Recently on TNA Impact Wrestling, no matter what other spoilers or results have been reported and regardless of what other segments are airing on Spike TV every Thursday night, there is nothing I have been watching with more morbid curiosity than former WWE Champion Jeff Hardy acting as his new and completely insane character Willow.

Willow is Jeff Hardy's sing-talking, SOUL-crushing alter ego, and he first popped up on TNA Impact Wrestling in teaser promos leading to the TNA LockDown PPV in February. From the very first promo, Willow absolutely cracked me up and scared the hell out of me all at the same time.

The crazy part about the Jeff Hardy Willow persona is that this isn't a new wrestler who has never been over with the fans trying something new to see if it sticks. I mean, it's one thing if WWE takes a guy that they originally named Husky Harris and sent him down to developmental to let him try out a new character. In fact, the end result of that retooling is a very successful persona by the name of Bray Wyatt, who just fought John Cena tooth and nail at WrestleMania XXX.

But with Willow, I mean, this is Jeff Hardy, the same guy who was WWE Champion at one point and one of the only TNA Impact wrestlers who still has name value and enough star power to draw in a crowd.

The two comparisons I have made just discussing this conundrum with friends over the past few weeks are when country music superstar Garth Brooks decided he wanted to release a CD as his alter ego Chris Gaines, which failed miserably; or, in the wrestling world, when The Undertaker decided to try and be a motorcycle-riding American Badass instead of The Reaper of Souls. While Undertaker clearly bounced back from that period, for this wrestling fan that era was a complete waste of time for his character.

Time will tell if Jeff Hardy's Willow character will stick around, or if he will soon revert back to being Jeff Hardy on future episodes of TNA Impact Wrestling.

One thing's for sure, I'm looking forward to more insanity and sing-talking from Willow in the meantime, and maybe that's the ultimate mind trick Jeff Hardy is playing on me despite my deep reservations about this direction.