Badass Brad Curran returns to take over for a day with his thoughts on the Jeff Hardy heel turn. My thoughts on this mess can be found here and I’ll tackle Raw tomorrow, notably Santino Marella and Daniel Bryan. Now, 10 thoughts on Jeff Hardy turning heel. Number 9 is one I most echo and would like thoughts on, if you’re so willing, dear reader.
1. I enjoy the occasional piece of stupid humor. So, after my initial reaction of annoyance and anger at TNA pulling such a boneheaded move as turning Jeff Hardy, possibly the biggest natural babyface in wrestling today, heel at their biggest show of the year, I have to admit; I now consider it absolutely hilarious! I applaud and endorse this decision 100%. Bravo, fellows! It takes real determination to tunnel past the bottom of the barrel that far to find something even dumber than the usual crappy wrestling swerve. I for one salute you!
2. I mean Jeff Hardy’s the linchpin of the latest attempt to recreate the nWO (and the third in TNA this year, by my count)? That’s your big game changer? On your biggest show of the year? BWAHAHAHAHAHA!
3. BWAHAHAHAHA! I’m sorry. Still haven’t quite got that out of my system.
4. HAHAHA! All right, I think I’m okay to go on now.
5. Look, I get that they were going for Hogan joining the nWo at Bash at the Beach. I understand the allusion. But beyond the fact that a moratorium needs to be called on nWo formation allusions only slightly less than ones to the Montreal Screwjob, Jeff Hardy is absolutely not the right guy to take the Hulk Hogan role here. Instead of shocking, it feels forced. It’s the big problem with Russo’s booking; once you figure out that his formula for big swerves is “choose thing that makes the least sense” it ceases being shocking.
6. I’m okay with them not using Angle in the role; he’s played out as a top heel and could use the excuse to take some time off. And I can see why they didn’t go with Anderson, on the basis of it would be too predictable for him to turn heel. That said, some times things are predictable because they make sense. I know it’s a lot to expect TNA to actually do things that make sense at this point, but still, I felt like the point should be made.
7. Aaron and I were talking after the main event, and he wasn’t entirely sure if Hogan had turned heel. I told him that, beyond him doing that stupid nWo point at Hardy, he was pretty screwed if he hadn’t, since he was probably going to need Abyss to carry him to the back. Possibly with a piggy back ride. Look, that visual amuses me, okay?
8. If I wanted to be charitable/an apologist for TNA, I could cut them some slack based on the fact that this probably wasn’t their main idea when they started the “They” angle, and that they probably threw this together at some point when plans to bring in Heyman/Benjamin and Haas/Jericho/Brock Lesnar/The Ultimate Warrior fell through. I don’t feel that charitable though, so fuck them and their stupid/hilarious booking.
9. In a similar fashion, I could also take the “we have to wait and see how this turns out before condemning it” stance. But I won’t. Because it’s TNA. I’m in no mood to give them the benefit of the doubt at this point. They’ve pretty much used up their chances there. I mean, there is some silver lining here (they’ve set up title matches with RVD and Angle pretty well, and I have to imagine Joe, Styles and Pope will get in to the mix), but again, it’s TNA; I’m not going to get excited about how they might not totally suck anymore. Been down that road too many times.
10. This got a lot more bitter than it should have as it went. I apologize for that. But TNA booking, a persistent head cold, and Aaron calling in a favor isn’t going to produce sunshine and rainbows, people. Also, I can only find joy in TNA’s stupidity for so long before it becomes frustrating again.
Bonus Thought: I did enjoy the main event last night up until the ref bump and the angle taking over. I’m pretty sure the sound of my eyes rolling after that was audible, though. Oh, and Lethal Lockdown was pretty good.
