One of pro wrestling’s finest is Matt Hardy. As a singles competitor he has held many of the World Wrestling Entertainment titles including the now defunct Hardcore and Cruiserweight Championships and he holds the second longest reigning record for retaining the European Championship. He has also held the US Championship, and the ECW Championship titles respectively. As a tag team wrestler, Hardy is a six time World Tag Team Champion.
Real Name : Matthew Moore Hardy
Alias(es) : Matt Hardy v1, Executioner, Grim Reaper, Evil Knieval, White Cheetah, Ignis Fatuus, The Angelic Diablo, Surge, & High Voltage
Date Of Birth : September 23, 1974 Height : 6’2 Weight : Approx. 235lbs
Pro Debut : October 15, 1992
Wrestling Organization : World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)
Trainer(s) : Dory Funk Jr.
Finisher(s) : The Twist Of Fate
Since 1994, Matt Hardy has worked for World Wrestling Entertainment as a jobber (fill-in wrestler) sporadically competing against the likes of Nikolai Volkov, Crush, Razor Ramone, Owen Hart, The Undertaker, HHH, and Steve Austin. Aside from his WWE career, he and his brother Jeff Hardy, founded a pro wrestling promotion called Organization of Modern Extreme Grappling Arts (OMEGA). The promotion failed in October 1999 shortly after they both signed full time contracts with the WWE. Hardy has also appeared in ROH (Ring Of Honor) billed as the “Angelic Diablo”, WCW (with brother Jeff) as the “Hardy Boys”, the NEWA as “The Wolverine”, and the NFWA as “High Voltage”.
Teaming with brother Jeff and calling themselves Team Xtreme, Matt participated in some of the most brutal and barbaric series of ladder matches against rivals Edge and Christian ever seen. However, during Summerslam 2000 the ante was upped as Jeff and Matt Hardy, Edge and Christian, and the Dudley Boyz, Brother Ray and Brother Devon, participated in the first ever tables, ladders, and chairs match. This match has been talked about for years, and it was a landmarking achievement for all involved, as it was probably one of the most extremely brutal matches to ever take place in a WWE ring.
After separating himself a bit from brother Jeff, Matt started the new persona “Matt Hardy Version 1″ in which he procured the Cruiserweight Championship from Billy Kidman and retained it during Wrestlemania 19 against Rey Mysterio. This persona didn’t seem to work for Matt though and eventually he joined his girlfriend Lita in a story line that had Lita and Kane get married with Hardy trying to rescue Lita from the monster. This wound up with Hardy recieving a chokeslam off the stage by Kane injuring his knee.
2005 was a busy year for Matt, in April he was released from the WWE and his ex-girlfriend Lita started publicly dating his long time rival Edge. This led to a very nasty war between Hardy, Edge, and Lita that spanned through most of the year. Summerslam was cut short for Matt by the referree when he was dropped unceremoniously on to a ring post causing him to bleed severely. The ensuing weekly broadcasts of RAW were rife with epic battles between the three, once, during a street fight, Matt used the “side effect” on Edge off the entrance stage. Unforgiven showcased Hardy beating Edge with a leg drop from the top of a steel cage and led to Lita recieving a “twist of fate” for her interference. Finally at WWE Homecoming Matt took on Edge in a ladder match in which the winner would gain a championship title match, and the loser had to leave RAW. After a great match, Matt’s arms were tied in the ropes and held by Lita as Edge climbed the ladder to win the match.
In November of 2006, after five years, Matt re-joined brother Jeff once again as a tag team and at “Armageddon” 2006 the Hardyz fought Paul London and Brian Kendrick, William Regal and Dave Taylor, and MNM in a ladder match that got out of hand. During the match, Matt severely injured Joey Mercury of MNM when he jumped on one side of a ladder causing the other side to fly up a break Joey’s face. This led to a bitter long term rivalry between MNM and the Hardy Boyz, especially Matt and Joey Mercury that continued until March 2007 when Joey Mercury was released. The Hardy Boyz, on the following episode of RAW, then regained the World Tag Team Championships for the sixth time.
Now it was time for Matt Hardy compete as a singles wrestler again. On an early July episode of Smackdown, Matt beat Montel Vontavious Porter, the U.S. Champion, in a non-title match. This led to a title match between the two at the Great American Bash that Hardy lost and MVP could, quite literally, not quit bragging about. Hardy wound up answering all kinds of non-wrestling challenges from MVP and somehow wound being WWE Tag Team Champion with him. This was the first time Matt ever won tag team gold without brother Jeff, but it was very short lived. Neither of them could get along and MVP wound up attacking Hardy repeatedly the night they lost their titles. Unfortunately, Matt’s health problems struck again and due to a burst appendix he was sidelined again. At “Backlash” 2008, Matt Hardy finally won the U.S. Championship from MVP.
During the 2008 “WWE Draft”, Matt was drafted to ECW. Later that year at “Unforgiven”, in a “Championship Scramble”, Hardy won the ECW Championship and retained it until January 12, 2009 when he lost against Jack Swagger. Matt got his re-match during the 2009 “Royal Rumble” but was unsuccessful in winning back the ECW title.
Later that evening, however, Matt Hardy attacked his brother Jeff with a steel chair during Jeff’s championship match with Edge causing him to lose. Matt claimed he was tired of watch his brother succeed where he’d failed and would not stop attacking him until Jeff quit the business. This led to a barbaric “Extreme Rules” match at “Wrestlemania 25″ which Matt won. However, two weeks later at “Backlash” he lost to brother Jeff in an “I Quit” match that left his hand broke. Unknown to many fans, Matt had a serious abdomen tear that he let go for far too long that left him sidelined for months.
In my opinion, Matt Hardy could use some acting lessons but has always taken pro wrestling to an extreme, you never know what incredible move or what twist of fate will occur when he’s around. Controversy and talent create a good wrestler and Matt Hardy is both very controversial and very talented.