The New Raven & Stevie Richards

[Raven]

Is it just me or is TNA making Jeff hardy the new Raven and his brother matt like the new stevie richards. what do yall think?
I mean Jeff has taken his whole Anti-christ gimmick and just made it pure gold. His promos are very raven-esque. The way he just moves and carries himself is very similar the old school raven from ECW. Then theres matt hardy. With his new look it would seem he is trying to be like the 2003 raven. But he just doesnt look like the type of guy to be the leader. looks like he would bow at jeffs feet, just be his lackey. If TNA does right they can shoot jeff and matt way farther than WWE did. 95% of wrestling fans like raven, so if TNA were to make "the new raven and richards" I think that could be really good for both parties. What do the good people of WZ think?

 

[MHardy_Fan]

Considering Matt will probably get a championship run in TNA, I wouldnt compare him to Richards. I think you kind of got the right idea of what direction there going in with both characters.

 

[UnBEARaBULLfan]

I've been thinking that for awhile now about Jeff anyway, looks like they're trying to make him as close to a Raven character as possible I think it would work better if they got them away from immortal, I think a stable of Jeff,matt abyss,and maybe Ink Inc. would work as a new flock, punk style instead of grunge I know Ink Incs not that good but they could be the jobbers of the group with abyss as the muscle, silent muscle though they need to shut him the fuck up but it might be to late for his character Bishoffe and Hogan have ruined him as far as Im concerned.

 

[VinnieSunshine]

I kinda thought the same thing of Jeff Hardy. Except I saw him as embodying all of Raven, Vampiro and a little bit of Sting (mostly for the way his makeup looked). But since he has taken on this darkside anti-christ of wrestling...he is starting to take traits from both Vampiro and Raven.

Matt on the other hand I think is just...there. TNA needed another "big name" on its roster to bring in more viewers and Matt having his brother and friends there helped him...other than that I dont see Matt getting picked up by TNA. So YEAH I guess you can say he has a little bit onf a Steven Richards aspect t him.

 

[Raven]

As larry has said above me, jeff would do good with his own "Flock" so to speak. He mentioned Having jeff as the obvious leader. If TNA wanted to expand on his twisted philospher,raven-esque gimmick they could put matt as his stevie ricahrds. also as larry said put in Ink Inc. zshannons a good friend of the hardys and both neal and moore have an "outcast" look to them and guys with piercings and tattoo's useually can get prerry mean,perfect for hardys "flock".Then you have abyss the oter dark character in Immortal, yes of course he should go with hardy,because lets face it matt,jeff,shannon and neal aren't that big. he could add the silent physco muscle to the group. Then if TNA really wanted to stretch the envelope they could bring in gregory helms,he could use a fallen hero type gimmick.
and for anyone who diesnt know,the hardys had a backyard wrestling company before getting into the WWE,it was called OMEGA, so that would more than liekly be the name of the stable

 

[NWannabe]

Speaking of recreating the flock into omegadom, do you think ink inc would stick around or wound moore turn on neals?

 

[Hodgos]

When you actually consider the strengths and weaknesses of the wrestlers involved, it would never work.

Jeff Hardy doesnt even come close to having the mic skills and ring psychology that Raven had. It was Raven's incredible ability to tell a story both in and out of the ring that made the Flock/Nest stables so memorable. In contrast, "telling a story" has never been one of Hardy's strengths; his promos basically consist of spouting a bunch of "dark" pseudo-intellectual psychobabble in the hope that it will sound "cool"; what he says rarely makes actual sense. Remember Raven's series of promos in his feud with the Sandman, where he'd talk about being abused by an alcoholic father? They were incredibly deep by wrestling-promo standards, and were often genuinely upsetting; Hardy could not even come close to conceiving and delivering that sort of material, he's simply not imaginative enough, articulate enough or a good enough actor. His ring psychology is almost non-existent; it is his considerable "IT" factor and capacity for exciting high spots that makes him a stand out. Other than having an alternative look, Jeff Hardy is a COMPLETELY different type of performer to Raven.

The contrast is just as great with Matt Hardy and Stevie Richards. I'm not blindly hating on Matt; he is undoubtably a much bigger star than Stevie Richards ever was, but Richards is very good in areas where Matt Hardy is terrible. Richards had brilliant comedic timing, which made him perfect for the role of comedic lackey/cannon fodder. Again, much of Raven's material was genuinely dark and upsetting, and Richards provided some much needed levity with his hilarious skits and promos. When the hell has Matt Hardy ever been funny? I've seen nothing to suggest that he could pull off the kind of the comedic lackey role that Richards performed. Where Richards was animated, Hardy has about three facial expressions and speaks in a monotone. Like his brother, he also suffers from a small vocabulary and a limited imagination. Honestly, I'd struggle to think of a performer who is much less like ECW-era Stevie Richards, than Matt Hardy.

It doesnt matter as much with Inc Inc, Moore etc, because they would be on the periphary anyway (essentially replacing Sick Boy, Lodi etc). But to remotely come close to recapturing the Flock/Nest, you need a performer with similar strengths to Raven and, preferably, another performer with similar strengths to Richards. Again, despite having a vaguely alternative look, the Hardys are completely different types of performers to Raven and Richards, and simply not strong enough in the right areas to pull off a Flock type gimmick.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I think Jaeff Hardy's new character is the closest thing we have to a Raven-esque persona in mainstream wrestling today. It is clear that is the route they are heading down with The Anti-Christ, and I do think he has done a marvelous job so far. Obviously Hardy is not Raven, never will be...but I think his new persona is working very well.

Raven is an incredibly intelligent man, and was able to use his brain to come up with genuinely captivating material whenever he took hold of a microphone, which was why he was so good. Jeff Hardy does not have this ability, but he has his natural charisma to call upon. I think the longer Hardy spends in this character, the better he will become. He could do worse than to speak with Raven, and try and learn from the master.

I do think the Hardy's would be great in a dark "alternative" faction, they havve both updated their look recently, and aligning with their close friend Shannon Moore and Jesse Neal to form "Omega" would be a great move at some point, probably after Immortal is done. Other wrestlers could join the faction, from within TNA or from further afield. I would like to see someone like Jimmy Rave come back into TNA as a darker character, or for the company to resign Michael Shane to team up with Rave.

From within TNA, Abyss would seem the logical choice, but his character has been butchered to the point where he cannot be taken seriously anymore, but a darker more evil Orlando Jordan could work- as long as he dropped the gay act.

 

[neildittmar]

Funny... if anything, I saw Matt Hardy being a "lackey" for Eric Bischoff and Immortal rather than solely for his brother Jeff. This was evidenced by his "yeah, yeah, you tell 'em boss" demeanor during the Eric Bischoff/Angle, Steiner, Crimson segment last week. Unfortunately, that somewhat conflicts with his "Cold Blooded" Matt Hardy persona he has also been developing... that of an unrelenting, unfeeling loner bent on the destruction of his enemies. The whole dichotomy is really strange actually... have to see where it goes.

I do see Jeff as a psuedo-philosophical "Raven" type character though. Unfortunately, I have to agree with the person that said he doesn't quite have the acting talent to pull off a performance of that caliber. However, Jeff is "good enough", has gotten better over a short time, and has convinced me quite a bit as of late. In my opinion, his best promo work so far was that small segment from the O2 arena that was shown multiple times... where he claimed to be a champion despite not possessing the belt. It was very natural, off the cuff, seemed genuine, and embraced some of the vulgarity of the character. I also thought the "I used to give to the fans... Now I give concussions" line from his post-Anderson attack promo was also very well done and a stand out.