10 Times WWE Used Real Life Misery For Storyline Gains

9. Lita, Edge And Matt

edge lita matt hardy
WWE

In the grand scheme of things, exploiting the real-life misery of a love triangle isn’t all that bad. Sure, it isn’t great, but its seriousness lessens when placed against such things as extremist bombings, leukaemia, suicide and callously interviewing widows. Someone deciding to bang someone other than their boyfriends isn’t the end of the world, after all.

Still, WWE didn’t need to play this one out for all the world to see, did it? Well, yes and no. On the one hand, WWE’s exploitation of the demise of Matt Hardy and Lita’s real-life relationship was yet another example of the company’s willingness to snatch up low-hanging fruit, forcing the individuals involved to live the process over and over again. There can be no healing if your ex-girlfriend and the guy she cheated with are exuberantly exchanging saliva on national television.

All that aside, has Matt Hardy ever been hotter than the beginning of his 2005 feud with Edge? The answer to that question is a resounding "no." There was a real vigilante feel to Hardy, helped no end by questions over whether he was employed or not. He kept appearing out of nowhere to attack Edge and the crowd was molten every time, and everything was in place for the jilted lover to vanquish the bad guys and become a major babyface moving forward.

Then Edge beat Matt Hardy by knockout in less than five minutes in their first match. WWE, what were you thinking?

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Contributor
Contributor

Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.