Matt Hardy Must Shine vs. Bray Wyatt at Ultimate Deletion

Matt Hardy’s master plan is at hand. The man that brought chaos and insanity to WWE over the past few months is now taking his war with Bray Wyatt to a whole new level of madness. The Ultimate Deletion will take place on the March 19 edition of Monday Night Raw and fans are anxiously waiting to see how it all unfolds.

The fact is Matt Hardy needs this night to go well. He needs it like he’s never needed anything before. The Woken character has not exactly been the smashing success that his Broken character was in Impact Wrestling. Indeed it’s as if WWE has somehow managed to muddy the process.

This is precisely what many fans feared in the beginning. When The Hardy Boyz returned to WWE at WrestleMania 33, many expected Matt to quickly morph into the persona that had taken the industry by storm.

But many were also worried that the company would drop the ball. It seemed as though everything would work out eventually and that sentiment likely came from the fact that the gimmick was ready to go.

Matt Hardy didn’t need coaching. He didn’t need to develop his character. All he needs is the chance to cut loose and be as bizarre as he wants. Matt understood what he had to do and despite how many talented people were around him, he just did not need any help. He had this. He was good to go.

But by the time he finally became Woken, some fans had perhaps tuned out. It wasn’t Matt’s fault however; he resumed his alter-ego as if he never left it. He was ridiculous and eccentric like before, perhaps even more so. Matt’s delusions of grandeur came rushing back to him and he shared them with everyone who would listen.

However the issue was timing. Eight months had passed since Matt’s comeback. During those eight months, he had teased the Broken character on social media, leading many to believe the gimmick was just around the corner. Of course the legal battle with Impact was still going on, which meant no one really knew what was going to happen.

It wasn’t as though fans had given up on Matt. If anything, they remained as patient as possible and just tried to enjoy The Hardy Boyz’ return for the feel-good run it was. But eventually it became a situation in which some were begging for the change or begging for the teasing to end. Game on or move on.

Then the problem ultimately became how WWE handled the storyline. Instead of booking Matt Hardy week after week on Raw, the company instead used him and Bray in dueling promos on the Titantron. Fans enjoyed it, which meant it was working. But after a few weeks of the same formula, things began to change.

Suddenly the pop that Woken Matt enjoyed in the beginning began to wane. It didn’t end but it obviously lost some steam. Fans didn’t turn on Matt, nor did they have a reason to. But he just wasn’t being used in prime spots that allowed him to shine.

The Woken gimmick had the potential to become the hottest thing in WWE. It still does. But the company seems unable to deliver it the right way. Then there’s the fact that Wyatt’s own positioning during the angle is suspect at best.

What happened to the cryptic shadow man that played mind games with his prey? Bray excels when he’ gets the freedom to explore on the mic. He had multiple opportunities to attack Matt Hardy psychologically. But he never really did.

Instead the two men played promo tag every week on WWE programming. When they finally clashed at the Elimination Chamber event, the match was a bit anticlimactic. Hardy did his part to get into Bray’s head and Bray did the same to Hardy. It was not a failure in terms of how they worked the match. It was a failure in terms of fan expectation just not being met.

But this feud deserves a second look because it’s such a great pairing. Each man is so completely in tune to his gimmick. Those gimmicks are made for each other, even to the point that Wyatt and Hardy could become the most entertaining tag team in WWE. Of course for that to happen, they would need to share their worlds and surrender their individualities.

Is that what fans want? The fact is that Woken Matt and The Eater of Worlds are perfect enemies. Matt challenges Bray’s twisted world view with a warped psyche of his own. Bray wants to prove he is the darker of the two while Matt wants illumination. One is fighting to destroy while the other is fighting to delete.

Ultimate Deletion must be wild. It must be crazy. It must be everything that fans expect and much more. But above everything, it must be Matt’s vision come to life. He is the man responsible for it all. Without him, there is no Woken character. He is the one that makes it all work, just as he did before.

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Matt Hardy reinvented himself like very few in the business ever have and he did it his way. A company didn’t control him then and a company should not control him now. Ultimate Deletion should be unlike anything anyone has ever seen on WWE television and Matt should be the one calling the shots.

This is his universe. Everyone else is just living in it.