There's an elephant in the room with Matt Hardy's name on it, and it's about time we all discuss the situation.
What Happened To Matt Hardy?
At the beginning of the year, it looked as if Matt Hardy was finally going to get a push towards the main event scene.
Let's take a moment and go back in time.
On the night of the Royal Rumble, Matt Hardy finally made his much awaited heel turn by attacking his brother. The attack cost Jeff Hardy his WWE Heavyweight Championship to hated rival Edge.
At that point, everyone knew that the feud against his own brother was going to be the vehicle that elevated Matt Hardy into the main event scene on Smackdown.
The feud culminated into a highly entertaining Extreme Rules match between Jeff Hardy and Matt Hardy. With a victory over his little brother, it appeared as if Matt Hardy was ready to move up to the next level.
However, that moment never came. It left a lot of fans wondering what happened to Matt Hardy.
The Inexplicable End
Shortly after Wrestlemania 25, WWE executives must have made the decision to not push Matt Hardy towards the main event scene after all.
It was quite puzzling when to see Matt Hardy being drafted from Smackdown to Raw during the WWE Draft Lottery. Fans weren't quite ready to see an end to his feud with Jeff Hardy just yet.
Matt Hardy then languished in the midcard level on Raw for the next few months. There didn't appear to be much of a shining light directly ahead of his path.
As word spread like wildfire that Jeff Hardy was walking away from WWE, the company decided to switch Matt Hardy. Not only did he switch brands (Raw to Smackdown), but he also switched allegiance by turning into a babyface again after helping his little brother out.
Since then, Matt Hardy hasn't been utilized in anything major on Smackdown. He's been involved in random matches and short lived programs without much of a sign of any momentum being built.
It's a difficult situation to understand because Matt Hardy is truly one of the better overall performers in the company.
Speculations
A lot of people are under the assumption that Matt Hardy's push has been taken away from him because of issues that are going on outside of the ring.
There are some speculations that the company has not been happy with how his behavior backstage has been. There are also speculations that Matt Hardy could be getting punished for his brother's behavior.
In the world of professional wrestling, we're always going to have speculations. However, a lot of speculations have been fueled by Matt Hardy himself.
The 35 year old North Carolina native has been known to toy around with the internet wrestling community for years now. Matt Hardy appears to enjoy making it even more difficult for wrestling fans to know what is real and what isn't.
Closing Thoughts
Even without a main event push, Matt Hardy is still a popular wrestler that makes a very good amount of money every year. He gets to travel the world doing what he loves to do. However, from a fan's perspective, it is a shame that we'll never get to see what he could do in the main event. |
