I think Tanahashi is clearly the superior candidate of the two. He's been the biggest star in the Japanese industry for over six years now and has grown into that role. Edge was a very good heel foil for John Cena, but outside of his brief title run in January 2006, he never really moved numbers, while Tanahashi clearly draws female fans to his promotion. The problem with Hardy is though he was the hottest guy in the business for awhile, he's a guy who's viewed as pissing away his potential.