TNA and WWE: Matt Hardy's Dramatic New Look and Missed Booking Opportunities

Last week I was poised to take a close look at the TNA Genesis PPV during which (to nobody's surprise) coat tail riding brother Matt Hardy made his TNA PPV debut against one seemingly "fallen down the food chain" RVD. I believe the premise going in was that RVD was going to face a mystery opponent. Evidently RVD had been attempting to call out Jeff Hardy in the process I believe he had been generically using words like "I want Hardy". So the setup appeared pretty clear. The switcheroo was being teased, and then it was in fact delivered.

Now for weeks we waited with baited breath under the no compete clause clock. We've listened to Matt Hardy make claims, statements, and generally do his best to try and get us to invest our interest in this "brand" he calls Matt Hardy. He's not a name, he's a brand. Ok than. There were videos and tweets galore which were his attempts to keep himself on the minds of the wrestling community. I confess, he typically DOES keep himself on the radar, but not perhaps in a very constructive or positive way (although he might argue differently). Kind of like how bad kids are able to get parents attention using negative means. They get their attention alright, but not in a positive way.

So I was actually somewhat curious to watch this PPV, if for no other reason than to see this new Matt Hardy. So if you were to listen to HIS description of where he was going to go with his character and what he was going to do you would think there would be some major change involved. He would suggest re-invention of himself, take the world by storm, those types of statements. So after RVD took the ring I was expecting a new look, new music, new walk, new talk, new moves, the whole nine yards. I mean, he DID say he was going to re-invent himself and the wrestling business.

Yet the only thing that he seemed to have changed was his music (copyright reason's I am sure), and his hair (and even THAT doesn't look all that different). Oh, and he's now wearing a peeping tom trench coat for some reason (is he the Undertaker in training)?. Maybe he is sporting it in case it magically rains in the impact zone (or maybe there is enough illegal dope being smoked in the back he's worried about the sprinkler system spontaneously being set of).

Same old Matt Hardy, same unexplainable 3 finger salute, same pasty fat white gut (look, if you are going to be in a business where you run around almost naked, then you will in part be judged by the way you look, live with it), just more of the same. Heck, I don't think the guy even changed his wrestling tights. In fact, he may have been wearing those same grey and blue camouflage pants for the last 3 months straight. Hard to say. Bottom line, same old same old.

On a side note, poor RVD has gone from debuting in TNA with a 12 second (give or take) win over the Icon Sting (sans beatdown afterwards), to world heavyweight champ, to guy that was effectively gutted by Abyss and his "little friend" Janice, to temporary to keep from using up all his contracted dates for the year, to "you are going to take the loss tonight because you are taking on Jeff Hardy's brother, and he's in with us right now" guy.

And I think everyone gets that RVD's got an out. There is controversy due first to Matt's arm being under the rope (and the ref stopping the count), and subsequently the leg of RVD was under the rope (but the ref counted the 1-2-3). But does this match really do much for either guy? RVD just solidifies what appears to be his mid card status and Matt Hardy has a platform to once again "entertain" us with his antics. Jeff is happy his brother has a job, and he has a confident to talk to during what might be some dark times for the former TNA champ.

Now if creative had a history of going somewhere "smart" with this type of referee controversy, I might be interested in watching to see where it went. But history shows that TNA's angles become so grossly convoluted and hard to follow that there will likely be no advancement of the ref "angle" and subsequent outcome of the match, and it will have been just another 5 minutes worth of advance booking from the guys in the back that will just stop cold.

It would not shock me in the least to next see a clip of Matt Hardy and RVD riding on the merry go round on Long Island together, shortly followed by them jointly launching a mbtdaeWo (Most Beat To Death Angle Ever World Order) faction.

There was something else that occurred that I found sort of interesting. And it reminded me of the perception of the big two companies (WWE and I loosely call TNA the second of the big two) and what separates the two.

With the Matt Hardy debut, I don't know how everyone ELSE felt, but it seemed to be coming a mile away. When Matt Hardy was announced as the mystery opponent, it felt a little less than mysterious, and quite stale. Not only did it NOT seem mysterious, his presence at the arena earlier in the day had already been announced online by the dirt sheets. It's like TNA didn't want to make the effort to hide this guy from sight. Which certainly can be done, and the machine proved that just recently.

I refer to the WWE who had a Monday Night surprise of their own. They seemed to take much more care in keeping a big name in the locker room hush hush. Shawn Michaels was being announced as the first of the class of 2011 for the WWE Hall Of Fame ceremony (which is a joint venture on the same weekend as Wrestlemania). Jerry (the REAL King) Lawlor made the introduction for Shawn's being selected to this elite shrine and the fans were popping pretty much solely for the video.

And then the music hit, and out came Shawn Michaels himself. And while I don't think it came across as well on tv (as reports from those who were in attendance have suggested), the roof DID in fact pretty much did come off the building. And after scouring the net looking for any advance notification of his presence, I came up empty handed.

So in essence, the surprise opponent in the form of Matt Hardy it had all the markings of another over hyped TNA announcement that didn't pan out to be much of anything at all. Anyone Remember THEY? In fact, I am hearing more on THEY again (early suspicions lean towards the Main Event Mafia with the rumour of Scott Steiners return).

Can they save this guy from himself? That's anyone's guess. But if what he has shown us thus far is any indication of what is coming, I can't say as I think I'll be tuning in to watch me any TNA action just to catch a glimpse of Matt Hardy.

Switching gears a bit… I finally got around to watching RAW from a couple of weeks back. Did you ever see a match, segment or interview and think "wow, if they would have done X it would have been SO much better" or "had they done Y, it would have elevated wrestler X SO much more?" Sometimes there are incidents that occur and you walk away wondering why creative didn't go in another direction. This show contained one of those moments.

So the segment was as follows (for anyone who didn't see it). CM Punk, now seemingly the new leader of The Nexus, felt compelled to "re-initiate" everyone in the group. So they had a bit where the members of Nexus beat up Mr. Perfect Jr, then another where they whip Husky Harris.

So they finally reach a point where the segment involves Punk, Slater, and Gabriel (who is definitely starting to grow on me). So Punk gives the two of them the ever famous Kendo sticks and tells them to beat the crap out of each other with them.

They of course look at him puzzled, thinking he must be crazy. Those are some evil intentions. It becomes a prolonged stare down. They do this for a period of time, gripping the sticks tighter and tighter as they stalk each other with their eyes. The look on at least Gabriel's face is one that looks like he's partially wondering if he should do it, while the other half of him is wondering why would he do something like that in the first place.

Eventually after a lot of posturing they both glance at Punk as if they are both considering "you know what, maybe we should lay a beating on YOU instead." Punk says something like "oh really, well go ahead." They again repeat the posturing with their eyes. It seems to be going on forever yet isn't growing stale. And of course they eventually back down, drop the canes, and walk away, now FORMER members of Nexus (which I confess, I didn't see coming).

But what I wanted to focus on was Justin Gabriel. Heath Slater did his best. I am sure the guy tries. But he didn't meet Gabriel in the "cutting a good promo" effort. I SO wanted him to eventually go, "ah, screw this", and just lay a HUGE beating on Punk. It played out in my mind at light speed, and I could see him hammering Punk. I could see Slater looking around yelling NOT to referee's, and NOT to other Nexus members, but to random names of guys to come in.

Sort of like "holy crap, Gabriel has snapped". I could picture the shock and horror on Slater's face as if to say "oh my gosh what just happened." Yet as it played out, it did the usual. It simply cemented one of the already popular and over superstars and made the othersappear average and subservient.

I talked about Punk last weak and wondered what effect he was going to have on the Nexus. And I stand by those thought's. I just saw this as a HUGE opportunity lost. And in an era where we continue to refer to the influx (or lack thereof) of a youth movement, I find it sort of unfortunate that again there was a chance to put over someone other than the usual list of candidates (Cena, Mysterio, Orton, etc…) and it was totally missed.

The outcome of such a move could have been incredible. Not only would there be tension amongst Barrett and Punk (unless Punk has effectively stamped out Wade at this point), but there would be conflict with Gabriel too (assuming Gabriel just flipped out and tried to make amends for it). For those who can remember, or who are interested enough to look it up, prior to Brian Pillman's tragic death back in 1997 at the young age of 35 (I'm 36, so I say 35 is young), he was making a fantastic living at working a gimmick that included him being a "loose cannon".

With guys like Shawn having retired, and HHH moving more into a creative backstage hand, I'm stating the obvious in that WWE needs to continue broadening it's base of viable main event level wrestlers. So the Nexus has been in a prominent storyline for some time now, so you would have expected a sustained push for a few of the guys by now. Yet this has not come to pass.

The other missed opportunity came on the 1/17 episode of RAW. There was a HUGE miss in my opinion. When Batista left the WWE, and during the times when he was at his best, he was a monster. With Batista gone, there has really been that kind of gap in the WWE. They test drove that Jackson someone or other with Tyson Kidd recently and eventually sent that guy back to the junior circuit because he was evidently too green.

So Monday night, during an interestingly booked RAW, we found ourselves watching a Punk vs. Cena match. As we're nearing the end, Batista's twin emerges and jumps to the apron. He kicks some guy to the floor and through the ropes he comes. At the time I think Cena was face down reeling from punishment. So this huge monster looking dude gets into a short stare down at which point BOOT to the head for Punk for the DQ.

Punk goes down, and up comes Cena. And what does he do to Cena? Sideslam a la Rock or Bossman! And at that point, things could have been headed in the right direction. But they took a turn for the worse. Punk is back up with his Nexus pals and has a second stare down with Mason Ryan (the Batista twin). And of all things, doesn't he kneel down before Punk, stretch his arm out, and allow him to be branded with the Nexus armband.

I can't be the only person who thought they butchered that segment. Can you imagine if he had come in and booted Punk, took care of Cena, and then just walked out?? It would have been huge! Mason Ryan would have been instantly catapulted into at least the mid card, maybe higher! He could have just retreated to the dressing room not saying a word. Almost "Goldberg'esk". It would have been awesome. Commentators would have had a field day speculating about who this guy was, what were his motives, and what the heck just happened.

Instead, we had Punk, who is already over, take a wrestler who could have gotten a significant jump start in his WWE career and make him his man-bitch. Now to be clear, as I have stated many times. Punk is taking whatever he is being given, and is doing a great job with it. He's coming up with some real amusing crazy faces and can conjure the look of a deranged lunatic at a moments notice. So don't blame Punk.

This was another ball drop by creative. They may have already had months of planning on paper, but when Ryan took the ring, he should have taken out the big two, and left. Now not only would Punk and Cena need to be worrying about each other, but EVERYONE on the roster would not be concerned about the monster that just ate some of our big names for breakfast.

Off to the showers. Poor Patriots. Perhaps Brady should have played in his Uggs.