Jeff Hardy in 2008
May 15, 2022 12:03:19 GMT -5
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Post by Jindrak Mark on May 15, 2022 12:03:19 GMT -5
This was an insanely eventful calendar year for him and probably the peak of his career.
Jan - Starts the year in a hot feud with Randy Orton and is getting a real main event push for the first time. First Raw of the year he beats Umaga in a cage match following a whisper in the wind from the top of the cage. The next week he does that insane swanton off the top of the stage to Orton. At the Rumble in the biggest match of his career he comes up short.
Feb - Beats Shawn Michaels clean in the main event of Raw. Has a great showing in the elimination chamber match. Qualifies for the MITB match which he was surely favorite to win.
Mar - Fails a wellness test, drops the IC title and is suspended for 60 days so obviously has to be pulled from Wrestlemania 24 and the MITB match. Off-screen, his house burns down and his dog dies so this was a terrible time for him.
Apr - Suspended.
May - Returns from suspension and doesn't appear to be getting punished much if at all on-screen, beating Umaga in his first night back then beating MVP at Judgment Day.
Jun - Beats Umaga at One Night Stand after they battle outside the arena and he hits a swanton off the top of a production truck. Inches back closer to the main event, losing to Cena in what should probably have been a big PPV dream match then beating HHH by count-out the following week. Moves to Smackdown in the draft.
Jul - Re-unites with Matt and feuds with Morrison and Miz. In a battle royal for a Summerslam WWE title shot makes it to the end before being eliminated by Khali.
Aug - Feuds with US champion Shelton Benjamin and MVP.
Sep - "Wins" the WWE title during the scramble match but loses it in the dying seconds. They're really playing up how close he keeps coming. The following Smackdown he wins a no. 1 contender match to earn a one-on-one title match at No Mercy.
Oct - Loses a great match (arguably the best non-gimmick bout of his career) to HHH at No Mercy and again barely comes up short. WWE clearly wanted a HHH/Hardy/Kozlov triple threat for Cyber Sunday but fans voted for another HHH/Hardy match.
Nov - In consecutive weeks he beats Undertaker and HHH clean in Smackdown main events. The HHH/Hardy/Kozlov is booked a month late for Survivor Series but Hardy is pulled from the match after being found unconscious in a stairwell (it would later be revealed that Matt attacked him). It was all storyline but I remember the day of this show a lot of people thought it was some legit drug related incident that caused him to be pulled and thought it was poor taste when it became clear it was kayfabe.
Dec - After a long, long year with many highs and lows finally wins the WWE title at Armageddon and has a great celebration to close the show and then on the following Smackdown.
In a way, I think the suspension made his eventual WWE title win better. I think if he doesn't get suspended, he takes Punk's spot as MITB winner at Wrestlemania 24 then cashes in on Edge during the summer. It would have no doubt gotten a big pop but I always prefer babyfaces to get their first world title in a hard fought manner. A MITB cash-in on a beaten down champion isn't quite the same as Hardy fighting tooth and nail all year, getting closer and closer then finally pulling it off in a great match.
And it goes without saying that it's such a shame we only got around a year or two of main event Jeff Hardy in 2008-09. If his personal issues were under control you're probably talking about him as one of the biggest stars of the past 30 years. He arguably already is but if he stays clean and is on top for 5-10 years main eventing Wrestlemanias and stuff it puts him on another level. Instead he spent many of what should have been his prime years in a turbulent TNA, first with Hogan/Bischoff then later as they were switching channels seemingly every year and losing relevancy.
Jan - Starts the year in a hot feud with Randy Orton and is getting a real main event push for the first time. First Raw of the year he beats Umaga in a cage match following a whisper in the wind from the top of the cage. The next week he does that insane swanton off the top of the stage to Orton. At the Rumble in the biggest match of his career he comes up short.
Feb - Beats Shawn Michaels clean in the main event of Raw. Has a great showing in the elimination chamber match. Qualifies for the MITB match which he was surely favorite to win.
Mar - Fails a wellness test, drops the IC title and is suspended for 60 days so obviously has to be pulled from Wrestlemania 24 and the MITB match. Off-screen, his house burns down and his dog dies so this was a terrible time for him.
Apr - Suspended.
May - Returns from suspension and doesn't appear to be getting punished much if at all on-screen, beating Umaga in his first night back then beating MVP at Judgment Day.
Jun - Beats Umaga at One Night Stand after they battle outside the arena and he hits a swanton off the top of a production truck. Inches back closer to the main event, losing to Cena in what should probably have been a big PPV dream match then beating HHH by count-out the following week. Moves to Smackdown in the draft.
Jul - Re-unites with Matt and feuds with Morrison and Miz. In a battle royal for a Summerslam WWE title shot makes it to the end before being eliminated by Khali.
Aug - Feuds with US champion Shelton Benjamin and MVP.
Sep - "Wins" the WWE title during the scramble match but loses it in the dying seconds. They're really playing up how close he keeps coming. The following Smackdown he wins a no. 1 contender match to earn a one-on-one title match at No Mercy.
Oct - Loses a great match (arguably the best non-gimmick bout of his career) to HHH at No Mercy and again barely comes up short. WWE clearly wanted a HHH/Hardy/Kozlov triple threat for Cyber Sunday but fans voted for another HHH/Hardy match.
Nov - In consecutive weeks he beats Undertaker and HHH clean in Smackdown main events. The HHH/Hardy/Kozlov is booked a month late for Survivor Series but Hardy is pulled from the match after being found unconscious in a stairwell (it would later be revealed that Matt attacked him). It was all storyline but I remember the day of this show a lot of people thought it was some legit drug related incident that caused him to be pulled and thought it was poor taste when it became clear it was kayfabe.
Dec - After a long, long year with many highs and lows finally wins the WWE title at Armageddon and has a great celebration to close the show and then on the following Smackdown.
In a way, I think the suspension made his eventual WWE title win better. I think if he doesn't get suspended, he takes Punk's spot as MITB winner at Wrestlemania 24 then cashes in on Edge during the summer. It would have no doubt gotten a big pop but I always prefer babyfaces to get their first world title in a hard fought manner. A MITB cash-in on a beaten down champion isn't quite the same as Hardy fighting tooth and nail all year, getting closer and closer then finally pulling it off in a great match.
And it goes without saying that it's such a shame we only got around a year or two of main event Jeff Hardy in 2008-09. If his personal issues were under control you're probably talking about him as one of the biggest stars of the past 30 years. He arguably already is but if he stays clean and is on top for 5-10 years main eventing Wrestlemanias and stuff it puts him on another level. Instead he spent many of what should have been his prime years in a turbulent TNA, first with Hogan/Bischoff then later as they were switching channels seemingly every year and losing relevancy.
