Lets talk about Jeff Hardy for a moment. Jeff is one of the most talented wrestlers to ever grace us with his presence. This is going to be a multi piece article. I have many beliefs and feelings about the man, mostly all good. I'm asking you all to bear with me while reading this because some of this gets personal with me and some if it is what I want to see in the ring.
Lets start with his most recent incident, the incident that he is being unmercifully bashed for, the incident that if those bashers haven't been where he has been, have no reason to slam him. For those unaware, Jeff just was arrested for DUI, his addiction issues are common knowledge among the wrestling community, some people sympathize with him, others feel like he has let them down. Now, I myself have a long history with addiction, I drank most of my life, I have ruined relationships, careers, my liver, several cars and until I was 29 I ruined my life. I am in the category that sympathize with Jeff. You will never hear me bash him for his issues because I relate so closely with what he is going through as a human being.
If you don't have substance abuse issues, I am happy for you. If you do have substance abuse issues, and you want or need help, somebody to talk to, somebody that has been there, I myself am always available. Sorry, I went off track. Put yourself I Jeff's shoes for a minute though right now. You have been battling addiction issues, you have downtime because of an injury, addiction is a sneaky bitch and when you have a lot of time on your hands, that bitch can just snatch you away. Please don't slam him for his decisions, support him because at this point he needs it. Jeff needs our love, If your at a live event and he is there share your support for him, try to understand what he is going through, that is all that is ask.
Now for some wrestling, sorry for being a little long winded on the depths of addiction. So I already touched on Jeff being in a dark place right now. When Jeff comes back everybody wants Jeff to come back as Brother Nero. Brother Nero is a tremendous character, but its not his character. Its a character that he created with Matt, and it helped to single handily rejuvenate both of their careers. When they both came in i was hoping for immediately turning them to Broken Matt and Brother Nero, but life is mysterious and plays out a little bit weird. With the current situation being what it is, and seeing the Matt and Bray story playing out the way it is, they should have done the whole story a bit differently. Now Bray was the only logical choice to start Woken Matt, but it hasn't been a great story.
With Jeff going through his issues, he should come back as Willow. In my eyes, one of the most under rated bits of character work in the history of wrestling. Jeff was able to play out all of the dark shit on his life, it was a dark, almost terrifying, beautiful piece of heel work. This is the wrestler that should have started a feud with Bray Wyatt. Willow is that dark side of Jeff Hardy, it gives him an outlet to unleash the nasty that's inside of him. Willow would dominate almost every aspect of whatever programming WWE put him in. It is a heel character but could work baby as well, Jeff still has the chops to have a legit match with anybody on any roster. Imagine the matches with Shinsuke, Sami, Owens on Smackdown, or vs Finn or Seth or the Mix on Raw. Willow can be everything Bray was built to be only so much better in every way. He could be a character that keeps kids awake at night or wanting to buy and wear the Willow mask to live events. Everything about a character change would and could work, if only done right.
There is a very high likelihood that nobody from WWE will ever read this, but I kind of hope they do. If this hope ever comes to fruition, please, for the love of all that is good, do not ruin it like you do with almost everything that has been successful. I hope you like this piece, and I was serious, if any of you out there ever need any help, my dm's are always open.
Matt
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