but jeff retains each time by interference from immortal.angle finally demands a cage match to decide things once and for all.jeff initially refuse saying each time that he is scared.but something is not right about the way he says it.hogan thinks jeff is scared of losing the title so he assures him that immortal will be there to back him up

so at the ppv its a close match but just when it seems like angle is going to win jeff goes ballistic on angle hitting him with 4-5 chairshots and finisshing him off with a swanton through the table from the top of the cage

next night jeff comes out saying that he was scared....of what he might do to angle and its all angle's fault that the only olympic gold medaalist in pro wrestling will be never seen in tna ever again

that could get jeff over as this feared heel.all the more reason for the fans to get behind the babyface because at first they just wanted to see jeff lose but now they will aalso fear for the babyfaces' safety

I have been saying this on this post fr some time all the thing jeff hardy was loved for, for putting his body on the line must now be hated and he has to be that lunatic to put his body on the line for the sole purpose to take out others

 

[floofwolfe]

I think Jeff is certainly channeling Raven a bit, and it absolutely works for him. A Joker/Raven-esque heel suits him well, and he appears to be able to carry it just fine. Despite their different moves and moralities, I've always thought them to have a lot in common.

To the idea of Raven returning to manage Jeff... that sounds good and would probably look even better. However, I don't think it would fit with the rest of the Immortals in the position that they are.

Although it probably wouldn't fit either, I would love to see Raven return AGAINST Jeff. Call him out on the similarities. Past Jeff vs Raven matches have been gold, with a darker Jeff even back then. Their Lockdown 05 fight comes to mind, along with a 2002 match back on HEAT where Jeff DQ'd himself by strangling Raven with a camera cord. The rematch a few days later, on RAW I believe, was pretty good too. A full-on heel Jeff vs Raven would be awesome.