When Matt Hardy revealed that his long-term girlfriend Lita had been having an affair with Edge, many weren't sure whether it was a work or a shoot. The story had 'wrestling angle' written all over it. Of course it was a real-life happening and Matt was legitimately pissed off (rightly so). How did WWE handle the situation? They fired Matt for making the affair public, paired Edge and Lita together on-screen (they had to since the 'you screwed Matt' chants were becoming unavoidable) and gave the gruesome twosome a main event push. Figures. Matt, meanwhile, got used to the idea of life on the independent circuit. WWE did bring Matt back into the fold after a couple of months for a big grudge match against the Rated-R Superstar. He attacked Edge on several occasions and made some 'shoot' comments about 'Amy' and 'Adam' (and even name-checked Ring of Honor). So far, so good. Then Matt was reinstated officially by Vince McMahon during a segment on Raw. He was tasked with deliveirng a long promo which explained the real-life feud as well as incorporating the Kane storyline (remember when he got Lita pregnant and she had a miscarriage?). The whole thing was a muddled mess. Still, surely their SummerSlam showdown would be good, right? Wrong - Edge pounded Matt like a jobber and the match was stopped after five minutes when the ref saw that Matt was bleeding a little bit (Ric Flair has cut himself worse shaving). They redeemed themselves with an excellent cage match at Unforgiven but, by that point, the feud had already been written off as a huge disappointment.
