12 Things You Learn Binge Watching Every WWE Raw From 2005

12. WWE Dropped The Ball On Matt Hardy

News of Matt Hardy's April 2005 release hit his fanbase like a sledgehammer. It was so unexpected, but then details started to leak out about the circumstances behind it. Matt found out that his girlfriend Lita had secretly been seeing Edge, and he was naturally distraught by it. Eventually, due to fan pressure and knowing they could make some dollars here, WWE brought Hardy back into the fold.

People were right behind Matt’s story in the summer of '05. He was a jilted lover who wanted revenge on Lita and to tear Edge apart. His 11 July return was the hottest thing in the biz at the time, but then Edge beating him in less than 5 minutes at SummerSlam muddied the waters and a lot of the magic was gone. Vince McMahon blatantly didn’t want to push Matt as a main eventer because that wasn’t his plan, but he probably should’ve pivoted and ran with Hardy as a ’Stone Cold’ style rebel.

The fan support was there, and Matt carried an air of legitimacy when he was encouraging fans to watch him in ROH on WWE TV. Things like that didn’t happen at the time. This was pre-CM Punk "Pipebomb", after all. Watching all of this play out with the benefit of hindsight makes it pretty obvious that Hardy could've been booked better than he was.

He needed to give Edge the ultimate comeuppance, and he needed to use his real-life heartache as fuel to become akin to WWE's very own Punisher. Instead, they raced through the most tangled up emotions then moved him over to SmackDown just like that.

Talk about missed opportunities to create a new headline star.