Analyzing the top 5 contenders for Jeff Hardy's United States Championship

Jeff Hardy after defeating Shelton Benjamin on his return to Smackdown Live.

#5 Randy Orton

The familiar foes are most likely to cross paths again.

On Smackdown Live, Jeff Hardy interrupted Randy Orton and walked past him as he was answering Shelton Benjamin's open challenge. This could lay the seeds for a possible rivalry over the US Title in the coming weeks.

A heel Randy Orton would make this feud an absolute barnburner. Orton can turn by attacking Hardy for that very insulting gesture on Smackdown Live, showing how insecure he is of being upstaged. This dynamic would go great with Jeff's perennial fighting-from-the-ground-up character, and the two can put on a very compelling feud.

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The feud that the two had over the WWE Title in 2008 was great of course, but both wrestlers were in their prime then. Orton's slow and methodical style would mesh well with Hardy's high-octane offense and that would build a great match too, as the calculating Orton will try and control the pace, whereas the fast moving Hardy will try to break that and overwhelm Orton with quick and effective offense.

This will definitely be much better than Orton's dragging feuds with Bobby Roode and Jinder Mahal.

Edited by Nikki La'ulu