WWE Raw: A Possible Silver Lining To Jeff Hardy’s Injury?

Jeff Hardy will be out of the picture on Raw for several months following shoulder surgery, and fans of The Charismatic Enigma have been taking the news hard.  Could it be possible that a break from the ring will actually benefit Hardy when he returns?

As reported by Pro Wrestling Sheet’s Ryan Satin almost two weeks ago, Hardy injured his shoulder and has since undergone successful surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff.  The report does go on to say that Hardy is expected to miss 6-9 months.

Now according to Medicine Plus (a trusted medical database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine) the time frame from a torn rotator cuff is actually 4-6 months.  As we know the WWE does like to give a longer time frame in hopes of an early “shocking” return.  With the rigid requirements of WWE and their performers, let’s say that pushes Hardy’s recovery time to six months.  Even with that recovery time he would still miss WrestleMania season.

Which brings me to my point, if Hardy were to miss WrestleMania could there be a silver lining?  Well, for starters he is currently not in the main event scene or holding a title.  There also wasn’t a guarantee that he would have had a singles feud, for all we know he could’ve still been paired with his brother Matt.

Another problem Hardy might run into around WrestleMania time is that Vince McMahon really likes him, but he doesn’t love him.  McMahon would not have a problem putting a major title on Hardy or allowing him to main event 11 other months out of the year, but the WrestleMania main event is where McMahon places his number one guy.

What about Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 30?  That was different, it involved plenty of luck, bad prior booking, and perfect timing for Bryan to be added to the match.  With all that said, Hardy is similar to CM Punk from the standpoint that McMahon sees him as a main event player, just not the face of the company or the main event of WrestleMania.

Since we know Hardy’s place at the biggest show would be murky at best, what about his tag team partnership with his brother Matt?  Well, you don’t need to do anything actually.  Instead of finding a way to script the demise or split of the tag team, they can just split now.

Matt is going to eventually disperse from Jason Jordan, and at that time he can make his own path as a singles competitor.  At that point, why have Jeff come back and revisit the same betrayal storyline we have seen a dozen times in the Hardys’ careers?

It is easy, Jeff can go to a different show or the brothers can be involved in separate storylines.  There we go, it is possible for the Hardy Boyz to be singles competitors and not hate each other.

Credit: WWE.com

To my final point, if Hardy returns the Raw after WrestleMania it will be a big return that will give him instant momentum.  Momentum is the most important asset to any top babyface.  The best example of what happens when a top babyface’s momentum is ruined, Dean Ambrose.

At the beginning of 2016 Ambrose was the hottest babyface in WWE.  The problem was he got hot during WrestleMania season, and McMahon already had his plans set.

What happened was Ambrose would be the last one eliminated in the Royal Rumble, take the pin in a triple threat match vs Lesnar and Reigns, lose clean to Triple H in a WWE Championship match, and then lose rather easily at WrestleMania to Lesnar.  By the time Ambrose finally captured the WWE Championship later that year, his momentum was gone.

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The lesson here is that timing for Hardy could be what helps him maintain his momentum.  Since we established that Hardy won’t have the same glass ceiling after WrestleMania, it will be an easy transition into singles matches, and he will be missed by the WWE Universe in his time away, a return date after WrestleMania could actually be the right place at the right time.