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Matt Hardy deserves a better sendoff from WWE television

By Graham GSM Matthews

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Matt Hardy’s days as an active competitor in WWE may be numbered, but for him to fade away and classify himself as obsolete without notice would not be wonderful.

After over 25 years spent in the pro wrestling business, Matt Hardy may have wrestled his last match at a WWE live event this past weekend in Rochester, New York.

Rumors have been running rampant for weeks regarding Hardy’s in-ring status and what the future holds for him in WWE. It’s no secret that he has been working hurt for a while now, but instead of taking time off to heal those injuries, he may be transitioned into a backstage role permanently.

Hardy hasn’t dispelled the speculation whatsoever. In fact, he has only further fueled the fire with his tweets, indicating he has helped out backstage in recent weeks including at SummerSlam.

There can be no doubt that Hardy has a ton to offer the wrestling business as an agent, producer, writer or whatever path he decides to take once his in-ring career is officially over. His work with the “Broken Universe” alone has established him as one of the industry’s most innovative and creative minds and thus he can be utilized in a number of different capacities.

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However, Hardy’s days as an active competitor coming to an end so abruptly is, admittedly, disappointing. There has been no confirmation from the company that he is done for good, but it certainly looks like he won’t be stepping back into the squared circle any time soon, if ever again.

If that is indeed the case, then it should be said that The Woken One deserved a much better sendoff from WWE programming than what he was given, which was nearly nothing at all.

Aside from being in action at live events, Hardy’s last televised match came on the Aug. 13 edition of Raw when he and Bray Wyatt failed to regain the Raw Tag Team Championship in a Triple Threat tag team match. Oddly enough, Wyatt took the pinfall loss and not Hardy, so no indication was given that Hardy was nearing in-ring retirement.

Truth be told, Hardy and Wyatt weren’t exactly lighting the world on fire as tag team champs, but through no fault of their own. It was an exciting idea on paper to pair them up after the magic they made with The Ultimate Deletion back in March, but WWE’s lack of commitment to elevating tag team wrestling caused them to become afterthoughts almost immediately.

At 43-years-old, Matt Hardy will likely never again be looked at as a world championship contender (the same way he would have been in TNA a few years back), but to take him off TV completely and for him to never be seen or heard from again as an on-air character is a waste of the “Woken” persona and everything else he has accomplished since returning to WWE in 2017.

Lest we forget, Hardy wasn’t “broken” when he and his brother Jeff originally resurfaced in WWE at WrestleMania 33. It took many months for him to win control of his “Broken Universe” from Anthem and IMPACT Wrestling, not to mention it was a while before WWE gave him free reign with the character (i.e. Ultimate Deletion).

In retrospect, perhaps Matt Hardy reigning supreme in the fifth annual Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal was designed to serve as a “last hurrah” for him knowing that the end of his run as a wrestler was looming. Even still, the appeal of “Woken” Matt isn’t his matches but rather his wacky vignettes, meaning there is no reason he can’t be kept around to act as a manager for someone else or host weekly segments from The Hardy Compound.

If WWE is adamant about writing him out of storylines for the time being, he must be brought back eventually so he can receive the final farewell he has unquestionably earned.

Hardy’s long list of accomplishments should speak for itself. He has held multiple major championships in WWE (including the United States, Cruiserweight, ECW and tag team titles on multiple occasions) and achieved success in IMPACT and Ring of Honor when many had already counted him out.

On top of all that, he has proven to be a master of reinvention time and time again. His contributions to not only WWE but to the business on the whole over the past two decades can not go unnoticed, hence why one final run for the leader of the “Woken Warriors” should be in order.

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As noted, it wouldn’t be necessary for WWE to put Matt Hardy in the main event mix or go so far as to give him a retirement tour like they have for other notable names from years past, but any sort of recognition on his way out (preferably before his current contract expires in March 2019) would be welcomed.

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