AEW: Why are people mad at Matt Hardy teleporting?
A lot of AEW fans seem perturbed at the thought of Matt Hardy having teleportation powers. But the question is … why?
On the last episode of AEW Dynamite, where All Elite Wrestling was able to take advantage of a crowdless, pre-taped segment with Chris Jericho, Matt Hardy teleported – yes, literally teleported – from one empty attendance seat to another until he made his way to the ring.
Judging from the social media response, this actually got quite a bit of criticism from viewers and for the life of me, I can’t understand why.
Most fans complained about the idea of Matt Hardy using instant transmission on “live” television being way too “goofy,” but isn’t wrestling in itself the goofiest thing in the world?
Think about it. What is wrestling? A scripted sport where professional athletes simulate combat, all under the guise of over the top characters, among such characters including a Deadman who isn’t dead anymore, but sometimes rides a motorcycle and is married to Michelle McCool.
On paper, that sounds ridiculous, but we love wrestling for that exact kind of ridiculousness. Ergo, fans should be loving everything they see about Matt Hardy.
When we equate such goofiness to Matt Hardy, teleportation is the least goofy characteristic about him. This is the same Broken man who owns a Lake of Reincarnation, once ran from his brother as he shot fireworks at him, and houses pet animals which encompass the souls of famous historical figures like George Washington.
With all of his smoke and mirrors under cloaks and daggers, Matt Hardy is theater personified and wrestling in itself is theatrics mixed with live sport.
Hardy teleporting is no less worse or better than anything else we usually see in wrestling today.
WWE WrestleMania 36: A case for Matt Riddle/Aleister Black replacing Roman Reigns. dark. Next
Furthermore, AEW deserves a little bit of credit for being willing to take advantage of the pre-taping by leaning into the main things which make Hardy and his Broken universe ridiculous. A ridiculousness that encapsulates everything that made us originally fall in love with wrestling.