Real Reason Why WWE Scrapped Raw's No Holds Barred Match

Why didn't Matt Hardy vs. Randy Orton actually happen?

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WWE.com

Fightful is reporting that Vince McMahon changed plans on Monday's Raw at the very last minute.

The boss scrapped a planned Matt Hardy vs. Randy Orton 'No Holds Barred' match and decided they should shoot another chair attack angle instead. Reportedly, Vince believed that a full-blown match (one WWE had already advertised for days) would spoil the importance of Orton's original Con-Chair-To on Matt the prior week.

That same Con-Chair-To from Randy had taken Edge off TV for weeks, and it was thought that he'd look daft if Hardy was fine to wrestle just seven days after suffering the same abuse. That's a good point, to be fair, but maybe WWE should've held off on announcing 'No Holds Barred' in the first place.

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McMahon is said to be adamant that Monday's performance will indeed be Matt's last on WWE TV. His current contract is due to expire on 1 March, and the company has nothing else planned for him. Of course, there's a chance Hardy could come to terms on an extension, but that's all up in the air.

For now, his last televised match remains that squash defeat to Erick Rowan on the 20 January episode.

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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.