9 Ups And 6 Downs From WWE Raw (Feb 17)

3. Hardy Goes Out On His Shield

Randy Orton Matt Hardy
WWE.com

Let’s pour one out for Matt Hardy, who got that rare second (third?) act in WWE, as he and his brother Jeff returned to WWE nearly three years ago after seven years away from the company and had a pretty decent run.

The Hardys shocked the world with their surprise appearance at WrestleMania 33, winning the Raw Tag Team Championship. Matt would feud with Bray Wyatt, re-adopting his Broken/Woken character, win the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, win the Raw tag titles again, win the SmackDown tag titles, and eventually fade out.

But Matt got one last moment in the sun recently, as his contract with WWE wound down. Hardy confronted Randy Orton for his heinous attack on Matt’s longtime rival/friend Edge, delivering a stirring promo and then being beaten down and left for dead. The segment went over so well that they brought Hardy back after what was supposed to be his swansong for one more go-round Monday night.

While the outcome was more of the same for Hardy, he went out taking part in a major storyline, not jobbing to Mojo Rawley or something like that. And for that, we should salute Hardy.

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Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.