Jeff Hardy. If you would have told me that Jeff Hardy would go from breaking a ladder and destroying Edge at Wrestlemania 23 to becoming a major face & player on RAW, I probably would have laughed in your face. I've watched Jeff Hardy and even his brother Matt, go from being a low jobber tag team to big time players on their respective brands. Fast forward a few years and Triple H actually put Jeff over! Some say this was used to make Triple H look good but there's no denying that Jeff Hardy has seen the writing on the wall. He's stepped up his game and that couldn't be more evident than the past few weeks. His promos have gotten better and his in-ring work is excellent. Who wouldn't like a guy who put everything out there for the fans? Hardy could have been seriously injured with the jump from the cage match and the one this past Monday.

My biggest worry is that Jeff Hardy will become like John Cena. He's getting great pops from the crowd but some guys don't like him. I've always liked him because he's the younger of two brothers and I'm younger of my brother. I think his style differs a lot from Cena and that will help him in the long run. I hope he gets the title and he doesn't even have to keep it long this first time. Remember Edge? He won it at New Year's Revolution in 2006 only to lose it later at the Royal Rumble. Hardy could win it at the Rumble and lose it later at No Way Out and still keep the plans for Wrestlemania in tact. A lot of people want him to get the belt, including me, but I don't think Vince is sold on the idea just yet. Look at the guys they've pushed. Nobody cared about the Great Khali. Lashley was stuffed down our throats but he didn't take. John Cena destroyed everybody in his path. Enter Jeff hardy and low & behold, people prefer talent over the muscle heads. Wait, didn't I recall people only wanting the untalented muscle heads over the skinny talented guys? Maybe the audience of the WWE is finally coming around to where they prefer talent over the blown up guys who can't wrestle worth a shit.

Moving along, I'm interested in seeing the debut of Kofi Kingston. He's similar to Carlito except Kofi is from Jamaica; I'm presuming the capital of Jamaica, Kingston. I haven't seen any of his early work so I don't know what to expect from him. I kinda hope he'll eventually team up with Santino & Carlito to form a heel stable of some kind. He looks promising but I'll make a better judgment when I see him in action.

Next thing I wanted to talk about was the return & rise of JBL. Whenever JBL was champion on Smackdown, I didn't really get to watch because I was in high school and most everything occurred on Friday nights. The most I ever saw about JBL was on recaps and stuff. I never bought into it at first just like I never bought into Edge, Brock Lesnar, or even John Cena. Those guys just didn't seem like main eventers to me at first. But, since his return, minus his unannounced in-ring return, he's carried himself like a main eventer. The whole angle on Monday night was incredible. He came off like a slime ball and got plenty of heat. The pryo displays embellish his "rich snob" character. While the Rumble is a little soon to have a match, I'm really looking forward to what this feud has to offer.

The stuff with Chavo Guerrero is doing ok. They haven't allowed either guy to get pinned, which is good to limit any damage to their character. I like getting Edge involved. It could lead to Chavo winning the title, Edge losing his, and Punk & Edge feuding on Smackdown. I do think Punk could succeed on Smackdown against MVP or Edge. I don't see Chavo winning the belt. The ECW belt has been used to "cement" a guy as a rising/top contender. Chavo has never been more than a mid-carder to a lot of people but it's kind of late in his career to give him the go ahead & push him to the top of a brand, even though it's ECW. I've always thought Chavo deserved a push but it seems a little late.

One thing I'm trying to figure out is why Jimmy Wang Yang and Shannon Moore weren't involved in some capacity this past Tuesday on ECW. They went from having a pretty good feud with The Miz & John Morrison to nothing. The 15 Minutes of Fame from last week was awesome. Why not continue that in some capacity this week? Why not have them come out and do commentary or something? This was an exciting feud that looked like it could reestablish the tag division between Smackdown & ECW. They need something like this to help bring back meaning to the tag division.

There's been a lot of talk about the return of Bobby Lashley. Since he's one of Vince's boys, I think his return will be well touted. Not many guys just show back up unannounced, especially if you're one of Vince's boys. Now, Lashley could be Triple H's mystery opponent this Monday or they could leave that up to Big Show. Whoever it is will be a heel. Either way, it's going to be interesting when Lashley comes back since all of the steroid stuff is happening. The talk from WNW and other sites is that since there will be no hearings in Congress, guys will probably start juicing back up. Lashley was one of the biggest guys on-screen when the steroid scandal first broke. He could be toned down or he could be blown back up. Whenever his return happens, it will be a big deal. Then again, he could just show back up like Jeff Hardy did. Whether he's on RAW, ECW, or Smackdown is anybody's guess. He's been on ECW and was shoved down our throats. Hell, there are a lot of guys who've been shoved down our throats. I think he'll feud with Kennedy upon his return since Kennedy is the one that took him "out." He could go to Smackdown and boost up their main event talent level. His return will be big, no doubt.

Speaking of big, I'm anxious to see the return of Big Show. It seems like he'll be able to move better, seeing as how he's lost weight. Since the trend is for all of the big guys to go on Smackdown/ECW, I figure that's where he'll go. He's one of the few decent big guys that are around. Kane has gone to the shitter and Undertaker is the only big guy that can still move and put on a great show. If Show goes to Smackdown, they might as well have a big guy war. Big Flabby V, Mark Henry, and the Great Khali would battle Kane, Undertaker, and Big Show. The losing team gets fired. I proposed this idea at the end of 2007 and I think they need to do anything to get rid of these guys.

Excess Power Rankings
1. Randy Orton
2. Edge
3. CM Punk
4. Jeff Hardy
5. Triple H
6. MVP +1
7. Shawn Michaels -1
8. The Undertaker +1
9. Batista +1
10. JBL NEW

Wrestling Autism

Velocity Dos – Tuesdays at 10PM on SciFi
Friday Night Smackdown – Fridays at 8PM on the CW

Royal Rumble – January 27 – 8PM – Only on PPV!