Like any good business, the WWE doesn’t like to let a money making opportunity pass it by, and this time they’re going to rely on Jeff Hardy’s imagination to fill the void created by releasing Bray Wyatt.
Jeff wants to bring his Willow the Wisp character back, and he recently said his current vision for Willow is similar to Bray Wyatt’s The Fiend persona.
While Wyatt’s release was, and still is big news, the WWE continued selling his merchandise and even tried to make Alexa Bliss into the Fiendess with her friend Lily.
While it was entertaining, her gimmick got mixed responses from fans and then she took some time off. So, it looks like she may have a new gimmick when she comes back.
Humble beginnings
Jeff created Willow the Wisp in 1995 when he was in his brother Matt Hardy’s OMEGA promotion. The character was based on the folklore about lights travelers saw over swamps and marshes. To add intrigue, Will would speak in riddles as well.
After he left the WWE in 2003, Jeff took Willow to Ring of Honor, and then TNA.
Jeff’s made some great moves since resigning with the WWE, including getting his singles theme song back and fans are stoked for what he’ll bring in the near future. Many hope for another title run.
Jeff spoke in an interview with metro.co.uk about how seeing the Fiend gave him ideas for a new Willow and the possible birth of a new character based on the painter Bob Ross called Jeff Ross. And is fears it’d be too similar to Wyatt’s Firefly Funhouse.
Special thanks to Mandatory.com for the transcript.
“I think there’s something special about Willow. I’ve written down some ideas, I don’t know if they really make sense. I’ve yet to pitch any to anybody, creatively, in WWE,” Hardy said. “So I just need to go in and do that, not hesitate. They might shut it down, but it might be cool. I can’t help but think how cool it was when I first witnessed The Fiend, and the light shutting down. It was so cool to me – that’s kinda my thing too, I was like, “Man, this is so cool!” Now he’s not here anymore, I think there’s something really cool Willow could do similar to that.”
On a Firefly Funhouse angle, he added:
“It wouldn’t be exactly like that, but I’ve even had ideas like a Jeff Ross character – like I was a painter, a really silly painter Jeffery Ross, and then Willow would be my Fiend. But then that’s too much like the Fun House. But that’s what’s cool about pro wrestling – anything’s possible and anything can make sense if it’s thought out correctly and really believed in.
“I’m not sure. My thoughts are running wild with this idea because I feel like I am, in the end, known with WWE because I’m an older guy, I’ve been around a long time,’ he admitted,” Hardy said. “The newer talent’s coming up from NXT like crazy, every week it seems like there’s somebody different there and it’s like, “Oh God, here’s the future coming to knock out the present AND the past.”
While it’s important for wrestlers to evolve their characters, a lot of it is also timing and the WWE may be shy about having a similar character appear a third time.
And given the Fiend’s huge popularity, which was proven through merchandise sales, this could lead to a backlash.
What do you think? Would you like to see Willow in the WWE?
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