FIVE REASONS WHY MATT HARDY'S HEEL TURN IS A BAD BUSINESS MOVE FOR WWE
By Doug Brown on 1/28/2009 1:41 PM
Many wrestling fans were shocked this past Sunday at the Royal Rumble. Matt Hardy was revealed as the person behind the "accidents" that had been happening to his brother, Jeff, in recent weeks on Smackdown. In the weeks leading up to the Rumble, it was speculated that Edge's storyline brother and former tag team partner, Christian Cage (who recently left TNA and is expected to return to WWE) was going to be behind the "accidents." While the move generated some genuine shock value, I think this was a bad decision for the WWE Creative staff.
1.) Matt Hardy's popularity was at an all time high. In an era where it is getting harder and harder to get fans behind their choices for babyfaces, Matt Hardy was one of the few that appealed to female fans for his good looks, and male fans for his ability to deliver in the ring. While John Cena, Shawn Michaels, Batista, C.M. Punk, and Rey Mysterio get varied reactions depending on what city they are in, Matt Hardy was the one guy getting a unanimous babyface pop everytime he came through the curtain. Another treat for WWE fans was getting to see the Hardys as a tag team again. I know WWE does not really care about tag team wrestling anymore, but with Matt and Jeff each holding their brand's major singles championships, it gave their tag team matches a "special event" feel. Also from a merchandising standpoint, much like Degeneration X, they could come out with items for Matt and Jeff individually or together.
2.) Christian Cage would have made more sense. I do not know if Cage has or even if he is going to re-sign with WWE, but putting him in the mix with the Hardys and Edge, while predictable, would have been more logical. It would put Cage right in the main event mix, and variety in their main events is something that can definitely be used right now in WWE. You could have Jeff and Edge feuding over the WWE Title, and you could have kept the ECW Title on Matt and have he and Christian feud over it, thus helping both brands. You could then do a series of tag team matches to revive their classic feud. It has been several years since the last match between the two teams, and all four guys have come a long way in their careers since then. The matches would have the potential to be even better than the first time around.
3.) Matt and Jeff Hardy do not like to wrestle each other. WWE writers are probably hoping to recreate the classic Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart feud with Matt and Jeff. There's just one problem, Matt and Jeff do not like to wrestle each other. They have actually wrestled each other several times in the past, and those matches all had one thing in common, they sucked. I do not know why WWE thinks that matches between the brothers now would be any different than they were back then. The Hardys kind of remind me of the Williams sisters in tennis. Whenever Venus and Serena wind up facing each other in a tournament, it is usually not a good thing. There were times where I wondered if they just flipped a coin before their matches to decide which sister is doing the job to the other. I would rather they do more like what the Klitschko brothers are doing in boxing in creating a "two headed monster" at the top of the heavyweight division. With the Hardys as champions, the ratings for both Smackdown and ECW have risen. The week after Hardy dropped the ECW title to Swagger, the rating for their weekly program dropped back down again.
4.) The heel turn weakens Matt's position in the company. Matt goes from being the ECW Champion, and the number one babyface on that brand, to being the second banana to Edge on Smackdown. Some people might even have him positioned as far down as the number four heel behind Edge, Vladmir Kozlov, and the Big Show. By being the top guy on ECW, Matt was pretty much guaranteed a spot on the pay-per-view every month. Once the feud with Jeff ends, he will be lucky to just get a spot on a pay-per-view. On ECW, he only had to compete with Finlay and Mark Henry. On Smackdown, he has Triple H, the Undertaker, Jeff Hardy, the Great Khali, Mr. Kennedy, R-Truth, the Colons, Edge, the Big Show, Vladmir Kozlov, Umaga, and Shelton Benjamin. Don't forget they have also got a Divas Title Match that they have to stick in there every now and then.
5.) The heel turn also weakens the ECW brand. Matt getting drafted to ECW was a gift from God for the struggling third brand. Hardy's arrival gave ECW something they had not had since Rob Van Dam left the company, and that is a good top-of-the-card babyface wrestler. With Matt moving to Smackdown, that seemingly makes the 50 year old Finlay, their new top babyface. Evan Bourne is still out hurt, Tommy Dreamer has been treated as little more than a jobber, the Boogeyman is surprisingly still employed, D.J.Gabriel shows some promise but is not ready, and they have been exploring a heel turn for Ricky Ortiz on recent house shows. The other issue is the lack of heels on ECW. John Morrison and the Miz have been wrestling almost exclusively on Raw these days, and Chavo Guerrero has been almost exclusively on Smackdown. That leaves just Jack Swagger, Mark Henry, and Paul Burchill as the only heels on ECW. With the new show on WGN starting soon, I have to wonder how much longer there will be third WWE brand.
Given what has gone on between them in the past, I think we were all surprised to see Matt help Edge defeat Jeff for the WWE Title. I just cannot help this feeling I have that WWE made yet another in a string of rash decisions. While the wrestlers continue to work hard in the ring, the booking of the WWE programs continues to be suspect. The storyline of someone sabotaging Jeff is something I think could have been strung out a little longer. Making Matt the guy behind everything screams desperation. They better hope Matt and Jeff work out their hangups over facing each other, or this program, much like the previous times they have tried this, is going to be short lived.
