WWE broke Matt Hardy, but he’s unkillable

Matt Hardy has been an icon in tag team wrestling for two decades. His latest stint in WWE was handled poorly.

Matt Hardy is broken. Not in the “Broken Matt” way, but in a “WWE doesn’t care about him” way.

When the Hardy Boyz made their shocking return to the company they flourished in at WrestleMania 33, they were making waves over on IMPACT. The Broken Universe was the talk of wrestling social media in 2016. It was weird, unique and fun.

Then came issues over who actually owned the Broken Universe.

The night before WrestleMania 33, the brothers wrestled the Young Bucks at Supercard of Honor in a hellacious ladder match. IMPACT Wrestling wouldn’t allow the Hardy Boyz to use their “Broken” characters in ROH either, which screwed up the plans the Bucks had in place. There was a lot that happened with the Broken Universe which led up to their WWE return.

Once they returned to WWE, the Broken Universe became woken. Due to legal issues, they had to change it to “Woken” Matt Hardy. WWE fans already knew that it was doomed to fail.

Hardy did everything he possibly could to make it work on a WWE level, but it was never going to really get off the ground because Vince McMahon didn’t understand it. Hardy was given a new theme and fans were encouraged to chant “DELETE.” All the things that made the Broken Universe cool like Vanguard 1, Skarsgard and Señor Benjamin were gone.

The closest that the WWE Universe got to the “Broken Universe” was the Ultimate Deletion between Woken Matt and Bray Wyatt.

It wasn’t nearly as fun as the matches during the Broken Universe’s peak, but it was better than nothing. Hardy and Wyatt were great together and this propelled Wyatt forward. WWE has frequently dropped the ball with Wyatt and this helped lead to The Fiend/Firefly FunHouse. This wouldn’t have happened without the Ultimate Deletion.

After that match, WWE went back to barely using Hardy. Jeff Hardy’s injury has sidelined him for months. This also led to them not having anything for Matt to do. When Hardy was on TV, he was no longer woken. He began using a variety of Matt Hardy characters of old such as V1.

Last week, Hardy returned to RAW to confront Randy Orton after his brutal attack on Edge. Edge and Hardy have a lot of history both professionally and personally. It was somewhat of a surprise to see Hardy passionately defend “The Rated-R Superstar”. Hardy paid for it when Orton reverted to his Legend Killer persona and attacked Hardy the same way he did Edge.

While he wasn’t on TV, Hardy was still creating YouTube content. He started the “You Don’t Understand” series, a tongue-in-cheek look at his life on the road even when he wasn’t on TV. Most recently, it’s been the “Free the Delete” and “Matt Hard in LIMBO” series. Hardy shows that he is ever evolving and staying relevant with online content. This is a man who should still be on TV and have meaningful storylines.

Hardy has hinted that he will leave WWE when his contract is up in a few weeks, much to the relief of his fans. He needs to be where he’ll be appreciated. Hardy has given so much to this business since the 90s. It appears that he still has a lot left creatively, even if his physicality is limited. This is why the rumored role as The Exalted One in AEW makes so much sense. It’s right up his alley and keeps him in the minds of fans, much like Chris Jericho.

Fans thought they were going to get a proper goodbye from a man who has sacrificed his body and revolutionized tag team wrestling. Instead, Hardy showed up in a neck brace and wasn’t cleared to wrestle (although it had been advertised as No Holds Barred match). Orton decimated Hardy and when he seemed like he was done, he became even more vicious. He yelled “I’m sorry!” repeatedly.

At this point, one of two things seem to be possible: Hardy gets a con-chair-to every week until his contract is up on March 1 or this was how Matt Hardy’s WWE career ended. Either way, it’s not good enough.

Hardy deserves so much better than what WWE gave him during his last run. We can only imagine what he was promised to come back, but they seemingly failed to hold up their end of the bargain. A tag team run right after returning and a poor run as “Woken Matt” wasn’t enough. Hardy had the biggest momentum of his career in years and IMPACT and WWE ruined it.

Hardy deserves a proper final match in WWE and the WWE Universe should get to let him say goodbye in the ring. He, along with his brother, are future WWE Hall of Famers. They were two of the biggest stars in the company for a very long time. They didn’t have to come back, but they did. It is a shame that Matt Hardy was treated so terribly.

Lucky for us, Matt Hardy will not die. Hardy continues to show on a daily basis how creative he is. All of his years in this business make him a treasure trove for other wrestlers. He can be a Jericho in the sense that he can put over other talent, push them to the surpass their current characters and in-ring abilities and guide matches. Hardy would fit in very well in AEW.

He could potentially go back to IMPACT since there’s been some changes, but those bridges may have been burned beyond repair. IMPACT focuses more on their version of the Attitude Era now, but with characters like Suzie/Su Yung, the Broken Universe could be resurrected when it all began.

ROH has had its fair share of issues over the last couple of years. With Marty Scurll in a new position, he has shown that he wants to make serious changes to the product. Bringing in someone like Hardy could be tremendous for them on multiple levels.

If Hardy decided to step away from the ring, he’d be an excellent agent. His mind is a goldmine. He can lay out matches, assist with promos and develop characters.

But Matt Hardy isn’t done yet and will be a huge asset wherever he goes. As he’s shown time and time again, he’s unkillable.