How can TNA justify putting Jeff Hardy in this position?
 

I'm surprised this hasn't been discussed more. Jeff Hardy won the "Bound for Glory" series and is going to be in the main event of their marquee show. I know he has been doing better, but how can you seriously give this guy another shot? No doubt Jeff Hardy is popular, but he doesn't draw enough to risk him relapsing and pulling another stunt like he did at Victory Road 2011. Why not give Bully Ray this match?

They probably have a Plan B in place in case Jeff fucks up. At least, I hope they do.

Plan RVD?

I think it's bad they let him come back at all, let alone back into the main event after turning up to a PPV fucked up. He clearly doesn't give a shit about the fans.

Drug Addict Comes Good makes for a nice headline?

I wasn't aware that Hardy won and it comes as a surprise as I expected Storm or Bully to win. Does Hardy vs. Aries sound like the headliner for their biggest show of the year? Or does it get bumped from top billing/Main Event?

Hardy vs. Aries will sell more tickts than Bully or Storm vs Aries and that is what is important for their biggest ppv.

I suppose. Just doesn't have that "Big Match" feel to it. I figured they'd build back to Storm vs. Roode tbh as their business wasn't conclusively settled and Storm's BFG Series win would reflect Roode's from last year.

I think all of TNA's questionable booking decisions can be traced back to one person of questionable intelligence.

It's pretty much this. I said this about Hardy when he returned from his last fuck up and was saying how he's clean now and gonna prove it etc. I just knew TNA would try and go the Eddie Guerrero drug-addict-cleans-himself-up-and-wins-title route.

You have to punish Bully Ray for thinking of not resigning with the company when they approached him about 30 seconds before his deal expired.

I figured it was a special needs angle. This obviously brain-damaged guy wins the title.

hardy sells the most teeshirts, he is kind of like tna's cena. i still don't think he will win the belt, he is still on probation, i think there will be a swerve where bully gets the belt.

Have Aries and Angle had a match yet? Kinda feel that would be as "big" and superior in the ring.

Batista told Jeff the contra code

I don't even know who Aries is.

If Angle wasn't hurt/involved in another feud, that could have been a great main event.

In my mind that has more a "big fight feel".

Yeah, but is he still good? Of all the times I've watched him it's been pretty mediocre.

Honestly I was hoping Bully would have won. Hardy is just so meh to me now.

Not really if you are comparing him now to how good he was in his WWE run, but I guess I'd half-ass it too if I went from WWE to TNA.

I think I had mention this a long time ago when they brought him back. I knew he was going to win the BFG series so they can use what he has been through the past year as a comeback story.

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ci_6CQ5R558?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

He's still one of their biggest stars and they did give him a lot of time to prove he was cleaned up or reliable before actually giving him the potential title opportunity.

Would rather have Bully Ray vs Aires for the title match but makes sense why Hardy was chosen. It's also possible the contract situation involving Devon and Bully Ray could have played a small role during the time TNA needed to plan out who was actually going to win the BFG series.

It's TNA. Need I say more?

Nonsense? Pay $30-$40 bucks for a PPV and the main event world title match is a minute long because he can't keep his shit together?

It has been a year and a half. FFS, he has shown repeatedly that he will not get cleaned up. How many chances can the son of a bitch get?

Also, the "Hardy's the biggest draw" argument is bullshit. When has TNA seen any major increase in ratings or buyrates in years? He sells t-shirts. Nice. He would sell just as many t-shirts being in the upper midcard as he would be selling if he is in the main event. TNA has created new stars but when their biggest ppv comes around they go back to the drug addict who has burned them and other companies repeatedly just because he hasn't gotten arrested again? It is a fucking joke. I hope Aries wins because that would be a nice rub, but I don't know how you can trust him in your "biggest ppv ever".

Maybe they DO view Jeff as "the guy", but they want to put Aries over him to show everyone that Aries is the new "the guy". You ever thought of that?

Also, whoever said that Jeff has been half-assing it must not be watching a lot of TNA recently. He's been more than solid.

yes, nonsense. Hardy fucked up. TNA still decided to send him out and put that main event on when literally anything else whatsoever would have been a better and more professional option. And as you point out in the following part of your post, it's been a year and a half. Get over it. The guy hasn't put a foot wrong since. Do you even watch TNA/pay $30-40 bucks for said PPV's?

of course it's not. He's the biggest draw they have. Just because buyrates and ratings don't go up doesn't make that any less true. TNA would probably struggle to permanently raise ratings atm if they signed Steve Austin and The Rock.

And as I say everytime these kind of threads pop up, I'm still not seeing this "burned repeatedly" argument that everyone likes to bang on about whenever talk of Jeff Hardy and drugs comes up. He fucked up in TNA during what I thought was creatively his best run anywhere ever, yes. But other than that, he left WWE of his own accord both times for reasons you may or may not like, including the 2nd time turning down the WWE's offer of what would have been his "biggest contract" ever. "Jeff Hardy is a huge worthless fuck up" might be the most stale and redundant argument on all of the internet after "Hulk Hogan and John Cena are evil".

The burned repeatedly argument holds up because the first time he left WWE, he was showing up late or out right no-showing events as well as refusing rehab.

Personally, it's been a year and a half, this is when I would have said he should have STARTED being integrated back into the main event, but he's been main event for a looong time. He hasn't earned the right to headline the biggest PPV of the year in my eyes.

Do I blame Jeff, though? LOL, no. TNA are risking this. WWE wouldn't have brought him back and let him headline Mania this soon.

Is it good business? I guess, if he doesn't fuck him. He likely won't, but why take the risk this soon?

I still think it was a stupid idea having Roode lose the Title to Aries..... BFG could have built around a James Storm versus Bobby Roode "final encounter" "Iron Man" Match.... Storm would go over and he could then defend against Hardy..... that just makes more sense to me, but since when has TNA made sense?

I like Aries as champ, personally. Roode was great, though.

They can do that on a smaller PPV or iMPACT without risking blowing your biggest ppv of the year.

No doubt, but he was busting his ass and doing great things during his run when he showed up fucked up to headline a PPV against STING.

He screwed up again since his return?

Didn't not know about that considering I think one of the terms was him going to jail if he screwed up again. If that is the case, then Bully Ray should definitely been the one having the title shot or even someone else.

I didn't say he screwed up since his return. I am saying he has repeatedly shown he has no interest in getting cleaned up over the past 10 years. It's only been a year and a half. He had a good run in WWE and then he relapsed. He had a good run in TNA and then relapsed. How will this be any different based on his history? You can't do the same thing repeatedly and expect different results.

I'm less fussed about the whole "pushing the drug addict who fucked up in the past" thing, I am more surprised by the choice when there are more interesting/seemingly obvious choices available.

Aries has history with Bully Ray and it would be a very fresh headline act for the company's biggest show. Aries would have a blinding match against a Angle who is just as over as Hardy and seems tacked onto the AJ/Daniels/Kaz stuff. It seemed they were building to Storm stopping Roode which would have been the end of a year long story. Then you have the whole Aces & Eights thing, a reveal and consequent match with the leader/man behind it would have been an option.

All those seem more interesting on paper.

Surely Jeff Hardy can't be this much of a draw. Really?

I'm sorry. He decided to get busted with a shitload of drugs shortly after he left WWE. I'm sure there is no connection.