10 Wrestlers Who Saved Their Careers TWICE With Gimmicks

5. Matt Hardy (Version 1 and Broken/Woken)

Matt Hardy V1 Broken
WWE/Impact Wrestling

Read any number of wrestling magazines between 1999-2001 and you'd hear how Jeff was the future singles star in waiting of The Hardy Boyz. Meanwhile, Matt would wind up struggling to find his place or hone his own character. That, in retrospect, either fired Matt up or was total b*llocks.

'Version 1' proved it.

When WWE split The Hardyz in the first Draft and put Matt on SmackDown, he came into his own. The dial-up style entrance he concocted, range of 'Matt Facts' that showed on screen and talk of reinventing himself all contributed to getting Hardy over. The only shame is that WWE didn't reciprocate his hard graft with a proper push.

Years later, fans might've believed Matt's best days were behind him. Not so fast. In TNA, after a few dodgy years and failed experiments, he developed the wildly entertaining 'Broken' gimmick that then became 'Woken' in WWE. Both that and 'Version 1' were awesome for their own distinctive reasons.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood.