10 Best Matt Hardy Matches
It's A WONDERFUL Life
Matt Hardy's complex legacy within pro wrestling was rather earnestly documented by WWE before hsi recent decision to step away from the company due to mounting injuries.
Alongside brother Jeff, the multi-time Tag Team Champion was the subject of an enlightening '24' special on the WWE Network that chronicled their personal highs and lows ahead of a genuinely magnificent 2017 return. The story mirrored their professional career - one heroic climb up a ladder or to the top rope would ultimately end with a dramatic and painful plunge.
This particular documentary thankfully had a different ending. Though older brother Matt expressed lingering worries for Jeff's addiction battle, he bravely predicted long-term victory in his own. Furthermore, whilst injuries perhaps expedited his decision to walk away whilst he still could, the clear joy he had for his wife and children away from wrestling as his first love was infectiously joyous to behold.
Hardy's career wasn't without tumult and turmoil, but his self-belief remained strong when many others predicted his story ending with the weakest possible conclusion. Unlike the terrifying stunt matches that defined an entire half of his career, Matt Hardy stood firm at the top of the ladder in the end - tributes (including this list) following his announcement pay respect to a man that never stopped applying graft to his craft.
10. Vs. Edge (Unforgiven 2005)
After a SummerSlam 2005 misfire got Edge and Matt Hardy's blood feud off to a stuttering start, the pair turned up the Sports Entertainment for their weapons-heavy battles on Monday Night Raw either side of an iconic cage match victory for the wronged man.
It was only really in these circumstances Matt was permitted a win. In truth, his return had done more to further Edge's singles trajectory than his own, with the feud comprehensively going the way of the 'Rated-R Superstar' by the close of the year. Miraculously, their ability to put understandably tense personal differences to one side resulted in the programme being one of the stronger shoot-to-work series', and the cage match was the undisputed highlight of their run.
With a top-of-the-cage legdrop conclusion Matt presumably regrets in 2018, Hardy laid many of his personal demons to rest in the most cathartic manner possible. The mesh provided the ideal background for their conflict too. Lita - the woman between the men - was forced to bear witness to the violence she'd helped create. Fury at love (and briefly, livelihood) lost burst out of Hardy's every pore in what was up to that point his most convicing ever singles display.