The Point in Matt Hardy's Career Where He was Considered World Champion Material?

[#hamler]

"Hey look, over there! It's Jeff Hardy's brother." "Ahhh yeah, how cool is Jeff Hardy?" "Totally." Matt "Mediocre" Hardy. Matt has always lived in his brother's spotlight. Ever since we first saw him in the WWF back in the '90s, Jeff always stood out. The way Jeff acted, looked,performed, carried himself, Jeff always seemed better- I think we all know this. Matt Hardy has faced some of the better WWE Superstars of the last decade. That lists of Superstars contain greats like Kane, Edge, Rey Mysterio, Christian, and his own brother Jeff. He's held a handful of decent championships like the ECW, United States, Tag Team, and European Championships. But the World Championship has ALWAYS eluded him.

But, at what point in Matt Hardy's career, has he been the closest to a world championship? Pick a point where Matt seemed to be considered Championship material...if ever.

 

[MoeIsBetter]

Right now in TNA. I'm the biggest TNA supporter out there but let's face it, TNA holds less main event house hold names like WWE. If Matt can get over big time as either a heel or face, he's got a chance. My biggest gripe now is how much he says he's cold blooded. Guys that are cold blooded all have one thing in common...they don't have to say it. If all Matt said in his promos was "just show me who's next..." I'd be a hell of a lot more impressed.

 

[The Mighty Tiger]

But, at what point in Matt Hardy's career, has he been the closest to a world championship? Pick a point where Matt seemed to be considered Championship material...if ever.

I don't think there ever was a point where Matt was considered Championship material. I'm a fan of his but IMO he always lacked the look of a heavyweight champion, he didn't have that "It Factor" that most top guys have. Now he was a credible enough talent to help push those stars that would have potential to be the top guys of the company, but I don't think he ever had a real chance to be one himself.

Now I do believe he could have been one hell of a midcard or upper midcard star, maybe becoming arguably one of the greatest IC or U.S. champions ever, but I don't know if that is what he wanted for himself. I think that is all he could have been remember for when the subject is his career as a singles competitor. I loved when he was cruiserweight champion w/the version 1 gimmick & he had Shannon Moore by his side. Right off the top of my head I can think of the really good opening match he had w/Rey Rey at Mania 19, I think it was that one. IMO he was at his best as a singles star during that period but even then he wasn't good enough to carry the company.

 

[Spidey Revivey]

If I had to go with one point in Hardy's career that he might have been considered a champion, it would have been way back at around 2002 or so when he was playing a pretty entertaining heel. He had those "Matt Facts" and "Mattitude Version 2.0" or something along those lines that really gave him his own personality. Hell, he even had Shannon Moore follow him around like Alex Riley and was dubbed a "M'Fer" (Matt Follower, ). He had more depth to who he was back then then he ever did in a solo career, wayyyy more than his "I Will Not Die" campaign.

Yes, if ever there was a time he might have had the possibility of grabbing gold, it was then. But of course his time was very overlooked compared to the main eventers of that time. Every other time he just looked like that guy that puts over other superstars.

 

[Matth3w]

Coming off his cage match win against Edge at Unforgiven 2005 I think his push should've began. A slow push though, like how they built up Edge. Maybe Matt should've won MITB instead of RVD.

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

Matt Hardy has never been World Championship material.

The two points in his career when Matt has been somewhat over with the fans have been his Mattitude phase in 2003 and his feud with Edge in 2005 when there was some genuine sympathy for him. In his Mattitude phase, he was nothing more than a midcarder. You can never main event with a gimmick like that, the best you can do is be the king of the midcard. Also there was better talent than Matt available on the roster like Brock Lesnar, Angle, Benoit, Edge, Eddie Guerrero and an up and coming Rey Mysterio. Matt was entertaining but he never did anything to suggest that he was better than these guys.

The best chance that he had of becoming a main eventer was during his feud with Edge. But some of the promos that he cut in that feud were very lacklustre especially on the night he was hired back on Raw. It was clear that he could not handle the pressure of main eventing. The matches were solid but agin nothing special. Though I guess that is what sums up Matt's career, solid but nothing special.

 

[JWGunslinger]

Hardy has never been World Champion material, and I dont think there was ever a time he was close to good enough. The best he has ever been was back when he and Jeff were still together in the WWE, at that point in time he didnt have the recognition or experience but he had the talent and the drive then. Since that time he has lost that drive to be the best it would seem and I cant say I give a shit about him anymore, and I probably never will unless he makes some major changes.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

World Champion and the name Matt Hardy, ideally, shouldn't even be mentioned in the same breath.

Matt Hardy is an overrated hack that, for the most part, has ridden the coat tails of other, more talented wrestlers his entire career. When he was in the WWE, he was given several pushes along with title runs with nearly every championship that was eligible for men to hold and and he just couldn't get over to that next level. Of course you'll always have Hardy fans that will say that Hardy was a victim of politics in order to justify their liking of him and to make themselves generally feel better. It's an easier pill to swallow than the one where they'd have to admit that, on his very best day, Matt Hardy was the epitome of mediocre.

In TNA right now, Hardy has pretty much the same role that he had in WWE. He comes out, gives an awful promo that hardly anyone buys into & he'll wrestle a match where he, more often than not, jobs and he'll get an occassional win here and there to keep him even remotely relevant. Matt Hardy is still the same mediocre talent in TNA than he was in WWE, just with a much lighter schedule and a much lighter paycheck.

 

[Post]

Yeah, pretty much like everyone else, I've never seen him in the WHC scene.

If I had to choose a time though, it would have been right after his long feud w/MVP. He came out looking good after that feud and it fairly interesting. It could have been a main event push time, but Matt couldn't really hang with the guys that were already at the top.

 

[Wade's Public Transit Bomb]

I don't think Matt Hardy is totally worthless. I just think you must be one of Jeff's former clients if you think he is someone you put in the top tier of your roster.

I haven't watch him in TNA, but I do know his last year in the WWE, he was one of the better guys to put in the ring with someone who was green. Granted he is as charismatic as a tree stump, but he at least put together some good matches. When he coached Gabriel on NXT, Gabriel got more 'cred' than some of the other rookies just because of who his pro was. But I think that shows Gabriel's charisma is much better than Matt or any lackey Matt has had because Gabriel stayed over for NXT standards his entire time even without Matt there.

 

[Trance Metaphor]

The closest Matt Hardy has gotten to a World title is the ECW Championship. Remember, he won it in a scramble match when the other two World titles were defended in the same type of match. It's debatable, but I think at the time it was still considered a World title. Other than that, I'm not sure if he has ever gotten a shot at the WWE Championship. His career has been mediocre. His best stuff was when he was a Tag Team Champion with Jeff Hardy in the beginning and with the Mattitude gimmick. He's had a few good singles matches and his United States Championship reign wasn't bad either. He is much more technical in the ring, so in that way he's a better wrestler than Jeff Hardy. But, Jeff Hardy has always been the more charismatic one. The one thing that pisses me off about Matt Hardy is how he carries himself. He always cuts promos making up lame excuses as to why he's been treated the way he has been treated. He always makes up lame excuses about everything and then he talks about how he's going to revolutionize something, but doesn't do anything to separate himself from then and now. He's always the same. I heard him say that he was gonna do new moves, but it's the same old routine. He's grown into a very boring competitor. His character never develops.

 

[hatehabsforever]

With all due respect to Matt Hardy, I don't think he was ever considered world champion material. Mid card champion, sure. Tag team champion, without a doubt. But I really cannot think of any point where he could truly be seen as a candidate for the WWE Championship, the WHC Championship, and I cannot imagine he will ever be the TNA's World Heavyweight Champion.

He has always been in his brother's shadow. When left to his own devices, he just never had what it takes to assert himself at the top of the main event. Now he's older and in poorer shape, so it definitely won't happen now.

If I were to really stretch reality, and put him near consideration as world championship material, it would have to be when he returned to WWE with the whole Edge/Matt/Lita triangle blend of kayfabe and reality. He could have picked up some momentum from the reality basis of all of this, and rode this toward the top, but as in typical Matt Hardy fashion, he simply wasn't good enough or relevant enough to do it.

I'm not one of those "Matt Hardy sucks" guys. I think he has had a decent career as a tag tam and mid card wrestler, and that's nothing to be ashamed of. But as world champion material? Never, and not even close.

 

[amazing_blue]

I don't think he was ever championship material. I agree with the above poster that the closest he ever got was in that real life inspired story. I'd also throw in an honerable mention for the winter/spring of 2009, when he was in a hot feud with his main-event brother Jeff.

 

[Notorious718]

I didn't watch wrestling during the whole Mattitude thing or during Matt's feud with Edge and Lita. That said, I'm basing my response on what I've seen of Matt Hardy which would be his work from 2006 onward. The first time I thought Matt Hardy would've been in the world title picture was during his feud with MVP over the US title and their tag team title reign on Smackdown a few years ago. Their program was actually one of the reasons I tuned into Smackdown on a weekly basis. I thought Matt Hardy would find himself in the world title scene after his feud with MVP especially considering that he ultimately came out on top and won the US title. But then he was moved to ECW and although he ended up winning the brand's title, I'm not sure if the ECW Championship was considered a world title by that time.

The next time I found myself thinking Matt would find himself in the world title picture was during his last heel run in WWE. After beating his brother multiple times, I thought he was going to get back on track to the top. When he got drafted to RAW, I actually thought he COULD be the brand's top heel and world champion. But then he got his arm broken during his match with Jeff at that year's Backlash. I think that injury not only killed his momentum but his odds of becoming RAW's world champion.

The final time I found myself taking Matt seriously as world title material was after Jeff had left WWE and Matt was seemingly going to get revenge for his brother on Punk. But me taking him seriously was rather short lived because within a couple weeks of Matt's return, I noticed that his ring work had drastically deteriorated and that he was severely out of shape. After that, I never took him seriously as world title material. The fact is that Matt had everything going for him on his way to the top but he was simply never good enough to break through the proverbial glass ceiling. And now that he's older, I see the odds of it happening much lower than they were when I first watched Matt Hardy in 2006.

 

[The Void]

I'd have to say right after he came back from being released by WWE (the first time) and before he was handed a microphone.

 

[ringjobber1]

I think when him and edge put on a crazy feud matt hardy vs edge\w lita they took eachother to the limit side effect into pyro technics and a legdrop off a cage matt was suppose to get a push then but backstage heat killed it. But yes that was one of the highest points of his carrer

 

[CM Steel]

I would say right after his fued with his brother Jeff after Wrestlemania 25. A year before Matt Hardy after all these years just got on the map as a legit mid-carder in winning the WWE U.S. Championship and the ECW Championship within months later. Matt Hardy was suppose to be where Cody Rhodes is now as a mid-card star breaking into the main event picture in the WWE.

But now Matt Hardy will be forever known as the only guy from the old Edge & Christian vs Hardy Boyz tag team fued not to win a world championship in the WWE.

 

[GameOver]

Now's as good a time as any, there was never a point in his WWE career that he was at that point. The closest he got was US Title and that's about as far as i saw him going.
Sure just for some payback for valuable service over the years he deserved to atleast be in a title match or the main event as much as Christian did but neither of em are worthy of carrying the company.

 

[Dagger Dias]

I think around the time of his feud with Edge was the closest Matt Hardy ever got to being considered for a world title. The announcers put him over for the next year or so calling him a "main event waiting to happen", well, it never happened. Probably the reason it never happened was because they realized he's a midarder for life. Other than the Edge feud, the MVP feud for the US title, and tag team title reigns with his brother, Matt Hardy has never done anything interesting. His ECW Championship reign is the highest up the card he will ever get, unless TNA/Impact Wrestling randomly throw their world title on him.