Success, Bust or In-Between: Jeff Hardy

[Notorious718]

I'm sort of torn between success and in-between. Jeff Hardy has always been ridiculously over with the crowd and has proven time and time again to be a great draw, particularly when he began his main event run. He sold merchandise like there was no tomorrow and drew a crowd reaction that rivaled John Cena's. If it weren't for Cena, there's no doubt in my mind that Hardy would've arguably been the face of WWE.

However, I would also argue in-between because (and I've said this countless times) while he proved himself to be a great asset to the company, he was also proved himself to be a major liability given his history with the whole Wellness Policy. I've heard many times that he was set to win MITB at Wrestlemania 24 (can anyone vouch for that?) before he got suspended. That said, he would typically delay his programs and pushes.

While I would argue that Jeff Hardy can either be a success or in-between (definitely not a bust) I think I would lean more towards success.

 

[Razor]

I'm with FromtheBack brethren FTS here. Jeff Hardy went from being the Hardy Boy that jumped from really high things to being Jeff Hardy, the person that Matt Hardy leeched reaction from on a daily basis. He became Jeff Hardy, the person that people cheered for because he flopped around on his way to the ring. The person that people cheered for even when he missed his finisher because we were afraid for his back. The person that people cheered for over the person whose message was "don't use drugs."

In fact, I would venture to say that without Jeff Hardy, CM Punk wouldn't be able to have turned heel with that message. Jeff Hardy was so over that the crowd didn't see Punk as a man who was trying to keep Hardy from using crack again. They saw CM Punk has a jerk that was taunting their favorite chubby wrestler that looked like he broke his back every week.

Jeff Hardy was the man that overcame years of drug abuse and a mutiny to the enemy wrestling organization to become the world champion. All of that simply because of how ever he was.

Of course, he did it all simply to leave when he was on the height of his popularity and wrestle for the competition. But still. He came over when Hulk Hogan came over, so it's sorta okay. It's not like we gave him an entire Raw episode for his retirement or anything....

Hardy: A success.

 

[Sully]

Without doubt Jeff Hardy is a success, the man had an decent 3 world titles, and a great intercontential title reign. He had some great feuds, with Orton, Triple H, Cm Punk, Edge, those are some of the top dogs in the company, hell, I think Jeff was the biggest face on Smackdown in the Summer.

Jeff Hardy could have been a lot more, I think he could have even been up to John Cena's level at some point, if he wasn't already. Not to mention Jeff had like, a million tag team title runs with his brother Matt.

Jeff was a complete success, and I think after this trail is over, he could call Vince up on his Cell phone, and tell him he wants to come back, Vince would have a contract signed in hours, that is how much potential Jeff Hardy can bring to the WWE.

 

[The Mark of Zur-En-Arrh]

Jeff Hardy is one of the wrestlers of the Attitude era that followed the Mick Foley method of wrestling.

'Take as many ridiculous bumps as possible and make it look more painful than anything, and then what you suck at won't matter'

He, Matt Hardy, Edge, Christian, The Dudleys, Bradshaw are all tag team guys who've busted their asses for Vince, but have always lacked something in his eyes so that he dare not put them in the spotlight, until suddenly having a change of opinion.

The Dudleys, well ok, they left and that's that.

Matt obviously kicked off about the whole Edge/Lita thing, got fired, returned and then never progressed from that point. He's still Matt Hardy, being Matt Hardy..... Big whoop.

Christian decided he'd Cross the Line and made a believer out of a lot of people. His success was what probably convinced a lot of other WWE guys to go straight to them after Vince was through with them. Now he's back in WWE and Vince is going to make him start from scratch.

Edge and Bradshaw both stepped into a new light and became ME'ers for the rest of their careers. It took Edge a good 3 or 4 years before they decided whether he'd be better as a face or a heel, but when they finally decided, they gave birth to the Rated R Superstar.

They cleaned Bradshaw up, saw just how mush heel heat he created, and gave him the belt within 3 months.................. and, well..... you know the rest.

Jeff Hardy....... Jeff Hardy....... Well, this guy came out of nowhere, made a name for himself as a spot monkey, got canned, did pretty much the same routine in TNA, came back to WWE, carried on, somehow managed to gain stupid amounts of pops purely for being the most 'extreme' guy in the era of PG.

By wrestling like Foley and Michaels combined, it didn't matter that his promos sucked. It didn't matter, that you'd never get a 'wrestling classic' out of him without him diving something less than 5 times, but he made Vince money. And he was respected by the veterans. HHH dropped the IC belt to him at a time where you couldn't go 20 minutes in a WWF show without HHH on screen. Taker bashed the holy high hell out of him in his own 'speciality match' and then broke kayfabe by acknowledging respect for Jeff, when he's supposed to be the most ruthless bastard on the roster.

Much like those other guys, Jeff bled and sweat more than most guys on the WWE roster in the early 00's. The guy's who weren't already in the Main Event i mean. And thanks to his ridiculous popularity, Vince chose to cash in on it.

'This guy's a massive flight risk, but listen to those cheers.'

Jeff was given the honour of being 'The Man' so to speak, at the top of the mountain, despite the fact that he repeatedly broke all the rules. You may not agree with Jeff Hardy the person. Like myself, you may laugh your ass off when someone describes one of his fueds as 'epic'. But anyone who claims he wasn't a success, doesn't really know anything about being a success in wrestling.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Even if someone doesn't like Jeff Hardy, I don't think that it's logically possible deny that his time in the WWE was a success. Several memorable feuds, one of the most over faces in the company, nineteen different title runs that includes three world championship reigns and seven time tag team champion.

He may have screwed up and made some bad choices in his personal life, but those choices don't negate the success he had while working in the WWE.

 

[GameOver]

Titles don't mean you are successfull. Some of the worst entertainers in history have been champions, mind you that is purely a personal view if you like someone or not.

Both Matt and Jeff Hardy were inbetweens leading towards flop IMO, other than the spot fests they brought nothing to the table outside of the Tag Team fueds and those were all because of the people the Hardy's were facing at the time, not cause either of them are that great. Jeff Hardy even more so than Matt

Jeff is purely a spot fest wrestler with not story telling ability

Actually that sums up his career in general, he is only as good as the people he faces would help him to be.

Saying that, obviously he was involved in a lot of great matches over the years, mostly tag and hardcore style, and is in the history book as winning a triple crowns which not many do.

And the obvious huge spot fests he did over the years, which is pretty much a huge factor in what made Mick Foley's career too

Also to note despite his obvious personal mistakes, for some strange reason they decided to keep giving him chance after chance and the kiddies lapped it up. Hopefully they won't repeat that mistake again

This also could be lumped in the same argument as older guys holding down the new talent or them not getting pushed. What happens when they do take a chance on someone? 75% of the time they drop the ball quickly, can't handle the pressure, turn there backs on those that made them. and thus the company is left to clean up the mess.

 

[Yodude "The Rock" Barber]

He was Deff. a success until the end of his WWE run. He was the top Fan favorite on Smackdown, and was a champion 3 times. If he stayed, i believe he would be even bigger by now. He was Over to the limit. Huge merchandise sales for Hardy, and multiple other tittles, At first i wanted to say in between for how he left in his Biggest time, but looking back, he was a Success.

 

[schaeffershawn]

Jeff Hardy is a bust.

Jeff Hardy had the break out ability to be the next big thing. Granted he could not talk, but he made kids mark out, he made teenage girls soak their panties and he like the Rock could put on ok matches when not forced to carry teh match himself( i.e. Umanga).

However, Hardy would rather snort cocaine then be the most over wrestler in the world. It is because he will never reach his fullest potential that I say he is the biggest bust in recent history.

 

[NoDamnMercy]

Success for sure. He started off jobbing like a mad man. Years later, he won the IC champ from the big man at the time, HHH. He won his first WWE title by beating probably the biggest heal at the time, Edge, and one of the most over guys in WWE history, HHH. He is a Triple Crown and Grand Slam winner, has held almost every belt, waaaaay over with the crowd, and a pretty good preformer. Sure he mic skills weren't great, but you can improve on that. If it hadn't been for him leaving, I think he would have headlined the last Wrestlemania.

So Success.