Today’s Episode: Mattitude V. 2.0
Matt Hardy has become one of the best reasons to watch WWE television.
Simple as that.
While Jeff gets the superior reactions due to his grungy good looks and high-flying daredevilry, Matt has always been the better wrestler, although obviously not the better stuntman. Certainly, every internet smark worth their salt has been giving the love to Matt Hardy for a long, long time, even when he didn’t deserve it. I mean, come on; the guy has always been seen as talented, but Matt Hardy as WWE champion was not something that could ever really be seen as a viable alternative.
There are plenty of reasons why Matt Hardy should never have been a big deal: for one, he’s got this weird bow-legged gait to him, so much so that my friends and I used to joke about the inevitability of a Popeye the Sailor Man gimmick, complete with Lita as Olive Oil and Jeff as, perhaps, Wimpy. Mike Knox or Snitsky (or, posthumoustly, Ray Traylor) could easily have been Bluto, so that was already in the cards. Tell me that you haven’t secretly prayed to see him, corncob pipe, anchor tattoos on biceps, finishing off super heavyweights with knockout punches.
Second, he’s a wrestling fan whose body can’t or doesn’t do the things that are every wrestling fan’s wet dream to do. For example, I look to, as Scott Keith so perfectly termed it, the “yodeling legdrop,” where Matt Hardy climbs up to the second rope, his prone opponent laying lifeless on the canvas in front of him. Our hero raises the double guns or the Mattitude symbol or whatever, showing that he’s willing to put his body through anything simply to win an athletic contest. Then, with all of the gracefulness of someone who learned to wrestle on a trampoline in his dad’s backyard, the previously percieved great warrior drops one of the most basic moves, something that is only taken seriously when done by a 50-year old bald man with a weight belt and a few billion more fans. He does the same thing with generic elbow smashes, and while he’s created a few significant moves, his offense isn’t some kind of crazy indy smorgasboard or anything like that.
Third…have you heard the guy talk? I mean, Jeff is worse, but that Cameron, North Carolina accent is as thick as syrup, and while he’s improved tremendously over the years, he still sounds more like he should be on an episode of Hee Haw than in the ring trying to sound intelligent about, well, anything. Of course, intelligence isn’t something that the typical wrestling fan is usually concerned with (although the audience enjoyment of the tremendous Jericho/Michaels storyline gives me hope on that front), but I still occassionally cringe at the sounds that emanate from the vocal chords of either of the brothers.
Fourth, the guy’s terrible at naming things. Twist of Fate and Side Effect aside…the Angelic Diablo? Seriously?
Am I the only one that remembers that?
But here’s the thing: because the guy has always been a huge wrestling fan, he’s always worked to improve and, despite all of the above, has been consistently entertaining, never moreso than when he was Matt Hardy V. 1.0, and had Shannon Moore following him around as his Windows Media Player inspired entrance video had lists of awesome “Matt Facts.” We’ve been seeing him grow, and over the years he has gone from a talented enough indy-style wrestler to someone who is almost perfectly grasping the WWE Main Event Style, and combining it with that Ring of Honor hard-hitting, exhausting international flavor that so many of the internet smarkaroos love so much.
In the last week, Matt Hardy has had two of the best matches on wrestling television, and arguably two of the best of his career, although I wonder if anyone was really noticing. His match against Finlay on ECW was an awesome hard-hitting brawl, with both men kicking out of everything, crazy near falls, and countless moments where I found myself thinking that the match had to be over. Then, after besting Finlay, Hardy finds himself pushed to the limit against Shelton Benjamin on Smackdown, as both men let loose with everything they have, including Shelton Stinger Splashing directly into a crazy Side Effect, a move which has amazingly caught on and is almost at the point of being a potential finisher. He’s also managed to make the Twist of Fate a move that can hit out of anywhere, despite it essentially being a Diamond Cutter with a slight and, frankly, useless modification. Watching him sneak it in against Benjamin was a beautiful thing.
Hardy has managed to transform from the crazy tag team guy going for a singles career to a rock solid performer attaining previously unthinkable heights. He has been a brilliant choice for ECW champion, having awesome, dramatic matches with everyone and showing the new kids that if they work hard enough, study tapes, and put enough drama and passion into their matches, they can reach the heights that he has. While he’s always been a fine performer, he has evolved into someone with as much skill as anyone on the roster.
Long story short: Oh yeah.
