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Matthew Moore Hardy (born September 23, 1974 in Cameron, North Carolina) is an American professional wrestler, currently working for the SmackDown! brand of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).

Career

Before his then-WWF debut with his brother Jeff, Matt was trained by former wrestler Dory Funk, Jr. Before signing with the WWF, Matt and Jeff ran their own wrestling promotion, OMEGA Wrestling, in which Matt competed under the name High Voltage. However, he had to change his name to Surge after a WCW tag team began to use that name. This happened shortly after Matt Hardy sent in a tape for the WCW Amatuer Challenge with himself as High Voltage. A few years later, it was revealed to him by Chris Kanyon that the tape had been kept in the WCW Power Plant, watched multiple times and had the name High Voltage stolen from it. Other wrestlers associated with OMEGA include Lita, Shannon Moore, Gregory Helms, and Joey Mercury. Now Matt and Jeff have their own MySpace that I have on my myspace which is www.myspace.com/your_a_deadman add me, in which they have mainly the same followers, Ashley Massaro, Shannon Moore and Gregory Helms.

World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment

Matt (then 19) and Jeff (then just 16) started working for the WWF in 1993 and were initially used in singles matches and in tag matches as jobbers to bigger names. It wasn't until 1998 that the brothers were given a full-time WWF contract.

The Hardy Boyz used a cruiserweight, fast-paced high flying style in their matches, often leaping from great heights to do damage to their opponents (and themselves in the process.) Although Jeff was better known for his extreme moves, Matt was a prodigious high-flier himself.

Michael Hayes became their manager and with a new look the team won their first WWF Tag Team Titles in 1999. A few months later, however, they ditched Hayes after losing the titles and joined with Gangrel's stable, The New Brood. They would enter a feud with Gangrel's former proteges, Edge and Christian. The two teams engaged in the Terri Invitational Tournament. The Hardyz won and gained Terri Runnels as their manager, with Gangrel being dropped the next day. Terri turned on the team in early 2000.

The Hardyz were placed in a triangle Ladder Match at WrestleMania 2000 along with Edge and Christian and the Dudley Boyz. Though the Hardyz lost, all six competitors put on a great performance, only to be outdone a year later in TLC.

Matt and Jeff soon found a new manager in their real-life friend Lita. Together, the three became known as "Team Xtreme". During this run, Matt and Lita became an off-screen (and later on-screen) couple.

In 2001, After Jeff Hardy's Intercontinental Championship run, Matt Hardy threatened to leave the WWE if he was not given a singles Championship push. Raven, who was scheduled to win the European Championship at Backlash, was placed in a match with Rhyno instead because Matt Hardy was given the European championship on Smackdown 2 weeks before Backlash.

On the August 12, 2002 episode of RAW, Matt turned against Jeff, pitting him in a match against Rob Van Dam. A short time later Matt joined the SmackDown! roster. On the October 3, 2002 edition of the show, Matt used outside interference from Brock Lesnar to defeat The Undertaker.

Now dubbed "Matt Hardy - Version 1.0," and with his MF'er (Mattitude Follower) Shannon Moore in his corner, Matt defeated Billy Kidman at the 2003 No Way Out in Montreal, Quebec to claim the WWE Cruiserweight Championship and, at WrestleMania XIX in Seattle, defended it against Rey Mysterio. The Mattitude stable also included Crash Holly as Shannon Moore's "Moore-on." Lockwood was later released and Matt later disbanded the stable and returned to RAW in order to be able to travel and work with then girlfriend, Lita. He would later turn face once more by engaging in a rivalry with then heel, Kane.

Hardy and Lita were an off-screen couple for six years, and used to share a home in North Carolina. Their romance came to an end in late February 2005 (according to Matt's official website) due to Lita's affair with fellow WWE superstar Edge.

Release from WWE

Along with his friend Rhyno, Matt Hardy was released by WWE on April 11, 2005. Matt's release was due to his public handling of the Lita/Edge incident (posting disparaging remarks towards Edge on his website). His release was confirmed publicly by WWE. However, it was further speculated that Hardy was released because management (mainly WWE VP of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis) did not like him, and an excuse to fire him had been presented. In fact, Triple H, allegedly said of Hardy's release: "he never drew money anyway." Hardy countered this statement in an online interview stating that he and his brother Jeff, as the Hardy Boyz, had been top sellers of merchandise.

Because of the affair and being released from WWE, Matt's status, especially in the Internet Wrestling Community, became elevated to a cult-like status. Also, Edge and Lita received jeers from the crowds at WWE events, sometimes resulting in chants of: "You screwed Matt" or "We want Matt." Paul Heyman, in a shoot promo, mocked Edge for his actions at ECW One Night Stand 2005. Lita, for the first time in over five years, turned heel as a result of the affair becoming public knowledge.

Matt Hardy released two character promotional vignettes, that he was planning to use before he was offered a new contract by WWE. Hardy called himself The Angelic Diablo with the tagline "the scar will become a symbol" in reference to the way in which he has been treated by Lita and WWE. WWE attempted to have Matt Hardy's then website (www.thematthardy.com), along with his plans for an online reality show both shut down as a condition of his rehiring. When Hardy refused these conditions and informed WWE management that TNA wasn't requiring this of him, they quickly changed their minds.

Return to WWE

On the June 20, 2005 edition of RAW, during the storyline wedding of Edge and Lita, Matt Hardy's entrance music and video were played when the priest asked if anyone had a reason why Edge and Lita should not be wed. On the July 11, 2005 episode of RAW, Matt Hardy made his return, attacking Edge as he made his way to the ring. On the July 13, 2005 edition of WWE's webcast Byte This!, which featured Lita as its guest, one of the callers was Matt himself. The two engaged in a huge argument, believed to have been a complete shoot, which led to Lita walking off the set.

Matt appeared at a scheduled Ring of Honor (ROH) event on July 16, 2005 in Woodbridge, Connecticut where he defeated Christopher Daniels via submission. Hardy also cut a brief promo where he continued in full 'worked shoot' mode, attacking WWE and John Laurinaitis. Following his official return to WWE, Hardy was met with a backlash which involved him getting booed out of the arena at another ROH event following a match with Homicide, which Hardy won. His final ROH appearance happened the day after this event, where he lost to Roderick Strong. Contrary to previous reports, he ended up not making an appearance in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).

On July 18, 2005 Hardy attacked Edge during one of Edge's matches and repeated the feat the following week.

On August 1, 2005, Vince McMahon came out on RAW and officially acknowledged Hardy's return to WWE, adding that Hardy would face Edge at SummerSlam. On August 8, 2005, Hardy made his in-ring return, defeating Gene Snitsky on RAW. Seconds after the victory, Matt was attacked by Edge and as he was being carried backstage, Matt counterattacked Edge in a locker room.

On August 21, 2005, at SummerSlam, Matt Hardy and Edge faced each other in a "Kill or Be Killed" Match. The match wound up coming to a premature end when Edge dropped Hardy onto the top of a ring post, causing him to bleed leading to the referee ending the match on the grounds that Hardy couldn't continue. Edge was declared the winner.

After SummerSlam, the two continued fighting on RAW, with one encounter being a Street Fight that resulted in both men falling off the stage into electrical wires when Matt Hardy took himself down with Edge in a Side Effect.

At WWE Unforgiven 2005 Edge faced Matt Hardy in a steel cage match. Hardy had just about won the match with a Side Effect off the top rope, when Lita came in and broke up the pin and was met with the Twist of Fate. Matt hit a legdrop off the top of the cage onto Edge and then gained the pinfall for the victory. (This marked Matt Hardy's second Unforgiven cage match victory over Edge, the first being when the Hardy Boyz defeated Edge and Christian in a cage match at Unforgiven 2000 for the WWF Tag Team Titles.)

Hardy and Edge faced each other at WWE Homecoming in a Loser Leaves RAW, Money-in-the-Bank ladder match. Edge's briefcase holding the contract for his WWE World title shot was suspended above the ring. The winner of the match got the contract and the loser is gone from RAW. After a contentious match, Edge tied Matt's arms in the ropes and Lita trapped Hardy in a crucifix hold, leaving Matt only able to watch Edge win. When the match ended, Edge and Lita gloated over the victory, but Matt took it in stride and left the arena afterwards.

With his defeat at the hands of Edge, Hardy was moved back to SmackDown!. His redebut happened October 21, 2005, however in a singles match against Simon Dean which Hardy won.

SmackDown!

Matt was among five SmackDown! superstars- Christian, John Bradshaw Layfield (JBL), Rey Mysterio, and Hardcore Holly—to be voted by the fans to compete at WWE Taboo Tuesday, against Edge and Chris Masters. Only two of the five superstars would compete, and the two that received the most votes on WWE.com would become partners.

Originally, WWE pushed for Rey Mysterio and JBL as the team to choose. At Taboo Tuesday, it was Matt Hardy and Rey Mysterio who were chosen (with Matt getting 31% and Rey getting 29%), and they defeated Chris Masters and Gene Snitsky.

Edge did not wrestle due to a legitimate chest injury; the kayfabe reason he gave for not wrestling, however, was that he "didn't care" about Matt Hardy and Rey Mysterio, the fans, or the RAW brand. This was seen as out of character for Edge, who had been the so-called ringleader against the SmackDown! brand. In fact, it was an angle involving Edge that started the feud between the two brands.

It was confirmed on the November 9, 2005 edition of Byte This that Matt Hardy and Ashley Massaro (2005 Raw Diva Search winner) have been a couple since shortly after his return.

On the November 11, 2005 episode of SmackDown!, Rey Mysterio competed against Randy Orton for a spot on the Survivor Series team for the SmackDown! brand. After Orton got himself disqualified, he and his father Bob Orton began to double-team Mysterio. But Matt Hardy came down to the ring to make the save shortly thereafter. It looked like Rey Mysterio and Matt would form a tag team, but Rey became the tag team partner of Batista following the death of the great Eddie Guerrero.

Following the main event at WWE Survivor Series won by Randy Orton, a group of Smackdown wrestlers stormed the ring to congratulate him, among them being Matt Hardy, Brian Kendrick, Paul London, and others. It was then that the Undertaker came down to the ring with the intent of attacking Orton to restart their feud. Orton bailed before Undertaker reached the ring, so Undertaker took his vengeance out on some of the other wrestlers, chokeslamming them each in turn. Matt Hardy was planned to have been one of those victims, but exited the ring before Undertaker even reached it. It was later confirmed that Hardy had bailed because he had felt that taking the bump from Undertaker would've dropped his popularity. As result of his arrogance and not following the rules Hardy was put into a short feud with former WWE Champion JBL, in which the majority of the matches showed Hardy being beaten down with very little offense.

The next small push for Hardy came with the team of MNM. MNM manager Melina approached Hardy seemingly wanting Hardy to join with her team, Hardy refused this offer which led to Hardy facing off with the then-tag team champions on several occasions with a variety of partners. During one of these matches, Matt Hardy teamed up with Road Warrior Animal to try for the titles once more, but they were defeated. After the match, Animal brutally attacked Hardy, as a result of being tired of "pulling all the weight in tag teams". Road Warrior feuded with Hardy for a while after this. Hardy would pick up several wins over Road Warrior, one of which was for a place for the Money in the Bank ladder match WrestleMania 22. Hardy defeated Animal, but did not win the WrestleMania match.

Hardy would then compete in the King of the Ring tournament but would lose to Booker T in the opening round due to a low blow and distraction by Sharmell.

He would then continue to wrestle on Velocity, winning all his matches, including a win over Simon Dean in the last ever WWE Velocity match on June 10th, 2006.

On the July 14th episode of SmackDown! Matt defeated Ken Kennedy via roll-up to end Kennedy's record of never being defeated via pinfall or submission on SmackDown!

Personal life

Matt is dating WWE diva Ashley Massaro. Their relationship was confirmed on the November 9, 2005 edition of the WWE Web Show, Byte This!

Matt had a relationship with Lita. They were an on-screen and off-screen couple in the WWF/WWE. This six year relationship ended when Matt found out that Lita and fellow WWE Superstar and good friend Edge had an affair.

Matt's brother is Jeff Hardy a former WWF/WWE superstar. They were in a tag team called "The Hardy Boyz" and along with Lita formed the stable known as Team Xtreme. Matt and Jeff competed in multiple TLC matches together as well as having five WWF/WWE tag team reigns and one WCW tag team reign together.

Matt made an uncredited guest appearance with his brother Jeff on the Fox television series, That 70's Show.

Matt Hardy was also the winner in a special WWE-edition episode of Fear Factor winning $50,000 for the American Cancer Society. His competitors were Test, his brother Jeff Hardy, Jacqueline, Lita, and Molly.

Finishing and signature moves

Manager(s)

Championships and accomplishments

  • 1-time OMEGA Pro Wrestling Heavyweight Championship
  • 1-time OMEGA Pro Wrestling Tag Team Championship (with Jeff Hardy)

Championship succession

(WWE) World Tag Championship Preceded by:
The Acolytes First, with Jeff Hardy Succeeded by:
The Acolytes Preceded by:
Edge & Christian Second, with Jeff Hardy Succeeded by:
Edge & Christian Preceded by:
Edge & Christian Third, with Jeff Hardy Succeeded by:
Bull Buchanan and The Godfather Preceded by:
The Dudley Boyz Fourth, with Jeff Hardy Succeeded by:
Edge & Christian Preceded by:
Test and Booker T. Fifth, with Jeff Hardy Succeeded by:
The Dudley Boyz WWE European Championship Preceded by:
Eddie Guerrero First Succeeded by:
The Hurricane WWE Cruiserweight Championship Preceded by:
Billy Kidman First Succeeded by:
Rey Mysterio WWE Hardcore Championship Preceded by:
Crash Holly First Succeeded by:
Crash Holly WCW Tag Team Championship Preceded by:
Test and Booker T First, with Jeff Hardy Succeeded by:
The Dudley Boyz

Awards

  • Matt has won four PWI Awards. He won Tag Team of the Year in 2000 with Jeff. He also was part of the Match of the Year in 2000 and 2001. Both matches were the Hardy Boyz vs. the Dudley Boyz vs. Edge and Christian. He also was part of the Feud of the Year in 2005 with Edge and Lita.

Books

  • Hardy, Jeff; Hardy, Matt; and Krugman, Michael (2003) The Hardy Boyz : Exist 2 Inspire, ISBN 0060521546

External links

Resources

1974 births | American professional wrestlers | People from North Carolina | Living people

Matt Hardy | Matt Hardy | Matt Hardy | マット・ハーディー | Matt Hardy

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Matt Hardy".

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