To their credit, WWE smartly played both hands simultaneously with the descent of Hardy back into his 'Woken' and maddened state. Many had fans had been waiting since Night One of his return for the persona to emerge, but the losing streak was at least a loose narrative thread to justify him slipping into his Universe for the ones that only remembered Matt as a yodelling buffoon cashing in his romantic collapse for a wrestling angle a decade earlier.
Wired and weird, the switch flicked behind Hardy's head along with the staged backdrop. Instead of speaking to Mike Rome ahead of some meaningless filler, he guffawed in front of a cheap bedsheet instead. And did the same again the next week. The day the laughter died was the realisation set in that he was to be paired with the most toxic midcard presence in years.
The biggest surprise breakout star of the past several years was given the least surprising first feud available and was tasked with fixing the IRL most broken character in the entire company.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett
