The WWE Series - Blast From the Past: 1) Jeff Hardy

[Adam Rush]

Hello guys, it's me, Marsden88, and this is a spin-off of the WWE series. This is Blast From the Past, and in this series, I highlight the careers of former WWE stars and ask the question I've become famous for...

What kind of investment was Jeff Hardy to the WWE: Positive, Neutral, or Negative?

Just the Facts:
1) On September 11, 2009 Hardy was arrested on charges of trafficking in controlled prescription pills and possession of anabolic steroids, after a search of his house yielded 262 Vicodin prescription pills, 180 Soma prescription pills, 555 milliliters of anabolic steroids, a residual amount of powder cocaine, and drug paraphernalia.
2) He was a 3-time World Champion in the WWE.
3) He won the World Tag Team Championships 6 times, but never the WWE Tag Team Championships.

Overview:
1998-2003, 2006-2009. For 10 years, Jeff Hardy was a WWE superstar. He won plenty of championships. At one point, he was the 2nd most popular superstar merchandise-wise. He was a great superstar, but all the drug problems plagued him.

Decision:
Jeff Hardy was a legend with problems. If he didn't have drug problems, he'd still be in the WWE today, and be a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame. But, it didn't turn out that way. All the drug problems have led me to conclude that he was a neutral investment.

Thoughts? Feedback please on the Blast from the Past series.

Closure:
Well, back to Peroxwhy?gen.

 

[Ethelion]

Jeff Hardy was a negative investment to the WWE. He kept violating the WWE Wellness Policy despite his accomplishments. And although he was the better Hardy, he had less staying power in the company. No wonder they let his contract expire and had CM Punk beat him, who came out as the victor of their feud.

Actually, I also wanted you to do past WWE Superstars in your installment but I never followed through with my request. Thankfully, you did the job for me.

 

[Kelso1ftw]

I really loved Jeff Hardy he was one of my favorite wrestlers besides all the problems, if he didn't have those problems the sky was the limit for this guy and he literally went there when the situation presented itself to him. He has many classic moments from doing the swanton bomb from the scaffolding onto randy orton, from getting speared while hanging from the title belt from edge, to a swanton bomb off of a ladder and threw tables and jumping off the ladder onto edge in MITB and also his ladder match with The Undertaker which was one of his biggest moments in his career, besides all of these moments he was always a crowd favorite and everyone loved him and wanted him to succeed. His only downside was the drug abuse problems and that shortened his WWE career by a long shot. I still believe the Hardy Boyz are hall of fame bound one day and Jeff will always be one of the best high flying risk takers ever in the business.

 

[killerjohn]

Hello guys, it's me, Marsden88, and this is a spin-off of the WWE series. This is Blast From the Past, and in this series, I highlight the careers of former WWE stars and ask the question I've become famous for...

What kind of investment was Jeff Hardy to the WWE: Positive, Neutral, or Negative?

Just the Facts:
1) On September 11, 2009 Hardy was arrested on charges of trafficking in controlled prescription pills and possession of anabolic steroids, after a search of his house yielded 262 Vicodin prescription pills, 180 Soma prescription pills, 555 milliliters of anabolic steroids, a residual amount of powder cocaine, and drug paraphernalia.
2) He was a 3-time World Champion in the WWE.
3) He won the World Tag Team Championships 6 times, but never the WWE Tag Team Championships.

Overview:
1998-2003, 2006-2009. For 10 years, Jeff Hardy was a WWE superstar. He won plenty of championships. At one point, he was the 2nd most popular superstar merchandise-wise. He was a great superstar, but all the drug problems plagued him.

Decision:
Jeff Hardy was a legend with problems. If he didn't have drug problems, he'd still be in the WWE today, and be a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame. But, it didn't turn out that way. All the drug problems have led me to conclude that he was a neutral investment.

Thoughts? Feedback please on the Blast from the Past series.

Closure:
Well, back to Peroxwhy?gen.

jeff hardy was a 6 time wwf/e tag champ and 1 time wcw tag champ. not being a dick but you should wiki these things before you porst

 

[HBsam31]

I was never a mega fan of either of The Hardys, but the is no doubting what they accomplished. Jeff really stood out from his brother in the singles ranks, and I loved seeing him chase the championship. I am sure he made WWE quite a bit of money as well as he had a great fanbase as a single and a tag star. His drug problem was a major downfall for him, and ultimately that is why I picked neutral. It held him back in many ways, and he was never able to stay on top long. I couldn't say negative, but I could say positive either.

 

[Hardymania]

Positive, very positive.

Jeff Hardy did much for WWE especially in the tag division. As you tell from my name I'm a huge fan of the Jeff and Matt. Matt was one of my favorites starting out because all I got was Smackdown. Jeff was over the top over during his main event time. Crazy how much he was cheered as a heel during his feud with the Undertaker. Too bad he had drug problems though because I think he still hadn't peaked in his career and would be a definate Hall of Famer.

 

[mrpops]

FACT: Jeff Hardy was the 2nd most popular wrestler on a 2nd rate show for one year. Before and after that year.....hes a midcarder at best.

 

[barclayteo]

If he didn't have all those drug problems holding him down no doubt he would have been a hall of famer. He had so much charisma, and you could count on him to do some amazing moves, however his heath ledger joker facepaint matched his personality during his time in the wwe.

Jeff was always better as a face, but he never really got his shot at the heavy weight title if i am right he lost his last 2 world championships in very quickly after he won them.

I am glad for him that he reclaimed somewhat much of his career when he went to tna, however if he cant fully give up his drug problems his career will continue to go down.

 

[Aquaman6686]

Negative. Jeff was given every opportunity, only to mess things up time and time again with drugs. He was the inferior Hardy in terms of in-ring ability, but with his charisma, Jeff could have still been one of the all-time greats. Sadly his personal problems and addictions kept getting in the way. I'm glad he seems to have finally turned things around, but I think he's going to be stuck in the minor leagues for the rest of his career.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

Postitive

Now Jeff Hardy's drug problems are well documented, his embarassing performance in the main event of TNA's PPV against Sting sickened me, but he was definitely a positive investment for the WWE in his runs there.

Hardy was so charismatic and just has that ability to connect with the fans. He always has, which is why people were saying he was going to be the next Shawn Michaels. He never made it to that level, but he has definitely had a HOF worthy career in WWE.

With his brother, The Hardy Boyz helped revolutionise the WWE tag-team division, wrestling in the first ever tag-team ladder matches, TLC matches and Jeff gave us iconic high risk moves in every one. He put his body on the line time and again and was loved by the fans. The Hardyz were my heroes when I was growing up.

He was a brilliant underdog in his first run as a singles wrestler, memorably defeating HHH for the IC title and taking Undertaker to the limit for the Undisputed title, and after he returned to the WWE after time in TNA and his drug issues he became a bigger star than ever before, becoming one of the faces of SmackDown and finally winning the WWE title, blowing the roof off the arena.

Jeff Hardy ended his WWE career as a 1x WWE Champion, 2x World Champion, has held the Intercontinental Title 4x, the European and Light Heavyweight Titles once each, is 3x Hardcore Champion and has held different versions of the Tag Team Titles 7x

His success, popularity with the fans, and high merchandise sales make Jeff Hardy a definite positive investment for the WWE. He made them alot of money, attracted alot of young fans to the product and has been in some of the most memorable matches and provided some of the most iconic moments in the last 15 years.

 

[Nikkolas]

I don't really see how it's even possible to say he was Negative. It's not like he won the belt then sold it for drugs or something.

His second departure from the WWE was his own choice. He was not fired or released due to unprofessionalism. His personal problems did not damage teh company in any significant way.

As such, I say Jeff Hardy was firmly a Positive story in the WWE's history. As one half of the most over tag team in the best era of tag team wrestling the WWE has seen in decades, he deserves to be in the HOF just for that.

When you add in his massive charisma which enabled him to leave the company for 3 years only to return and be even bigger than before, it eems a certainty that he was a positive investment. He really could have been the next Shawn Michaels.

 

[Alex]

One think I find interesting is people who say he was a negative bring up his drug problems. Yes We can't ignore them, but wrestlers have been having problems with drugs for years, case in point Randy Orton.

Anyway....

He was positive. Whether you like it or not he was positive. The guy was arguably the 2nd most over guy in the company at one point and he did it all on his own. He sold merch like crazy and people would always turn up to see what he'd do.

He helped revolutionise the tag scene with the Hardy Boyz and had amazing singles fueds with guys like Edge, CM Punk, Randy Orton and Triple H (and those are just his main event fueds) Several historic moments from the past 12 years in WWE come from him.

Don't forget he's held every belt the WWE has ever had except two (The US title and ECW title) Putting all these belts on him show WWE thought he had something.

 

[Nikkolas]

One think I find interesting is people who say he was a negative bring up his drug problems. Yes We can't ignore them, but wrestlers have been having problems with drugs for years, case in point Randy Orton

Yeah, Hardy haters have very selective memory about that. Pretty much all the legends have sources saying they did some type of drug and yet I've seriously seen people say he won't and shouldn't get into the Hall of Fame because of his drug use.

Davey-Boy was up the night before his legendary match with Bret at SummerSlam doing crack. But he's a legend so we can't point to that. Only Jeff is a piece if garbage because of his substance abuse according to the IWC.

 

[xavyer]

I was close to voting for neutral because of his personal issues, but i voted positive for different reasons, he made the WWE a lot of money, he could draw attention from the crowd, because let's face it, he was very popular, he had a lot of great matches, that's why people like Triple H didn't mind putting him over, he was part of one of the greatest tag teams in history, and he is one of the innovators of the TLC match, i can go as far as saying that he was a mayor part in those matches, and we are voting in this series for the success of these superstars in the WWE, not in their personal lives, so i say that for the WWE Jeff Hardy was a positive investment.......

 

[HBKistheHOF]

Let me preface by saying I have always enjoyed Hardy's work, especially in WWE.

Now I said Negative for ONE reason and ONE reason only, because if you think about it WWE made a positive investment for other wrestling companies like TNA and therefore a negative one for themselves.

At this point I don't think either WWE or Hardy has interest in him EVER returning. Even his image appearing, until he passes away or if he goes into the Hall of Fame or something.

So WWE technically spent all their time and efforts on making a guy a top star for another company.

You can argue all of his titles or merch sales or whatever but the bottom line is that I don't think Hardy would have ever reached that top tier without the WWE machine pushing him. Between all the drugs & firings, WWE basically spent years promoting a guy that is never going to be welcomed back as a "hero". And therefore have basically created this "star" for nothing.

Anyone and Everyone can be a Jeff Hardy fan, but it is simple buisness.

Jeff Hardy = A Loss of Time & Money for WWE + Gain of Star Power & WWE promoted athlete for TNA or whoever.
And therefore = A Negative investment for WWE.