High Road/Low Road 12.19.08: Jeff Hardy as WWE Champion

Welcome back to the High Road/Low Road!

A brief explanation of the column: Uncletrunx takes the Low Road (negative view) on angles, gimmicks, and other wrestling related “stuff” while Sat takes the High Road (positive view).

The Results for Eight Man Tag Match at Final Resolution:

High Road: 70%
Low Road: 30%
Both Roads: 00%

Jeff Hardy as World Champion

High Road:
I have to give the WWE as a ton of credit because they did something unexpected. I had come to the conclusion that there was no way that Jeff Hardy was ever going to be World Champion. He had gotten a ton of chances and he had not managed to win any of those matches. I went into Armageddon having another topic in mind for this week because I did not expect something like this to happen. But, the result of this match was shocking and definitely something that will be remembered for years to come. Kudos to the WWE for doing something unexpected.

Low Road:
Firstly, I would like to congratulate Jeff on winning the big one.
However, I’m the Low Road guy, so let’s get to business! Let’s face it, this is one of those topics which has people firmly on one side or the other; I expect this vote to have very few “Both Roads” votes.
There are two major reasons why this is a Low Road (along with some other minor reasons) and I’ll take those one at a time.
The first is the timing of Jeff’s win. I can see that WWE might want to give him a trial run with the belt, to see what happens and how his reign goes. However, they could have done so about 18 months ago; a short experimental reign then would have been accepted by most people and welcomed by Jeff’s fans. As it is, they’ve built up the level of expectation so high that only a win like Chris Benoit’s at Wrestlemania XX would have seemed like a fitting end to the Jeff Hardy title hunt. As it is, we get an anticlimactic win at a minor PPV. That’s a Low Road to me.

High Road:
I know that one of the things that everybody has to be saying is that it makes no sense to put the title on Jeff Hardy because he could fail a Wellness test at any time. But, I think that the WWE decided to put the title on Jeff Hardy because they feel that he will stay clean. He had definitely hit rock bottom by missing WrestleMania and having his house burned down. The last time he failed a drug test was in March and we are now in December. He has been clean for almost 9 months and he probably got tested a ton during the time. I think that Jeff Hardy has grown up and the WWE decided he had proven himself and they decided to put the title on him.

Low Road:
This is the other major Low Road. Jeff Hardy, like it or not, has had major issues in the past with substance misuse. That is undeniable. 9 months is not a huge amount of time for someone with such a history to be “clean”. I can see that this is probably why he’s getting an experimental reign which could well end up being short; I refer to my point above to explain why this is a Low Road. I hope Jeff is indeed clean and has learned the hard way about the cost of failing wellness tests but in the post Benoit era, can WWE really afford to risk having to fire the top guy for a drug issue, especially when he’s fallen foul of the rules not once but twice before? I have no doubt that the competition would pick him up in a heartbeat were he to be fired, which would be a very serious situation for WWE.

High Road:
Jeff Hardy’s win has really created a ton of interest on SmackDown. I think it is probably safe to say that he is not going to head into WrestleMania as the champion, so it should be safe to say that he will lose the title somewhere before the Royal Rumble or during the Royal Rumble. This basically makes every SmackDown a must watch show because we are guaranteed to see a title change sometime before that pay per view. And even if the WWE decides not to take the title off of Jeff Hardy, we are still watching because we expect him to lose.

Low Road:
Title runs like that are inevitably disappointing. We saw it with Rey Mysterio and more recently with C M Punk; the fans clamour for a title win for their favourite smaller guy, and when he finally gets the belt, he’s treated like a jobber for bigger guys until they take the belt off him; often it seems like winning the title marks a downturn in the fortunes of the smaller wrestler and I fear it’ll be the same for Jeff.

High Road:
One of the nice touches for Jeff Hardy’s WWE title win is that both he and Matt Hardy are now both World Champions. It would have been nice to see Matt Hardy come out and celebrate with his brother, but this was really Jeff’s moment. Jeff and Matt can easily have their celebration on SmackDown this week.

Low Road:
In all seriousness, I don’t think anyone considers the ECW belt to be on the same level as the big two. A Matt and Jeff celebration might have been a nice way to close the PPV but I don’t want it taking up time on Smackdown. I’d rather that time was taken up with wrestling.

High Road:
I think that this win will definitely help the merchandise sales for Jeff Hardy to go to a whole another level. And now that Jeff Hardy’s journey is completed, now would be a great time to release a DVD on just the career of Jeff Hardy. We saw a DVD release for the Hardys, but with Jeff Hardy’s journey now complete, I think it is time for a Jeff Hardy DVD. With all the great matches that he has had this year, this would be a huge seller. I would definitely be interested and I think a lot of you would be too.

Low Road:
Jeff Hardy will shift a ton of merchandise, belt or no belt. I don’t think putting the Championship on him will alter the sales of his merchandise at all. I also fail to see how merchandise sales are a High Road; they affect very little except Vince’s bank account and certainly don’t provide anything in the way of improvements to the in ring action.

High Road:
When a wrestler wins a world title for the first time, I cannot help but notice that the match is never any good. Some recent examples of this are Edge, CM Punk, Rey Mysterio, and John Cena. They all won the title for the first time in a really bad match or in a really short match. Jeff Hardy won his world title in an amazing match which is something that we do not see that often. And that makes the win that much more memorable.

Low Road:
I don’t like three way matches for Championships and I would much have preferred a classic, one on one win for Jeff to take the biggest prize in wrestling. It may be a personal preference but to me, winning it in a three way added to the anticlimax of Jeff finally winning the big one at a minor PPV.

Are you taking the High Road or the Low Road?

High Road
Low Road
Both Roads
OR

Simply write “High Road”, “Low Road”, or “Both Roads” in the comment section.

E-Mails:

These are all of the e-mails that we received this week. We do not respond to the actual e-mail, but the reply to your e-mail will be below.

Freddy Neuwendyke Writes:

Low road. Seriously is there any real reason to care About The Samoan Joke and his band of palookas The Punchline oh I’m sorry The Frontline anymore? The problem with TNA in general is they have only one method of booking babyfaces. As pathetic losers who always get punked out. Granted we all know it’s kayfabe but we still care the same we care when watching a movie. We can’t have Batman being The Joker’s bitch for all of the Dark Knight and James Bond looking like a putz ain’t gonna put money in the bank.

Sadly on the other side of the coin WWE has Super Duper Cena who can take everything short of a .357 Magnum to the nads and come out on top. It just seems like there’s no balance in booking babyfaces. They’re either pathetic Rocky Balboa style palookas because somewhere down the line Hollywood then later wrestling promoters think we Americans love underdogs (We don’t) or they’re invincible Superman.

In order for a feud to be successful there has to be this feeling of suspense a feeling that it could go either way. Sadly the MEM/The Breadline feud has yet to produce that.

Sat: I think up to this point it made sense for the Main Event Mafia to win, but from this point on it needs to be fifty fifty for this to be a meaningful feud.

Uncletrunx: I agree that there needs to be a balance. Ultimately the viewer has to care about the outcome and going too far one way or the other frequently means that we don’t.

Comments:

Below are the comments for last week’s columns and our responses. The comments that will be included will be the ones that pertain to this week’s column. Also, your comment will not be included if you are commenting on another reader’s comment. The comments are as of Sunday Night Pacific Time.

Kanyon Kreist Writes:

As a main event, it had no heat, no buzz going for it, because it wasn’t the entire mEm vs. the entire Frontline, nor was it the groups’ respective front-men facing off; it was just some of the members of each group in a tag match, with nothing tangible at stake. It didn’t even have the “first-ever” feature to it, like the WWF’s “InVasion” payperview had back in ’01, because this is just a continuation of the feud. People KNEW it would be just another chapter in the continuing angle too, which is quite ironic, considering the name of the payperview. So, where’s the drama? Where’s the incentive? Do you think anyone thought “I HAVE TO SEE THIS”? Personally, I think probably not, and that’s why it was a failure as a main event.

Sat: You make a good point here. Sure, there was no incentive to buy this show except for the potential title change. As for the naming of the pay per view; I think it is is named that just because it is the end of the year.

Uncletrunx: The potential title change was a horrible addition which seemed like a desperate ploy to force some buys for a lackluster PPV.

Iron Knee Writes:

Low Road: I think that it might’ve worked had it been some sort of elimination match or had TNA used a stipulation correctly. For example, the losing team might’ve had a member suspended for 60 days or some such thing. As it was, the match lacked any real pop. They’d have been better off having a series of matches that culminated in something…hmmm….maybe a Team Challenge Series-type of thing.

Sat: That would have been an interesting stipulation. I think TNA was banking on people tuning in to see a Styles title change, which of course they didn’t deliver.

Uncletrunx: Elimination might have added some interest, but only if they’d taken away the awful title stipulation.

B.W.G. Writes:

“Would it really have killed them to use a clean finish on a pay per view event? It was all going surprisingly “right” until that low blow, which tarnished the match.”

Yes, it would have killed…try to remember who the heels are, and more specifically who low-blowed who here… Nash-Joe II, as bad as it may turn out to be, is looming right around the corner. It’s only a couple of months since the Mafia’s inception, so some screwy finishes won’t hurt now. I do agree that the main event for Genesis HAS to be clean…this is about the time for the Frontline to start picking up wins.

High road, although that’s pretty much because I’m a sucker for multi-man tags. Plus, it’s been a fair while since I’ve watched any work from six of these eight (Team 3D notwithstanding), so it will be a relatively fresh matchup when I actually get to watching the PPV.

Sat: I think you had to have the low blow in there because with out, people were going to say that the Frontline was getting their butts kicked.

Uncletrunx: I see why it could be important in the longer term, but I don’t like events I’m paying to watch get used just to set up another event. If the Genesis Main Event doesn’t have a clean winner, it will be doubly disappointing.

CJ Writes:

I’m going High Road here. First off, it was a good match and better than expected, 3d didn’t swerve which was great, and the heels won again meaning that the young guys are gonna go super over when they do win. The crowd was really into the match also.

Sat: Yeah, and then Ray goes out on Impact and has a good match with Angle. When motivated, Team 3D is a great team to watch.

Uncletrunx: I quite like Team 3D, I have to confess. I didn’t think this was their best match though.

The Great Captain Smooth Writes:

High Road, just to see Team 3D put Sharmell through a table. I know it’s shallow, but it would be a great spot. Also UT, the hockey reference was the term “sloppy seconds”. A player called his ex that another player hooked up with his “sloppy seconds” and ESPN went APESHIT.

Sat: It would be a great spot, but doesn’t TNA have a no violence policy on women. And something to add to what The Great Captain Smooth said and that is the fact that the player called the media over and when they all arrived, he started with his sloppy seconds comment.

Uncletrunx: I see. I’ve heard the term used outside of hockey and don’t get to see much Hockey over here so it passed me by completely!

Michael Writes:

I’m going with the High road on this one. Team 3D didn’t join MEM like everyone thought they would plus it builds up the tension in the war, for a heel group to be successful they have to dominant the majority in the beginning. Do you think The Horsemen or the NWO would be thought of as dangerous if they lost their first matches? Plus look at what happened after the match, Sting clearly disapproved of the way they won that match, Sting joined the group as to show the Frontline what it means about respect and honor but the way the Mafia is handling things brutalising anyone who dares stand up to them he feels things are going too far, the only time Sting took down in a beatdown was when AJ spat in his face, aside from that he only watches it never bothering to dirty his hands.

Plus Rhino and Team 3D have gotten people to care about them and Rhino has given some great promos recently.

Sat: Good point about how a group can not be dominate if they start of losing. And good points about Sting, when you think about everything he is doing makes sense.

Uncletrunx: A dominant group could have gained a clean win, or even lost to a fluke and then performed a beatdown. They don’t have to have screwy finishes.

Iconzeke Writes:

I’m sorry that the Stars are your team. Sean Avery – your next TNA biggest aquision ever… ’cause I don’t think his NHL career is going to last much longer. Then again, he could go to the “indies” of the league. Of course I mean the Leafs. Go Habs Go! High Road, BTW. Everything EDGE does turns to awesome, and I have a feeling that E&V’s program has legs.

Sat: Honestly, I am not too worried about the Stars. It is still early in the season and they will be rid of this headcase in a little bit. The thing that is surprising is the amount of hockey fans that read our column. And yeah it is pretty much a given that Avery will make an appearance in TNA.

Uncletrunx: The only bit I can comment on is the Edge bit, and I agree he’s awesome at the moment. The rest of it; erm… yeah! Go Habs! (What are Habs? If I get them, will I have to seek medical advice?)

Sat: From now on lets keep the hockey talk to a minimum. Uncletrunx is totally clueless. Habs is not a medical disease, it is a nickname for the Montreal Canadians. How they got that nickname is beyond me.

Your reasons for taking the High Road, Low Road, or Both Roads and suggestions for future High Road/Low Road are welcome at [email protected] or in the comment section. Your reply will be included in next week’s column.