Columns - Online World of Wrestling

WRESTLING COLUMNS

The Matt Hardy Story: It's Not Crap!
October 13, 2005 by Michael Nader

First off, I want to thank everyone who wrote in on my first article on July 18 earlier this year. I have been meaning to write a second one but there's been no time. My next article involves a storyline that had to do with a real life situation. Yes, I am talking about the angle between Matt Hardy, Edge, and Lita.

I hear a lot of talk about how most people think the Matt-Edge-Lita story is crap. That in my humble opinion is a lie. Before Matt Hardy was rehired by the WWE, the story of Matt Hardy's screw job was a very hot topic on the Internet. Many fans out there felt for Matt Hardy. Some were very loyal fans of Hardy, while others felt what the WWE was doing to Hardy was really messed up. Even WWE's own Chris Irvine (A.K.A, Jericho) felt Matt got the short end of the deal.

The fans were so supportive of Hardy, that in many arenas cries of "You Screwed Matt" and "We Want Matt" filled the air. The WWE stuck its nose where it did not belong and fired Matt Hardy. Some say Hardy deserved it because he interfered with two storylines by expressing his thoughts on his website.

Whether or not that was true, the WWE sank even lower and tried to justify this buy turning chants of "You screwed Matt" into "You screwed Kane". Everybody new what was going on in the real world between Matt and Amy, and yet they were forced to watch a storyline involving Lita leave Kane for Edge. Lita was shown making some comments how Edge was a much better man than Kane, while some of the fans out there were thinking, "Is she really talking to Matt""

So, the WWE fired Matt Hardy for losing his girl and best friend, and his dirty laundry was aired with Edge's and Lita's as well. The WWE proved they could sink lower when they played Matt Hardy's music. Of course now I realize they were probably planning to bring Hardy back at that point anyway, but at the time it seemed like a huge slap in the face to Hardy and his fans.

Now to address all of you who say this storyline is crap. I must ask you, after all that has happened, how could they not have this storyline" If they were planning to rehire Hardy, do you think they could just have Matt Hardy come back and face Snitsky and pretend the incident between him, Edge, and Lita never happened" Can you imagine how irate the fans would be" The story has been going on for two and a half months and already people are tired of it. After all that has happened things could not have been resolved at SummerSlam, the story needed more time than that.

Now don't get me wrong, I think it's very low of the WWE trying to make something out of Matt's personal life, as well as Adam and Amy's. At the same time however, there is also a time where some story lines no matter how low they may seem, may be necessary.

My second article. Like it" Hate it" Let me know.

by Michael Nader ..

Aaron Tolles wrote:
I am tired of hearing about it.All I can say is that I'm glad it is over with after the Raw Homecoming.I personally feel that the whole thing was blown out of proportion.I am not a fan of any of the 3 involved and what makes me hate this whole thing is bringing up what has "happened".The smart thing to do was to move Hardy to SD to begin with.I find all parties involved to be at blame.This kind of easily been kept under raps,at least on air like the Benoit/Sullivan situation of 1996.But all is well now and we can forget all this happened.

James Thequietkid wrote:
I agree, I also think that if Paul Heyman had written this same storyline the Internet would of loved it.

alex martinez wrote:
I hate to burst youre bubble, but if you ask me, i think the whole Lita-Edge-Hardty thing is Bullshit, the wwe has habbit of doing controversial storylines scince that is what sells, they have been doing that scince the montreal screwjob. They make it look so real and at the end of the day, the whole thing was a staged act. like those fake reality shows some example like austins walking out, oh yeah hes not allowed to come back, yeah sure and 6 months later he's back fulltime. the greater power angle, another B.S angle which broke Kayfabe, McMahon went on an interview and refered to taker as mark calloway, brilliant huh. if matt hardy & edge really dont like each other than why would the wwe be putting these guys together in a ring at summerslam or any show, they should know that a real fight could brake and out mcmahon will not risk the health of his wrestlers . A good example was the real backstage heat between shawn michaels and shane douglas, at "in your house" pay per view in october 1995. These two don't like each other at all, they could have drawn money in a P.P.V , but the wwe chose not to because shawn was being a prick,as he was planning on doing something to Dean Douglas during the match that would humiliate him, when douglas found out what was gonna go down, he approched michaels and warned him not to do it or he would punch his lights out. knowing shane coming from E.C.W, you know hes not affraid to throw a punch at you. so the match never took place and they to avoid those being in the ring together at survivor series. i'm not bashing matt, he is good wrestler and he is champoinship material, but this whole backstage saga, shooting at each other on the web, and now on t.v, is just some scripted angle to work through harty's absence. i dont even think matt was ever fired. so dont be fooled, its not the first time the wwe has fooled us and it wont be the last time either, and just for the recored they had me fooled too, by wathing matt come back and showing it on the air, you can not be fooled, you must realize that this a scripted angel, and if youre gonna mention his apperance at ROH well jamie noble has signed with the wwe and he is still in Roh trying to wrap up his deals, mick foley is under contarctand and he also appeared at roh. come on its like do you really believe that J.R is fired, hes just being removed from broadcast booth, not realeased from from the company.

Alex Noneofyourbusiness wrote:
I find it waaay too real. The man had a bunch of pictures of his new girlfriend on his site. She even came places with him.

Alex Dance wrote:
Of course it's real i didnt even realise that there were people out there that doubted it the reason the michaels/douglas match was canned was for the exact reason you mentioned; michaels was being a dick. but unlike michaels some wrestlers can not like each other and still act professionally. look at the benoit/sullivan incident in WCW. it is ridiculous to think every wrestler that has ever wrestled each other in the WWE has got along. As far as I'm concerned the whole thing added some of the most interesting dynamics to wrestling in a while. its a bit old by now but as far as i can see the WWE has done nothing but give the fans exactly what they want (you screwed Matt) so people who whine about how distastful the way WWE has handled it is just the rebelling against whjatever the WWE does. I agree with the comment that if Paul Heyman was behind everyone on the net would be loving it.

michael nader wrote:
Thanks everyone for responding. I truly agree with what Alex Dance said. Now I'm not trying to be a prick, but one of you who wrote back really believes anything before july 11th was staged, and I think that's not quite true. First off, so what if it was, the WWE still has to finish the story. Secondly, how do you know it's staged. Did Matt Hardy come to your front door at six in the morning and tell you it was staged" Where is your proof" Now dont get me wrong. I rarely endorse the storylines the WWE writes, unless they have those really really good moments. (i.e. triple h tapping to the cross face at wm XX). I definetly think Matt Hardy breaking in and putting the WWE, Lita, and Edge in their places was one of them. And if you don't believe me find a video of it somewhere and listen to the crowds reaction. Thanks for writing in everyone.

scwoody wrote:
I am under the impression that the storyline is rather demeaning. Granted, Amy did it to herself, but there are so few women wrestlers. Why take up TV time on a gimmick that only makes the crowd not want to see them" The storyline was a clever way to work matt back onto TV, but I think it has been taken too far. Now it is just getting in the way of progress. I am in no way defending the actions behind the storyline, I am a huge Matt fan, however, I was also once a Lita fan. I like to watch women's wrestling, and I liked to watch the matches between Lita and Trish. I know that Amy was out on an injury, but this story line is beginning to get in the way of any of her wrestling. I would rather be allowed to "boo" her in a match than as Edge's manager. No one wants to see that...

wrote:

If you have any comments, reactions, rebuttles or thoughts on this column, feel free to send them to the email below,
If your email is intelligently written, they will be posted underneath this messege..
We at OnlineWorldofWrestling want to promote all points of view, and that includes YOURS.