**MERGED** Jeff Hardy in 2009

[braveh]

Yesterday Bryan Alvarez said that in 2009 Jeff Hardy was the biggest wrestler in the world. Do you think that's true?

So Jeff Hardy had both titles within a year which is huge in the wrestling world, he was in big angles throughout the year, I have heard (not confirmed) that he was the top seller of merchandise for several months beating Cena.

but

I never felt like he was in a storyline that was as over as Matt - Edge - Lita or CM Punk's run last summer. More importantly it didn't even make a blip on the radar when he "retired" from WWE and then signed with TNA as far as mainstream media goes. The other two angles I mentioned made it into the mainstream realm....as did Hogan's signing with TNA.

His first show on TNA did a 1, 45 a new record for them (also the Hogan show, previous record 1,3) but the season average was down for 2010.

The season average for Smackdown actually went down from 2008: 2,3 to 2009 1,9. His last Smackdown show did 1,9. The season average for 2010 was 1,8.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

Yes, but the first half of 2009, but I would say 2008 was Jeff Hardy's year. The fans were behind him, well marketed, it seemed poised he would become a headliner soon after.

I still stand on my opinion to this day that Jeff Hardy should have headlined WM25. Regardless what happened with his life after, which is basically hindsight, the guy winning the WWE Title at WM25 would have made one of the greatest WM moments of all time.

Just look at the end of Armageddon in 2008.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8eU9aHdzms&feature=related

The celebration and emotion should have been saved at the grandest stage of them all and a better way to close WM.

 

[dtroppe]

There is zero chance. Jeff Hardy may have had the belt, but that does not equal biggest in the world. The following wrestlers could have a match in 2008 and out drawn Hardy 10-1: Cena, Rock, Austin, Hogan, HHH, HBK, Undertaker,Jericho, Sting,and Orton.

 

[ProWrestlingFan]

LOL Jeff Hardy fans and John Cena fans are alike.

Edge was the biggest star on Smackdown before retiring in 2011 not Jeff Hardy, not CM Punk.

 

[Judah's Lion]

Yes, but the first half of 2009, but I would say 2008 was Jeff Hardy's year. The fans were behind him, well marketed, it seemed poised he would become a headliner soon after.

I still stand on my opinion to this day that Jeff Hardy should have headlined WM25. Regardless what happened with his life after, which is basically hindsight, the guy winning the WWE Title at WM25 would have made one of the greatest WM moments of all time.

Just look at the end of Armageddon in 2008.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8eU9aHdzms&feature=related

The celebration and emotion should have been saved at the grandest stage of them all and a better way to close WM.

i halfway agree here. Jeff Hardy's moment should have come at Mania, maybe even Mania 25. he was one of those guys that had worked hard and paid his dues. we watched him grow in the ring from tag team wrestler, up thru the IC ranks and challenger to the WWE title. it would have been fitting for him to have a mania moment.

i just wonder who he should have beat for it. definitely not Matt Hardy. i could see either Triple H, Randy Orton, CM Punk (if they had their feud sooner than later), or Edge.

to answer the original question, i don't think Jeff Hardy was the biggest star of 2009. there was a time when i thought he was the biggest star, but it was more of 2008 than 2009. the real problem with Jeff, and this is not bashing him, is that he always seemed to sabotage his own momentum. he would rise to the top, then fall from grace, and repeat. that's why i say he wasn't the biggest star of 2009. too many falls from the top. he was never consistent. otherwise, he may have been considered the top guy...

 

[Death Before Disco]

Sorry, I'm trying to wipe the tears from my eyes from laughing so hard....


Okay, better now. Jeff Hardy was NOT the top wrestler in 2009. John Cena was the top star on RAW. Edge was the top star on Smackdown. Hardy was over with girls and the younger audience, but still not to the extent of Cena. I agree too, though, that his victory over Edge should have come at Mania.

 

[Skinsley]

Absolutely not....at the time he was SUPER over. But that is about it, John Cena was the guy, still is the guy....and for years has always been the guy.

If Jeff was indeed the biggest wrestler in the business then WWE would have thrown everything at him to keep him... but they did not. To say he was the biggest wrestler in the world is a totally ridiculous statement by someone who must be Bias or have an article to write and needs attention.

I personally wish he stayed in WWE, but he would be Jobbing out in the Midcard and loosing in main events in the current Ziggler spot right now.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

For people putting over Cena, Edge, Undertaker, Randy Orton, or Batista in 2008 to 2009. Keep in mind these were guys who suffered injuries or absences during this time period. With this, it made Jeff Hardy one of the more consistent top babyfaces in the WWE.

Sure Jericho, Triple H, or Shawn Michales were still bigger stars, but 2008/2009 is when the spot light was on Jeff Hardy for this long stretch. I think his only draw back was his suspension before WM24, but beyond that he was consistently the focal point of RAW/Smackdown.

 

[smizzy]

you obviously decided to be small minded and, quite frankly, a bit of a t*at about it.

Grow Up

I don't know. It just really irritates me that you had this response to someone who ridiculed you after this statement: "are you gay? who cares if jeff was. all the money he made went up his nose." C'mon, guy.

If you are going to have that much of an irrational dislike about Jeff, at least address the topic question and say no because he pissed it all away with his personal problems. Yet YOU feel like someone who makes a statement that offends YOU should grow up? ...God bless...

Anyway, on topic now:
I don't feel like Jeff Hardy ever has been or could be the biggest wrestler in the world. Simply because if you could go back to 09, walk into public and survey random people with the question, "Who's the greatest wrestler in the world right now," you probably wouldn't get one response in favor of Jeff. The greatest wrestler at a current period of time is everywhere. You see their shirts mixed in every now and then in the public. And no one has doubts about who creating the biggest buzz in the wrestling world.

 

[Swarles Barkley]

I don't feel like Jeff Hardy ever has been or could be the biggest wrestler in the world. Simply because if you could go back to 09, walk into public and survey random people with the question, "Who's the greatest wrestler in the world right now," you probably wouldn't get one response in favor of Jeff. The greatest wrestler at a current period of time is everywhere. You see their shirts mixed in every now and then in the public. And no one has doubts about who creating the biggest buzz in the wrestling world.

Greatest and biggest are not the same thing. The biggest movie of all time is Avatar (made the most money), but it is not the greatest movie of all time. A great movie can be the biggest but the greatest doesn't have to be big.

With that out of the way, I think Jeff Hardy may have been the biggest wrestler back in 2009. I'd expand it to say winter of 2008 until he left in the summer of 2009. The pops Hardy would get on a consistent basis where louder and longer than we've seen in some time. I don't care if his fan base was mostly children and females, he got a pop and made WWE money.

As far as the idea that WWE would have moved heaven and earth to keep him if he was that big, I think WWE knew that they made Hardy as big as they did and that losing him wasn't that big of a deal. He's living proof that if you're not in WWE, most people really don't care about you. That's not a shot at TNA, but a simple fact. All those kids and girls who LOVED Hardy when he was in WWE did not follow him en masse to TNA. If he returns to WWE tomorrow, he'll go right back to where he was before he left in the fans' eyes.

 

[thesquaredcircle]

I don't think so. I think Cena was the biggest face on raw and edge was the biggest on smackdown. I think he may of been the third biggest superstar but defiantly not the first.

 

[Rayne]

Who sold the most merchandise? There's your answer right there. If I had the figures available, I could give you a specific name. Jeff Hardy did have a hell of a run in 2008-09.

Greatest and biggest are not the same thing. The biggest movie of all time is Avatar (made the most money), but it is not the greatest movie of all time. A great movie can be the biggest but the greatest doesn't have to be big.

Does that really apply to professional wrestling though? Movies have some sort of redeeming cultural/artistic value. The purpose of professional wrestling is to make money. Anthropologists will not be trying to understand our culture by breaking down the Matt Hardy/Edge/Lita storyline.

In the general case, I do agree with you, but I think professional wrestling is the exception. The biggest guy is the greatest, because he's the guy that's bringing in the most money.

 

[akathelaw]

I think Jeff Hardy would be the number 2 babyface in WWE if he were still there. He had immense crowd support by WWE's core audience, and with big departures like Edge and Triple H happening his stock surely would have risen. In a way I think Matt Hardy held his brother back, not intentionally but I think Matt's influence was for them to be kings of the midcard together.

 

[R.K.O]

I think Jeff Hardy at 2009 was close, very close to be comparable with Cena in terms of popularity. He was ridiculously over, even more so than Cena at that point of time, had one of the best feuds of recent years with CM Punk and was becoming a bonafied main eventer. Jeff was also very marketable, he had arm bands, face paints, art, and etc that can be made into merchandises. At that point I'd say his popularity was like CM Punk's last year when he unleashed that pipe bomb promo.

Unfortunately though, his demons got the better of him and we all know what happened. If he had stayed and stayed clean he would have been one of the top faces in WWE right now. Now with him looking good in TNA and hopefully matured after becoming a father, it would be good to see him back in WWE in the future and fulfill his potential.

 

[HBsam31]

I don't know if he was the biggest, but at the end of 08 into 09 he was up there. I was really surprised when he did not get a chance to win the title at Mania. he was super over at the time, and I remember saying to my wife that Jeff is going to be the happy ending to Mania. I have to agree that every time he rose to the top he did something to make himself fall from grace. If he wasn't the biggest wrestler at that time, he was a very very close second.

 

[quink987]

ive just been watching some stuff from 2009 and realised jeff hardy was getting some huge pops in this time and he was the face of smackdown,

so do you think if he didnt go through that dark patch in his life would he have been as big as john cena now in 2012?

for me I think its quiet possible maybe not as much as a mega star as cena but he may have been on the same level as let say brock lesnar in 2003 what are your thoughts?

 

[Death Before Disco]

There was a thread identical to this one last week.

No, Jeff Hardy was not on course to be as big as Cena. His career peaked in 2009, but he still wasn't anywhere near Cena in popularity. The storyline of Jeff continually making it to the big dance but still coming up short helped propel his popularity. The pop that he got at the 2008 Survivor Series was huge, and he didn't even wrestle that night. Jeff had all of the momentum in the world going into the new year, but his win over Edge at Armageddom should have come at WM 25. The story with Matt stalking and sabotaging Jeff's reighn derailed Jeff's momentum, and I think he had another run-in with the law around that time as well, but I could be wrong. That dark patch certainly didn't help his career, but even had he not gone throught it, I still don't think he would have reached Cena's level of popularity.

Bottom line though, Edge was the biggest star on Smackdown, and Cena was the biggest star on Raw through late 2008 and into 2009.

 

[dudedudedude]

That push was a few years too late. The ladder match with Taker was one of those nights in wrestling where you wish they called a mid match change to a match. If he beat taker that night, he would have been the biggest star in the world....but, such is life.

 

[asiatic7]

ive just been watching some stuff from 2009 and realised jeff hardy was getting some huge pops in this time and he was the face of smackdown,

so do you think if he didnt go through that dark patch in his life would he have been as big as john cena now in 2012?

for me I think its quiet possible maybe not as much as a mega star as cena but he may have been on the same level as let say brock lesnar in 2003 what are your thoughts?

I hear what you're saying, but I don't think he will have ever reached Cena status. Those kind of stars come around but so often. Jeff would have been a big star regardless though. His in-ring showmanship probably the most entertaining at the time between '08-'09. The audience was definitely behind him, he was over with the kids and women and his mystique is what also made him interesting. He didn't talk very well on the mic and history shows us that all the guys who transcended the sport has great mic-skills (Hogan, Rock, Austin, Cena).

You also mentioned his shady dark side... Jeff is always going to be Jeff because that's who he is, thats how he's made. He always will have that monkey on his back. He's a free spirited, free wheeling person who isn't confined to the restrictions of life that a lot of us are. Unfortunately, that will be his undoing as we've seen recently in TNA.

I'm not knocking Jeff at all, But this is the reality of the situation. In hindsight, the best place for him would be in the WWE because they can monitor his substance abuse through the wellness policy and sorta keep him on track.

 

[Jerichoholic]

I would have to say no, Cena can cut a promo and Jeff has the mic skills of a plank of wood, although he was extremely over at the time there is only so many swantons he could do before people stated getting bored of him even the younger fans would have out grown him eventually.

Like has already been said if he was ever going to reach that level it would have after the epic ladder match against The Undertaker when he was still young enough and sober enough to learn how to cut a promo!

 

[dtroppe]

This is absurd. Of course not. Hardy peaked around that time, due to lack of competition at the top of the card. Jeff Hardy is a mid carder. He does not have the look, the mic skills, or the charisma to be a mainstream attraction. Jeff Hardy was popular with children and and some IWC die hards who love Indy type guys. Hardy is not a draw. Hardy sold merchandise but so do a lot of mid carders. Lets not make Jeff Hardy out to be a household name. He was a midcard wrestler who got lucky and spend some time in the spotlight- a spot that was taken away from him quickly (which did not hurt WWE business).

 

[RockVenom]

Jeff Hardy was headed to greatness in WWE. He was/is unique (look, personal philosophy and wrestling abilities). And fans like that. The common fan likes what stands out, original, straight forward, edgy. Jeff Hardy was/is all that.

What lured him to his downfall with WWE is his lifestyle. The guy's not always in the right state of mind, we all knew that. WWE is very cautious about their image and work ethic. Anybody who might tarnish their image, not follow up, go against their values, have a disruptive behavior... We get to see people go their seperate way. Had he been any "straighter", he'd still be with WWE, with a lot of attention. He could been compared to CM Punk, but in his own way.

Will we ever see Jeff Hardy in WWE again? Time will tell. Like Chris Jericho once said, WWE is like the mafia. When you leave, you're never completely out of the picture. Sooner or later, it comes back to you...

 

[S.J. Maximus]

Every idiot who says no to this question and says "Jeff Hardy peaked" or that "there was no competition" back then is either someone who hates Hardy now or someone who simply didn't watch the WWE in the 2009. Jeff Hardy was the most over person on the roster in the summer of 2009 and they recognized that by giving him the main event spot of the summer PPV's. He outpopped Cena, out-performed him, and was undoubtedly the biggest face in the company, so much that he was able to turn a midcard face into the 2nd most over heel in the company. There was no competition? He was feuding with Triple H, Edge, and Undertaker while consistently getting better reactions and showing he belonged to be there.

If Jeff never left, he would've passed Cena as the top merch seller (he was already at #2 when he left) and would've remained the top face of the WWE for as long as he remained with the company. All these fools say "hey Jeff is a druggie" or "Jeff is a one-hit wonder" because they don't like him but an unbiased view would reveal how destined he was to become the top face. You can even go as far as to say if he didn't get suspended before WM24 and won the Money in the Bank he would've reached top face status even earlier. There's no doubt that the feud with Matt Hardy did nothing but waste Jeff's potential, but once they put him in the WHC picture Edge was no longer needed and Jeff and Punk put on a feud that I personally think was one of the most interesting of the 21st century.

 

[Reality Era]

I am agreeing with that fine fella, not just because Hardy has always and will always be my favourite performer but because when he left he had children crying and im emotional trauma, john cena if he left would never create such a reaction. Hardy represented an anti cena he didnt go around thinking that he was the bigger man in every promo but be honest and real and that mixed with his carisma made him a bigger star than cena at that point. so the question is easily answered

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

Jeff wasn't going to be at Cena's level, never. That's because his lack of mic skills. Jeff would probably have had the same success as Benoit, Guerrero, Mysterio and others like that. His character was about being the ultimate underdog. Because of that, we would have become a big time player but not in the same level of the likes of Edge, Cena, Batista, Orton. By 2012 he would probably be someting like Benoit was from 2005-2007 or like Eddie was in 2005.