WWE's 15 Hottest Stars Of The Summer Since 2001
11. Matt Hardy - 2005
Initially, I had this slot reserved for John Cena considering 2005 marked his rise to the top of WWE as its champion. But upon further inspection, I came to the conclusion that there was in fact a more scintillating superstar that summer season, and his name was Matt Hardy.
In a matter of months, Hardy went from being fired from the company due to his unprofessional behavior in his broken relationship with Lita to returning to Raw and becoming the most controversial competitor in the entire organization.
Of course, he came back with a vengeance and with one thing on his my mind: to avenge his loss of Lita to Edge; nothing was going to stop him from fulfilling that goal. Fans went rabid for Hardy as he "invaded" the flagship show and took the fight to The Rated-R Superstar, challenging him to a Street Fight at SummerSlam to which Edge accepted.
Aside from their battle at the biggest blockbuster of the summer being rather tame, Hardy remained a hot act on Raw and throughout the remainder of the summer in 2005. In retrospect, WWE could have really milked that momentum for all it was worth and made Matt a main event player.