WWE: What if if Jeff Hardy never left in 2009?

Jeff Hardy is 'The Charismatic Enigma'. For more than 20 years, Hardy has been entertaining fans with death-defying moves and providing them with awe-inspiring moments. Hardy has jumped off a truck, taken a spear while dangling from the tag-team titles during a TLC match, jumped from the top of a steel cage - just to name a few instances of his daredevilry. Hardy is a Grand Slam champion, having won every single title on the main roster. He is a multi-time Intercontinental champion, one-time United States Champion and multi-time World Champion. Alongside his brother, Matt Hardy, he has won tag team gold an astonishing nine times. The two brothers have revolutionized tag-team wrestling and are considered as one of the greatest tag-teams in professional wrestling.

Jeff has had way more success as a singles star than Matt. Fans have always loved and admired Jeff, who has been a fan-favorite for most of his career. Jeff was once considered to be the next 'face' of the WWE, primed to take over from John Cena as WWE's poster boy. This was back in 2008-2009 when Hardy's immense popularity forced WWE to give him a push. It was during this period that Hardy won world championships and feuded with the likes of Triple H, Edge and CM Punk. However, in the fall of 2009, Jeff left WWE after a brutal steel cage match with then-World Heavyweight Champion, CM Punk.

Fans were disheartened - many thought they had seen the last of Jeff in a WWE ring. Hardy was dealing with nagging injuries and felt that he needed some time off, but Hardy did not return until 2017. This brings up the question what would have happened had Hardy not left WWE in the fall of 2009?

In my opinion, Hardy would have won more world championships and would have cemented his legacy as one of the all-time greats. Fans could have expected to see a Hardy Boyz reunion somewhere down the line, but Matt Hardy also left WWE soon after Jeff's departure. Jeff's popularity resulted in him becoming one of the top merchandise sellers in 2009.

I think that Hardy would have gone on to main event Wrestlemania too. His natural charisma, along with his high-flying offense made his presence in the ring magnetic, and WWE would have been remiss to ignore it. Hardy vs. Cena was one of the biggest dream rivalries WWE could have booked in 2009, but it never happened.

Also, Hardy could have faced off against The Undertaker at Wrestlemania. WWE was running out of credible challengers for The Undertaker after 2009, which is why WWE went back to veterans like Shawn Michaels and Triple H. Had Jeff stayed, he would have surely had a chance to face the Phenom at the Grandest Stage of Them All.

Eventually, he would be used in a grizzled veteran capacity where he could help propel the careers of the younger talent - names like Dolph Ziggler, Cody Rhodes, Drew Mcintyre, Kofi Kingston, et cetera were honing their craft on the main roster around the time that Jeff left.

Nevertheless, Jeff had a great career outside of WWE in TNA, ROH and in other wrestling promotions. He returned with Matt in 2017 at Wrestlemania 33 as a last-minute entry into the Raw Tag Team Title Ladder match.

Jeff has epitomized risk-taking and high-flying. He has been a cornerstone in professional wrestling for most of the career, but he could have reached incredible heights had he stayed with WWE after 2009.