WWE has managed to take something which was once so special, unique, entertaining, full of potential and has completely destroyed it…again.
This week’s episode of Monday Night Raw could have been the final angle for Matt Hardy in WWE. There was supposed to be a No Holds Barred match between him and Randy Orton this week. Which would have followed up on the segment they had last week where Orton gave Hardy a Con-Chair-to to Hardy. This was speculated to be the way to write off Hardy from WWE if he is not signing a new deal, as he had competed in numerous TLC matches in his WWE career.
Matt, alongside Jeff, are already considered legends in the WWE industry. Despite their decades of work put into the company they still have much more left in them. While Jeff was the high-flyer charismatic with the crazy paint and high spots, Matt’s character soon began to look one dimensional forcing him to reinvent himself and become outrageous and shock the entire wrestling industry. The introduction of the Broken Universe in TNA/Impact Wrestling became a sensation and also made the rival company relevant again.
Matt’s broken persona along with the insane ramblings and unique characters made him an instant sensation. This persona finally had them eyed by WWE again to return. While their return at Wrestlemania 33 was lauded as a great comeback for the duo, the WWE creative team soon destroyed the hard work of the wrestlers. TNA knew exactly how to key in the Broken Universe in their shows, by giving Matt full creative control; however, this was not something that WWE was ever going to agree to.
WWE faced a problem with securing the broken gimmick from TNA. This put the Hardy brothers into a state of limbo with them reintroduced as the Hardy brothers (Attitude Era) to a nostalgia pop at Wrestlemania 33 in 2017. However, with Jeff soon faced a long-term injury. While Ma underused underused and had to wait until the Broken gimmick was finally secured by WWE to use. This did happen eventually but it was not as DELIGHTFUL as expected.
Broken Matt Hardy had now become Woken!
However, WWE saw Hardy as a tag-team wrestler, and without Jeff, they couldn’t wait patiently anymore for his return, hence started the Deleter of Worlds! The tag-team of Bray Wyatt and Matt Hardy sounds like a great team on paper but, the team soon lost steam and the people started to lose interest in them. The removal of integral parts of the Broken Universe: the family members, absurd segments, and Matt’s trusty drone Vanguard 1, had all gone missing. WWE saw a huge monetary gain from the Broken Universe but due to poor booking, creative control and planning they damaged the entire character.
They soon lost the tag titles to the B-Team and Hardy has not been the same ever since. It has been nearly an entire year with Matt not using his Woken persona and Jeff getting injured yet again. All of this adds up to the Hardys have rarely seen on WWE. The creative does not have a direction for the Hardys at this point in time. Matt has had a few fleeting appearances where he has been used to get over the newer talent. He has a lot of potential left in him, instead of just being used to get over the other talent.
That is until a week ago when he appeared on Raw to start a short segment with Randy Orton regarding his wicked attack on Edge. He referred to his troubled history with Edge but also their friendship and how they revolutionized the Attitude Era with several TLC matches.
While it was unexpected to see him defend his long-time rival Edge, but this led to him taking a Con-Chair-To from Orton. This looked like the way to write him off TV and he had also tweeted “Goodbye” shortly after.
Included with this goodbye message was the latest episode of Hardy’s “Free The Delete” YouTube series which he has been using for the past few weeks to keep his broken character alive.
One of the major advertisements ahead of this week’s edition of Monday Night Raw was a No Holds Barred match between Hardy and Orton. This was meant to be the latest way to write Hardy off WWE, even though Hardy was meant to be written off last week. This week Hardy walked out with a neck brace on wanting to wrestle, but again was attacked with another Con-Chair-To in the ring and then on the steel steps.
The reason for the changes in writing Hardy off comes from the fact that the segment between him and Orton last week did really well. It was reported that their segment gained 221,000 viewers, which was the biggest gain of the show. This could also mean that Hardy could be used until the very last episode before his contract expires. WWE could continue this for another week and end it with Orton giving Hardy a punt kick to take things to the next level and also show Orton’s sadistic side.
Matt’s WWE contract expires on the 1st of March and sources indicate that other wrestling promotions have a heavy interest in signing Hardy. Even though Hardy was offered a huge money deal at WWE itself it is speculated that Hardy will leave the promotion once his contract expires. So, Hardy could be joining All Elite Wrestling, Ring Of Honor, New Japan Pro Wrestling or any other wrestling promotion this year itself.
Speculation is he could be joining All Elite Wrestling soon. Matt could join the Dark Order on AEW, where they have been teasing the leader of the faction, the Exalted One. Matt could reinvent his Broken Universe and given that AEW would give him more creative freedom, Hardy could once again shock the wrestling world. As Hardy helped TNA/Impact Wrestling with their increased viewership, AEW could gain a tremendous following if Hardy’s character is played right. As AEW and NXT have a Wednesday Night War for viewership, this could be a tipping point for AEW which could increase their ratings and viewership immensely. With frustration getting to Hardy, this could be channelized and used in his new character if he decides to go someplace else.
After this week’s episode of Monday Night Raw Hardy started a tweet with “Against Every Warning,” with the first letter of each word spelling out “AEW”. ‘’
This also feeds into his “Free the Delete” YouTube series where he has dropped several hints about wanting to leave WWE in order for him to spread his wings creatively.
At this point, it seems like Matt will leave WWE once his contract expires on the 1st of March of this year; however, the status of Jeff’s contract stays frozen for the time being due to an injury and other issues involving his DUI arrest. He might leave sometime next year. Whatever the case maybe we hope that Hardy can finally let his creative juices flow and again stun the world with his WONDERFUL act!
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