Has any other wrestler inexplicably broken into the mainstream like Jeff Hardy did? Wrestling was not at a peak, it was in a consistent decline, and Jeff wasn't even the primary focus of the writing team. He isn't great in the ring, bad on the mic, small in a sort of boring way where he is too normal sized to be an underdog. I was in high-school at the time and girls had Hardy Boyz pendants. The meme where "he was more popular than Obama in 2008" was 100% true for anyone under 25. It only lasted for about half a year, but I genuinely believe he was more popular in a non astroturfed to death way than John Cena ever was. Can this be replicated or was it a once in a generation thing?
Jeff had IT.
>>18825918SEAMAN PUCK....
>>18825918Once in a generation thing.One thing to note I guess is that he unlike Cena benefited greatly from just leaving and then coming back. Cena got injured and returned obviously but Jeff literally just went to TNA and then came back, he wasn’t over saturated
>>18825918>How did flash in a pan do itYou tell me. Stay over for 10 years and then talk to me, Jeff Hardy isn't impressive.
>>18825918He had the perfect look and attitude (xtreme bro, drugs & vanity band) for the time, did cool shit and wrestling was cool then and had mass appeal. You can't replicate that because wrestling isn't cool anymore. I'd say the closest guy to him now is Logan Paul for attitude and everything he does being the popular things for the time. Dunno if Logan looks like whatever is cool now because I don't know what that is. He doesn't have broccoli hair and shit tattoos all over so that's probably something against him.
>>18825918> The meme where "he was more popular than Obama in 2008" was 100% true for anyone under 25.Nah, it really wasn’t. He didn’t break out of the wrestling bubble one iota. Maybe he would have if he wasn’t such a fuckup though.
>drones today compare this shitter to jeff hardy
>>18826020Could be a Canadian indifference thing but nobody young gave a shit about politics back then. Like at all. Most politically activated person I met in my Toronto highschool was a girl who wanted to legalize gay marriage in the states and brought it up once or twice at the smokers pit. As for breaking into the mainstream, I believe he did. I saw wrestling go from 2 guys I know watching it to an enitre row of backpacks with the Hardyz pendants dangling from them. Then by the next year they were all gone and nobody was watching anymore. I remember in the summer of Punk someone went around the beach when Summerslam was in town and interviewed random people. Asked them who Punk was and barely anyone had heard of him. Punk is my go to example for the most popular a wrestler can be without escaping the bubble.
>>18826020>He didn’t break out of the wrestling bubble one iotarandy orton rvd and randy were all known outside of wrestling thats literally who i knew about it
>>18826030Jey Uso has more five star matches than Jeff Hardy so according to smarks he's the better wrestler
>>18826050>>18826072Could be a regional and/or age thing. But I was in college in California when hardy was at his peak. I myself was barely following, and it seemed like wrestling in general was ice cold and virtually totally off the radar of the mainstream then. Probably Cena had broken out by then, but that’s it. And for the record, I personally have always liked Jeff
>>18826244As a follow up, I feel like the “hardy was more popular than Obama in 2008” meme is a black twitter thing. I guess hardy was Kevin Nash-level over with the brothas but where I grew up and went to school barely had any blacks
