#22: Matt Hardy

by Nick

Returning from five months out in late March just short of Wrestlemania, it’s surprising that Hardy was not lost in the WWE’s frayed afterglow of that season. Better still was his embrace of a brand switch that made him (with Finlay and Mark Henry) the veteran lynchpin of ECW, elevating all he worked with and making that show the company’s best television. His Swiss watch reliability in TV matches would today be legendary if Hardy had broken in at the right decade, billed as a Walking Tall roughneck by Bill Watts, Dusty Rhodes, or Ole Anderson of Hardy’s native Mid-Atlantic territory. The sentimental end of Hardy’s great 2008 in fact came in the first two weeks of ’09: a sharp ECW Title defense against Henry, then seven days later dropping the belt to wunderkind Jack Swagger in as textbook a title switch as you’ll see anywhere this year. But nothing in MH V.1’s year approaches his longstanding rivalry with MVP, a rare modern beef that’s remained in the hearts and minds of a slipshod Vince and co. nearly two years after its start. In ‘08 it was augmented by competition segments of the duo one-upping each another in chess, football, and arm wrestling; Hardy in a worked boxing match with MVP’s ringer Evander Holyfield, and a Summerslam beer drinking challenge refereed by Steve Austin, the logical bookend of their No Mercy ’07 pizza eating contest MC’ed by Tazz.

Recommended 2008 Matches:

~vs. Randy Orton, 3/31/08 Raw
~vs. MVP, 4/4/08 Smackdown
~vs. Chuck Palumbo, 4/11/08 Smackdown
~vs. MVP, 5/2/08 Smackdown
~vs. Chavo Guerrero, 6/29/08 Night of Champions
~w/ Finlay vs. Mark Henry/Mike Knox, 9/9/08 ECW
~vs. Mike Knox, 9/16/08 ECW
~vs. Evan Bourne, 10/26/08 No Mercy

Career Recommended Matches:

~Surge vs. Will O’ the Wisp [2/3 Falls, Mask vs. Title], 7/31/98 OMEGA
~The Hardy Boys vs. The Serial Thrillaz, 1/29/99 OMEGA
~vs. Rey Mysterio, 9/25/03 Smackdown
~Hardys vs. MNM 1/28/07 Royal Rumble
~vs. Joey Mercury, 3/2/07 Smackdown
~w/ Chris Benoit vs. Fit Finlay/MVP, 5/11/07 Smackdown
~vs. Finlay, 6/19/07 Smackdown
~vs. Chris Masters, 7/13/07 Smackdown

2009 Outlook:

Promoted to RAW in his new role as a bellyaching heel, interesting matchups for Hardy emerge: Cena-Hardy is something could have headlined a mid-80s Starrcade. Continuation of the MVP rivalry, with the roles now reversed, also has appeal. To his advantage is the RAW brand’s lack of talented villains, or utility players of any sort. Hardy spent ‘08 making good workers look great. What he can do given a chance with listless burdens like Michaels, Hunter, or Batista, fresh matchups that bastardize the word “fresh”, remains to be seen. Six years ago Hardy nailed his role as a self-absorbed, often hilarious sleaze who dubbed his lackeys MFers (Matt Fanatics), espoused a lifestyle of Mattitude, and wrote trite “Matt Facts” about himself that scrolled over his ring entrances. The success or failure of Hardy’s year then seems contingent on how fully he is able to develop his character’s wide-eyed delusions of grandeur.