5 Most Insane Things Happening In Wrestling Right Now (Jan 12)

2. Is WOKEN Matt Hardy BROKEN Already?

matt hardy bray wyatt
WWE.com

The buzz surrounding WOKEN Matt Hardy has quelled somewhat - probably because WWE has given us absolutely nothing new to talk about besides quite, tense murmurs of "Have they f*cked this up already?"

Surely not. Surely they haven't f*cked up a character they had spent several months teasing and just as many pouring over the legalities of. Surely they haven't "done a WWE" already. Of course they have. It is peak WWE: gauge what drives a reaction, exaggerate one element of it, run the joke/concept into the ground, rinse and repeat.

Fandango was the most fun thing going in 2013. Leave it to WWE to instal the uncool Jerry Lawler as hype man, and promote a one-night in-joke like it was the second coming. The Women's Revolution was 2015's version of Ruthless Aggression. In 2016, the words 'New Era' also lost all meaning.

And now, WOKEN Matt Hardy has helped us once more wake up to the fact that WWE simply can not - or will not - treat an intellectual property created beyond its walls with anything approaching conviction, much less entertainment. Basically, WOKEN Matt Hardy spends all of his time laughing in Bray Wyatt's face. It's nice that we have something in common with him, but then, he's meant to be an ageless inter-dimensional deity - the diametric opposite of an everyman babyface.

Repetitive, unfunny, irrelevant: WOKEN Matt Hardy, already, is the diametric opposite of BROKEN Matt Hardy.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!