10 Wrestlers Who Saved Promotions From Ruin
2. Matt Hardy
To illustrate how drastically TNA was "in the mud," to quote Matt Hardy himself from AEW Full Gear 2020, the promotion plunged into near-total irrelevance well before the industry became oversaturated.
There was no All Elite Wrestling in 2106. Ring Of Honor had barely exploded with the Young Bucks at the helm. New Japan Pro Wrestling was the cool promotion beloved by the western set, but it hadn't blown up. Kenny Omega hadn't changed everything by working Kazuchika Okada at the Dome.
The market conditions were in place for a well-funded organisation to draw some buzz, but nobody trusted a (not that bad) TNA to do it because its name had been stained by s**t. It wasn't worth investing in or paying attention to. Reports that TNA was producing solid pro wrestling felt like a work. TNA producing solid, coherent pro wrestling after years of hyper-sh*tty nonsense felt like the most quintessential of LOLTNA punchlines.
But, as TNA cascaded down the TV guide onto channels with diminished reach, Matt Hardy got it over - to the legit forefront of the conversation - by introducing his 'Broken Universe'
It didn't feel like a joke at first. It scanned like one of Jeff Hardy's rubbish creative pursuits - until Matt started having the most infectious, irreverent fun with his pronunciations. Holy sh*t, people said in collective realisation. These earnest hicks actually...have a sense of humour.
Delightful!