10 WWE Gimmicks That Pushed The PG Era To Its Limits

5. Matt Hardy (Jealous Brother Turned Attempted Murderer)

Matt Hardy Jeff Hardy 2009
WWE.com

Though 2009 wasn't the first time WWE had experimented with a Hardy vs. Hardy storyline, their latest attempt did take things a lot further than previous examples. In '09, Matt admitted that he had burned down Jeff's house, and that came after he'd owned up to running Jeff's car off the road and almost killing him.

Nice.

There was nothing PG about one brother conceding that he had tried to murder his family and even holding aloft a dog collar that belonged to Jeff; Jeff's dog had perished in the aforementioned fire, and it was pinned on Matt. He hated his younger sibling so much that he'd happily kill family pets to make a point.

This was quite the shift from the veteran babyface character Matt had been playing as ECW Champion. Sure, WWE needed something big to explain why he was suddenly supposed to be a major player on SmackDown, and yet there was surely another way to go about that without casting Matt as a psychopathic killer.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.