Picture it if you will: Randy Orton has just retained his WWE championship by cheating his way to a victory against his opponents Triple H and John Cena in the main event of WrestleMania XXIV. The braggadocios champion grabs the microphone and boasts about having turned back all his challenges. 
Then, the distinctive music plays. Fresh off his victory in the Money in the Bank ladder match earlier in the night, Hardy cashes in his guaranteed world title shot, hits the Swanton Bomb, and defeats the Legend Killer. WrestleMania XXIV closes with a triumphant Hardy celebrating before 65,000 screaming fans as the new WWE champion.
It would be a heck of a WrestleMania moment, but we'll never see it happen.
In case you haven't heard, the Rainbow-Haired Warrior was suspended for 60 days earlier this week for failing a drug test. It's his second violation of the WWE drug policy. With the announcement of the suspension, WWE pulled Hardy out of the WrestleMania card, and put a stop to the freight train momentum of arguably WWE's hottest star.
There are several levels to this story, all of them unfortunate. For years, Hardy fans have clamored for WWE to give the colorful superstar a push that matched his massive popularity. But for years, WWE has been gun-shy about investing too much confidence in a wrestler with a reputation for irresponsibility. Hardy's drug problems reportedly led to him parting ways with WWE in 2003. His reputation for partying followed him to TNA, where bookers tried to go all the way with Hardy, but also ended up pulling back when his personal problems kept interfering with his work.
When Hardy returned to WWE in 2006 - but for a few stumbles - it seemed he had finally grown up and focused on making the most of his tremendous talent. Late last year, Hardy's push seemed to kick into overdrive, and he kicked off the year in his first main event world title match at the Royal Rumble. Fans were more than ready to accept Hardy as a top act.
In his resignation speech Wednesday, disgraced New York Governor Elliot Spitzer said, "From those to whom much is given, much is expected." Those words apply to Jeff Hardy, who, much like Spitzer, may have just flushed away a promising career with some poor personal choices.
If WWE was ever going to get behind Hardy as a potential top star, this was going to be the time. It will be incredibly difficult, if not impossible, for Hardy to fully regain the trust of WWE management.
It's especially telling that WWE decided to take the major step of pulling Hardy from Mania. WWE's embattled wellness policy allows matchmakers to force performers to perform on pay per view, even when during their "suspensions." Could Vince McMahon be looking to prove his drug testing policy has teeth as Congress takes a closer look at his business practices? Could WWE officials have selectively chosen to give Hardy a drug test shortly before 'Mania, expecting him to fail and giving them justification in pulling the plug on his push?
As disappointing as it may be that Hardy was pulled from what could have been the biggest match of his career at WrestleMania, let's not lose sight of the bigger picture. Too many young wrestlers have died from drug-related causes. Rather than just take him off the road, here's hoping that WWE gets Hardy the help that he may need, and that Hardy accepts it.
(Photo credit: WWE.com)
