Elephant in the Ring #18: Life Without Jeff

After a long hiatus, I am back faster than Mr. Kennedy....oh wait, he's still on the shelf. Anyways, I am the bearer of bad news for you Jeff Hardy fans:

"- SmackDown wrestler Jeff Hardy has handed in his notice to World Wrestling Entertainment. He has three months left on his contract and is refusing to sign an extension."

Thats right, Jeff Hardy will leave the WWE for "future endevours" at the end of his contract in three months. But now what will happen to the WWE? What will happen to Jeff? And, more importantly, what will happen to Matt Hardy?

• WWE: Looking at this situation, the WWE is probably going to lose SOME fans, SOME revenue, and SOME WWEShop sales. Other than that, the WWE has talent that they can lose someone like Jeff Hardy. Jeff was only a one time WWE champion and, when that happened, he wasn't very successful IMO. Yes, Jeff was a high-flyer...but compare him to the stars now. Compare him to Evan Bourne and other high flyers in this business. Jeff Hardy doesn't stack up against them, again...in my opinion. So, the WWE isn't losing it's only high flyer (unlike the WWE is losing its tag division).

• Jeff Hardy: The easy solution...go back to TNA...is that the best solution? No. But it's the most realistic solution for Jeff Hardy to take. He could do a RVD-esque tour around the U.S. of A, Canada, Mexico, and other places. But "getting back on mainstream" is probably going to be his main goal and the only two "mainstream" shows besides the WWE is TNA and, unless you are like 80 percent of the entire wrestling-watching nation who doesn't have Direct TV's biggest package, Ring of Honor.

• Matt Hardy: I am a Matt Hardy fan. In fact, I am more of a Matt Hardy fan than I am a Jeff Hardy fan. But...I must admit, if Jeff Hardy goes Matt Hardy may be close behind. When Matt and Jeff were split...Jeff succeeded by winning the WWE championship as Matt won a watered down ECW championship. However, if Matt does stick around...WWE is going to have to make him bigger than his brother. How so? Who knows. Matt Hardy isn't a flippy-doo high-flyer like Jeff Hardy is...maybe make him an all-around ground/pound man and Matt can pull off a helluva heel character in the WWE post-Jeff. Also, bring back Matt Facts.

It's all what the WWE does in this situation. It can be a very stagnant reaction to the wrestlers...or it can be a shit storm hitting a giant fan. It will be interesting to see where the WWE, and more importantly the Hardys themselves go.