Matt Hardy?

[R.K.O]

After watching Christian win the big one this year and where he were last year, something came to my mind regarding Matt Hardy.

Last year at Money in the bank, Matt Hardy was in a story with Christian about winning the money in the bank and how they did not win the world title that have coveted them for their whole career. At the end of the event, both of them did not win it and a few months later, both of their future at WWE looked bleak. Matt was overweight and punished because of Jeff, Christian never looked like winning anything after several reports of Vince not seeing him as a main event star. Both of them subsequently were jobbed to people like Drew McIntyre, then later Alberto Del Rio for Christian.

Matt of course went on to start a whining spree at twitter and youtube about how WWE misused him, and continuously demanded for his release from WWE. Later on he got his wish, started to cut down on his eating and started working hard at the gym to get into a much better shape. Went to TNA who were known for handing free title reigns to ex-WWE stars, Matt looked like he was certain for multiple title reigns.

Christian kept his mouth shut and did his job even if it means jobbing to a rookie like Alberto Del Rio, and playing second riddle to Edge and Alberto Del Rio on the road to Wrestlemania. Then the unexpected happened when he won the title after Edge's tragedy and ran with the ball ever since, main eventing PPVs in a row and is now a two time World Champion. Matt is now gone from TNA TV for quite some time, and doesn't look anywhere near to the title with people like Robert Roode, RVD, Anderson and such all way ahead of him in the title picture. WWE on the other hand is severely lacking of main eventers and faces, more and more people seem likely to win the title, even Jack Swagger won it!

Now for my question, would Matt be better off if he had shut up, get back into shape, did his job and stayed with the WWE?

I know there are lots of Hardy haters now but refrain from getting too biased, if there is a thread like this already I apologize.

 

[Sheamus' Suntan]

I don't think so.

Matt was given the world at one point - he was given BIG mania feuds with his brother and given chance after chance. That angle in particular - Jeff vs Matt, SHOULD Have been one of the most emotional matches at the time and it bombed. The story just failed.

Matt was given shots - as face and heel at running with the company. His feud with Edge SHOULD have set him up to be a HUGE face in the company in 2005 - shame was, Matt couldn't convey emotion properly and he just flopped. He bombed BIG time.

Matt IMO is the biggest example of Self burying i've EVER seen. The guy - since his original split from the Hardyz SHOULD have been hot but flopped time and time again. No amount of shutting his mouth and getting on with it could have saved his career in the WWE. He just was NEVER over.

Christian at least has always had a fan base. He's always sold T-shirts, always had people behind him. Christian's time was always going to happen in WWE, it just was going to take a while. He clearly loves what he does and he entertains a lot of people. Matt - I dunno, he always felt lackluster and lazy in matches.

 

[R.K.O]

I don't think so.

Matt was given the world at one point - he was given BIG mania feuds with his brother and given chance after chance. That angle in particular - Jeff vs Matt, SHOULD Have been one of the most emotional matches at the time and it bombed. The story just failed.

Matt was given shots - as face and heel at running with the company. His feud with Edge SHOULD have set him up to be a HUGE face in the company in 2005 - shame was, Matt couldn't convey emotion properly and he just flopped. He bombed BIG time.

Matt IMO is the biggest example of Self burying i've EVER seen. The guy - since his original split from the Hardyz SHOULD have been hot but flopped time and time again. No amount of shutting his mouth and getting on with it could have saved his career in the WWE. He just was NEVER over.

Christian at least has always had a fan base. He's always sold T-shirts, always had people behind him. Christian's time was always going to happen in WWE, it just was going to take a while. He clearly loves what he does and he entertains a lot of people. Matt - I dunno, he always felt lackluster and lazy in matches.

I agree Matt was unfortunate in some incidents during his WWE run. 2005 he was HUGE with his crowd reaction easily on par with Punk today, but his storyline with Edge was cut short due to Matt getting too personal and then subsequently WWE failing to capitalize on his popularity that time. His V1 heel run was great but WWE didn't see him past a cruiserweight back then. His run from US Champion to ECW Champion was one of the strongest push for him but he had to burst his intestine during that time.

His storyline with Jeff was always going to bomb though, come on having Matt suggest that he burned Jeff's house down was just ridiculously stupid and the writer who suggested that should be fired.

I disagree with you in one part though. Matt, or the Hardys in general always had a huge following in the WWE and he had always received massive reactions when he came out, his merchandise always sell too. With the WWE roster now looking the weakest I have seen in years, I can't help but feel that Matt would have gotten a huge push if he had stayed.

 

[berlinbrawler]

Matt has always been an underwhelming performer. However he has always been a huge mark for himself. For a couple of years I just took it for healthy self-confidence, but as time went on it became increasingly obvious that his career would never really go anywhere (and for several good reasons), but despite that his self-worshipping only increased to the point of narcissism. That didn't exactly endear him to me.

Would things be different had he stayed and kept his mouth shut? I don't think so. In comparison to Christian I see a lazy worker, a bad attitude and very little charismatic appeal. I see a jobber. When Christian won the title only to lose it two days later I was angry because I felt he deserved better. Had the same thing happened to Matt Hardy I would have thought two days as champion was already more than he deserved.

 

[hollowpoint]

Matt hardy did an incredible job of getting in his own way during his WWE career. It isn't by chance that all out of all his big feuds, the other guy was the one that got the push. The likes of Edge, MVP, Lita, Jeff Hardy, even Drew McIntyre's mini push was due to Matt Hardy. He seemed to have difficulty with overselling a storyline. He never truly connected with the crowd even though he had all of the opportunities in the world to do so. He's had a career of mis opportunities and burned bridges. Maybe someday he will figure it out, but who knows.

 

[Jessie Lynn DivaGirl]

I'm one of those people who missed Jeff Hardy's WWE tenure because I freaking came in months later. -.- Thus I enjoyed Matt Hardy very much (NO, it was not just because he mentored my instant favorite Justin Gabriel tho that helped) and I miss him in the WWE! I think he would have gotten off better if he hadn't started demanding his release and had done his job. When he came into TNA (his timing pissed me off- I only buy WrestleMania on PPV) I was so happy for him because he looked better than he had in the WWE and he was instantly making and impact.

The exctement for him died out after three weeks.

TNA has yet to ive him any title whatsoever where as in the WWE he got some pretty decent titles even if they weren't WHC or WWE titles. My advice to Matt?

GET YOUR ASS BACK TO WWE.

As was mentioned by R.K.O. the WWE is starting to hand out titles to anyone (remember Swagger). If he really anted a title that badly then come back! Besides, he just might be the mix up this company needs!

 

[¡Roján!]

Matt Hardy dropped the ball on Matt Hardy, to be honest, with the way he acted backstage. He was never really all that talented and if it weren't for his brother he would just be your run of the mill jobber. He never deserved a WHC or WWE championship, however if he were to stay I'm sure he'd at least get a shot at the title. He was over and probably sold quite a bit of merchandise, but the catering costs probably just made the WWE breakeven. Anyway, back to the OP, if Hardy just shut up and kept doing what he was doing, he would be earning a lot more money and would be higher up in the pecking order for a title shot, at least.

 

[Skairipa Matrix]

hmmm this is a tough one personally i dont think matt would have gotten any further in wwe even if he hit the gym,got in shape and shut his mouth to me he will never be anything more then a top mid carder and once in awhile a upper mid carder but never main event level and i have always been a big fan of the hardys so my answer to this is no i dont think it would have mattered...but as far as his future with impact wrestling goes....i think hes gonna either be realeased or he will be brought back with his brother jeff to win the tag titles (maybe at BFG even?)

 

[Undertaker the 5th]

I also never saw anything interesting in him. It was probably because he was so boring to watch some times. He got good crowds from the crowd, but so did MVP and look where that ended. He also never changed his persona. How long did he have that long hair and that beard for? I am not saying looks is all that matters, but come on. Some times you have to make a change to revitalize your character or something. He was also getting too chubby and he was never in the same league as his brother as far as exciting goes. His brother may not be the best wrestler out there or even good for that matter, but he knew how to get the crowd pumped.

Bottom line is that I also don't think he would have had a chance at winning the title either. If he had stayed and kept his mouth shut, than right now I would see him in a feud trying to put over Ziggler.

 

[Mustang Sally]

Now for my question, would Matt be better off if he had shut up, get back into shape, did his job and stayed with the WWE?

I don't think there's any doubt. Matt was always given stuff to do in WWE, even towards the end when his belly was hanging over his pants and he was whining like a dog at dinnertime. I mention his waistline because working matches in his condition, he had developed a waddle when he moved that made his ring repertoire look like crap. Still, he was given matches and feuds and I could never understand why. Plainly, the company wanted him to succeed and gave him every chance to do so.

It's ironic that while the IWC is constantly referring to Jeff's substance abuse problems, we don't read much suggesting that Matt suffers the same malady. Yet, he's off TV now for showing up late for appearances and for erratic behavior. Stuff like this suggests possible "chemical imbalances" that might cause a previously reliable performer to be abandoned by their employer.

Frankly, I believe both Matt and Jeff would have been better off staying in WWE. Say what you will about Vince's management policies, but neither of these guys was showing up high for scheduled appearances.....or not showing up on time. The substance policy was working; or at least working better than that of the Hardys' subsequent employers, who had no drug policy at all.

It's what you get when you let the inmates run the asylum.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Hardy would have been much better off if he had tried to lose some weight and not complained online so much. His negative attitude in those posts and videos did him no favors. The fact that he was lazy hurt him too because he would rather have lived off the fame of his former tag team and his brother's successes to reach the top instead of putting forth more effort. Cole kept calling him a main event waiting to happen but it never did and that is Hardy's fault alone.

 

[The_Grimace]

Matt hardy to me before his crybaby days, was always a superstar I could get behind. I say this because before that all happened he was one of the few wrestlers who actually seem to like wrestling. Be it jobbing or wrestling in wrestlemania, he generaly looked like he was enjoying himself. Then I think he lost his passion, cried on twitter and youtube and now nowhere on tv at all. Had he stuck with it I think we would have seen a few PPV mainevents from him by now maybe even a transitional champ to boot, but nothing longer than a month. At least he would have been in the record books.