The Piledriver Report 02.04.08: The Perfect Angle Gone Wrong and the Imperfect Angle

Posted by Ronny Sarnecky on 02.04.2009

This weeks’ “Piledriver Report” examines two angles that were loaded with potential. Both the “Who Attacked Jeff Hardy?,” along with the “McMahons’ revenge on Randy Orton are two of the top storylines in the WWE at the moment. One started out strong, and seems to be going south. The other started strong, began to fizzle, and is now picking up steam. Ronny Sarnecky provides his thoughts on the two most talked about angles in the WWE at the moment.

It was the perfect angle. Jeff Hardy gets attacked in the middle of the night before the Survivor Series. Next, he gets run off the road by a speeding car. Finally, someone messes with his pyro, causing Jeff to get burned. What a great way to introduce, or re-introduce, a character into the WWE. This was the scenario that was originally put into place to redebut Christian at the Royal Rumble. Christian's attacks on Jeff would have led to a high profile match between the two at WrestleMania. Instead, the WWE gave us Plan B; Matt Hardy.

It's not that I don't like Matt Hardy. Quite the contrary, he is actually my favorite Hardy brother. However, the storyline doesn't make sense. For one, Matt actually helped Jeff obtain a WWE title shot. Secondly, if he didn't want to take care of Jeff and his "screw ups" anymore, why not just pull an Owen Hart, and attack him in the ring (like he finally did at the Rumble). If I wanted nothing to do with my brother, I wouldn't try to KILL him! That's a little harsh there. Plus, due to the fire last year, Jeff and his girlfriend Beth have been living in Matt Hardy's house. Does this mean they are homeless now?

The big question remains. Why did the WWE make the switch from Christian to Matt Hardy? According to the dirt sheets and Internet, the WWE felt too many fans knew that Christian was going to be revealed as the attacker, so they decided to swerve the fans. My question to them is, why would you change such a great plan because the Internet surfers found out about it?

I'll be the first one to admit that I love to be surprised. I don't read spoilers, and I avoid the internet on the weekend of a major pay per view. That being said, the wrestling business has been built on the fans knowing what would happen next. How many storylines and feuds started off with a slow build? By the time the turn, or major revelation was brought public, the fans couldn't wait to see it, even though they knew what would happen? A perfect example was the Triple H/Batista feud from the end of 2004-beginning of 2005. Originally, the WWE was going to build Randy Orton vs. Triple H for WrestleMania 21. However, that program was not working, so the WWE started a slow building storyline between Triple H and Batista. More and more, the fans wanted to see the two Evolution members fight. By the time Batista decided to use his WrestleMania title match against Triple H, the fans were dying to see the match. From the build up, you knew Batista wasn't going to be challenging JBL (even though they teased it for a couple of weeks). Despite knowing the climax of the angle would result in Triple H vs. Batista, the fans didn't care.

The same rule applies to the Jeff Hardy angle. Sure, the fans "knew" the conspirator was supposed to be Christian, but they also WANTED it to be Christian. That is the key. The promoter (Vince), with the rumors flying around about Christian, had the opportunity to give the fans what they wanted. When you give the fans what they want, from a business standpoint, only good things can happen.

Instead, we get a brother vs. brother feud. Aside from Bret vs. Owen, brother feuds rarely draw. The last time the WWE tried a Hardy vs. Hardy feud, it was awful, because nobody wanted to see the team broken up. Since Matt and Jeff haven't been a regular team in awhile, maybe this time out, things will be different. I hope they are. I liked the Matt Version 1 heel character from a few years ago, so I'm sure he can play the heel. I am really hoping that this feud elevates Matt instead of lowering Jeff's main event standing.

With Matt and Jeff most likely fighting at WrestleMania 25, which leaves us wondering how will the WWE bring in Christian? I can't see the WWE bringing him in with a hotter storyline then what was originally planned with Jeff Hardy. The only storyline that would come close is if he somehow attacked Edge after the Elimination Chamber at No Way Out, and challenged Edge for a WWE World title shot at WrestleMania. Perhaps, he is a surprise entrant at WrestleMania's annual Money in the Bank match, and he cashes in the briefcase after the winner of the main event is announced the same evening. Besides those two scenarios, I can't think of another angle that would get Christian over huge upon his return.

Aside from these two ideas, anything else the WWE uses to debut Christian will probably make Christian look like Edge's lackey. That's why the Jeff Hardy angle would have been the perfect storyline for Christian. He would have been looked at as an equal to Edge, and the other main event level players on SmackDown. Instead, I fear, he will get lost in the shuffle.

Of course, there is another reason why the WWE may not have debuted Christian as the mystery attacker. Perhaps he hasn't signed with World Wrestling Entertainment at this time. If that's the case, then you can't blame the WWE for choosing Matt Hardy as the culprit.

Over on RAW, it's nice to see that they took, what looked to be a stupid angle, and actually made it logical. On last week's RAW, it appeared that the WWE took its' hottest star, Randy Orton and his Legacy group, and cut off his legs. I watched in stunned disbelief as Randy Orton, Ted DiBiase, Jr., and Cody Rhodes got manhandled by a "blown up" Shane McMahon. It made absolutely no sense. Randy Orton is your WrestleMania main eventer. How could you have the owner's out of shape, 39 year-old son beat up , not only him, but also DiBiase, Jr. and Rhodes? Awful! Awful! Awful! However, this week, the WWE gave a valid reason for the beat down. Randy Orton said that his Legacy group allowed Shane to attack them. With most of the other RAW wrestlers standing on the entrance ramp, if Legacy went on the offensive, the other wrestlers would have attacked. This would have created a 20 on 3 disadvantage, and Randy didn't want to face those odds. That was a great explanation. I don't know if the creative team planned this reasoning a couple of weeks back, or if they just inserted the explanation into the storyline due to the recent backlash that the angle created. Either way, great job by the WWE in covering their tracks.

I also liked that they are having Shane fight Orton at No Way Out. I feared that the WWE would hold off on an Orton-McMahon clash until WrestleMania. Thus, "screwing" Randy Orton out of his World title shot (which could still happen). After last week, I had no interest in this angle. However, they did such a good job of getting this storyline back on track, I am really into this angle again. The segment where Legacy beat up Shane in the hallway was awesome. Did you notice how Stephanie's face smashed into the metal door? Way to sell it Steph! Man, that looked like it hurt. The only thing that would have been more awesome would have been if Randy connected onto Stephanie with his boot to the face. That would have really sold the angle.

The whole McMahon vs. Randy Orton story started very strong with Orton's boot to the head of Vince. The involvement of Shane almost destroyed the storyline. However, the angle got its momentum back thanks to a believable explanation, and Legacy's attack on Vince's children.

The Jeff Hardy angle started out strong due to the speculation of Christian resigning with the WWE, and being revealed as the attacker. The angle was changed because the WWE was trying to swerve the fans. This storyline lost some steam after Matt Hardy attacked Jeff to create a brother vs. brother feud. Will the WWE creative team come up with a twist or turn to create the buzz that the Hardy angle originally had?

I'm not sure what the answer is. I just know one thing. The WWE currently has me interested in seeing where they are going with both angles. Even if I wish Christian was involved in the Hardy one. For now at least, 24 and Friday Night Lights gets Tivo'ed, and I watch RAW and SmackDown! live. Will that trend continue? It depends on where they go with both of these storylines. Until then, stay tuned.