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Cold-Blooded: Matt Hardy’s Short Lived Reign

October 10, 2015 | Posted by Dino Zee

The music had faded, but the breath had not fully returned. Still covered in sweat, sitting in disbelief in the locker room, Matt Hardy could only stare blankly at the wall in front of him. Draped across his lap was something he never thought he’d hold – the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. His brother, the Charismatic Enigma Jeff, was still pumped, hooting and hollering in the locker room, but Matt wasn’t quite capable to accept what had happened.

What had seemed like a lost cause only a couple weeks prior had suddenly snowballed into his dream coming true. He had his chances over the summer, but came up short in a Full Metal Mayhem match against Ethan Carter III, and then again in a rematch which actually forced Jeff to work as Ethan’s assistant briefly. He felt horrible about that outcome, horrible watching as Jeff was forced to do things he’d never do on his own, all because he came up short in his quest to win gold.

Then he watched as Drew McIntyre helped defend TNA from a Global Force Wrestling Invasion, and that victory would lead McIntyre into a match against his Team TNA members where the winner would earn a title shot at Bound For Glory. Drew would win that match, and it appeared that Matt’s chances at heavyweight gold were gone for the time being.

But then Matt was placed in a tag match with Drew, and if they won the match, Matt would be inserted into the Bound For Glory title match. And if that wasn’t good enough, Dixie Carter followed through with what TNA does best: it catered to the Hardys.

Just like that, Matt Hardy went from non-player to a top contender in a match where his brother would work as the referee. Things seemed to be going Matt’s way. Still, he knew he was dealing with a man he had failed to defeat in multiple tries in EC3, and a man who was riding quite the wave of momentum in Drew. Still, Hardy believed, because that’s what he does; he believes in himself at all times, no matter how silly it may make him look.

And he showed up for Bound For Glory, ready to give his all in battle. And in a spirited match, Matt (with more than a little bit of an assist from his brother) would end up the victor, the big belt in his grasp as he celebrated with his family. It was a great moment – one of the best in a career filled with them.

Now back in his locker room, that moment felt like it was an eternity ago. He just couldn’t believe it. Even as he lay his head down on his pillow, “Matt Hardy: TNA Heavyweight Champion” danced in his thoughts. He smiled one last time before drifting off to sleep.

The very next day, however, word came out that, due to the actions of Jeff Hardy as the referee in that match, Carter was filing an injunction against TNA. The injunction would keep Matt out of TNA, which immediately jeopardized his championship reign. Despite saying it was his “lifelong dream,” it would probably be more fair to state that it was Matt’s dream for “the last five years” to hold the belt, which is still a fair amount of time to chase something. And in one slam of a judge’s gavel, EC3 looked to undo it all.

Matt had a choice to make: do what’s right for himself, or do what’s right for the company. He felt, in light of all the shortcuts Carter himself had taken to rise to the top of TNA, that a little help from Jeff was hardly the biggest infraction in wrestling history. At the same time, there was a part of him that knew he hadn’t completely earned his victory. His brother gave him a huge hand, and on top of that, he hadn’t even defeated the champ – he pinned Drew instead.

So while Jeff told him to hold tight and keep the belt, assuring him that “TNA always does right by the Hardys,” Matt couldn’t look at himself in the mirror and call himself a champion. He couldn’t look at his son and say “Daddy’s a champion.” Because even if Carter had this coming for a long time, the fact was, Matt hadn’t earned the championship.

And so, only a couple days after fulfilling his dream, Matt Hardy gave up the TNA Heavyweight Championship. Just a couple days removed from their biggest show of the year, TNA was now without a champion. Officials knew this couldn’t last long, and so they acted quickly. Dixie Carter and Billy Corgan would announce a World Title Series tournament.

Groups of four will compete in a mini round robin tournament, with the winner of each group advancing. As of now, we know of four groups: Knockouts, Champions, UK, and the Wildcard group. Anyone from any position in the company could theoretically walk out of this thing as the World Champion, which adds a level of excitement to TNA broadcasting that hasn’t been seen in a while.

They even brought back the formerly ousted Austin Aries, and seemingly forgave Bram for his legal troubles, allowing both of them to compete (Austin in the Champions Group; Bram in the UK Group), adding some surprises to this whole thing as well.

However, Matt Hardy has yet to be announced in a group. He was surprisingly not put into the Champions Group, instead watching as EC3, Bobby Lashley, Mr. Anderson and Aries took those spots. Still, one has to assume that TNA will take care of him, and that he’ll absolutely get a spot in this thing to earn his belt back.

While it’s always tragic to see the courtroom decide what happens in the ring, this is a case where EC3’s lawyers have created the best possible outcome for TNA. What have felt like stale matches in TNA now have purpose. Everyone is fighting for something, and that something is the single biggest prize in the company.

On top of that, the inclusion of the Knockouts adds another layer of “what will happen?!” Imagine if Awesome Kong were to advance, for a moment. How many men would one consider Awesome Kong an underdog against on the TNA roster? Lashley? Drew? Abyss (if he even gets a spot)?

What started this summer as a feud between Ethan Carter and Matt Hardy has now enveloped the entire roster. Matt Hardy couldn’t just accept that he couldn’t defeat EC3, and now EC3 has turned it back around, and refuses to accept that what happened at Bound For Glory was just or fair. Instead of settling it in the ring (where one assumes EC3 would have been granted a rematch), we now have a scenario where, sure, Hardy or EC3 could once again rise to the top. But then again, they could very well lose in the group stage, and watch as someone like Aiden O’Shea becomes the champion.

EC3 may be trouble, and Matt Hardy may be stronger than death, but in this case, it appears that their short-sightedness put them further from where they want to be, instead of bringing them closer to the top.

But for Matt Hardy, the only way to make sure his dream didn’t become a nightmare was to turn on the lights and scare the boogeyman away. EC3’s injunction is gone, and he’s now safe to go back to dreaming of holding the World Title. Should he overcome the obstacles that await in the World Title Series, he can rest assured that the dream will last longer than one day this time around.


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article topics :

Bound for Glory, Matt Hardy, TNA, Dino Zee