Grimmas Posted September 14, 2014 Report Share Posted September 14, 2014 Discuss here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
concrete1992 Posted September 14, 2014 Report Share Posted September 14, 2014 Okay, really glad Bill Thompson nominated him. As of now he has a real solid chance of making my Top 100. Where, I don't know. Definitely going to go back through his periods of work from OMEGA to Hardy Boyz to his WWE singles run to his 2012+ indie run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillThompson Posted September 14, 2014 Report Share Posted September 14, 2014 I'd wager I'll be the only one putting him on a list, and I'm okay with that. The thing with Matt is that when it comes to in-ring he's a darn complete wrestler. He's built a career out of being consistently great in the ring. I could point to his excellent selling in his Rumble match with Swagger, his always great worked punches, his ability to take big bumps, to get over simple spots in matches where others were going for crazier and crazier stuff, etc. I've always been a big fan of Matt, and as he's gotten older he's only improved as a worker. At this point in time I'd say he may be the absolute best in the world when it comes to constructing a match that makes sense and still works to the strengths of the workers involved. He's also one of those midcard talents who has complimented being consistently great in short matches while still supplying a steady stream of longer MOTYC level material in the tag team arena. Edit: Sam beat me to the punch, so it appears I will not be the only one to have him in my top 100. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim Posted September 14, 2014 Report Share Posted September 14, 2014 He sure had a great 2007. The rest of his career seems decidedly lower in quality than that relatively isolated timeframe. I wasn't watching much in 2008 though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timbo Slice Posted September 14, 2014 Report Share Posted September 14, 2014 Can't see him making a Top 100 like this. Primarily a tag worker, he was a good mid card guy for a while, but his work never screamed to me that he was outstanding in that role. Put him and Bobby Eaton on this list and he's below Eaton for me without a doubt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillThompson Posted September 14, 2014 Report Share Posted September 14, 2014 That's an interesting comparison because when all is said and done I would put him at the same level as Eaton, maybe a little bit higher due to more sustained longevity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodhelmet Posted September 15, 2014 Report Share Posted September 15, 2014 He might make my Top 500. Won't make my Top 100. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted September 16, 2014 Report Share Posted September 16, 2014 What makes Jericho better than Matt Hardy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillThompson Posted September 16, 2014 Report Share Posted September 16, 2014 For me, nothing. He's a better promo, by far, but that's not something I put all that much consideration behind. In the ring Hardy is far superior, I find. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted April 23, 2015 Report Share Posted April 23, 2015 Want to reevaluate his 07 and 08 stretch which I thought was outstanding at the time, but I haven't watched in quite a while. My impression the last time I watched his WWECW work was that he was basically doing what Christian was doing in 09, but in a fashion that was arguably more hard hitting and convincing (to be fair he was working guys like Finlay and Mark Henry during a lot of that as I recall). One thing that is worth thinking about with him is that he was really given two chances in meaningful feuds that I can recall - the Jeff feud which was not good but was also a terrible idea on paper, and the Edge feud which was the best thing Edge ever did, and in many respects made his career. I watched the Unforgiven 05 Cage Match last night again for the first time in some time and it still holds up as an amazing match, among the best in the history of the promotion. I realize that sounds insane but I absolutely believe it. I now want to go back and watch the Raw brawl which I remember being great and I seem to recall they had a very good sprint at Summerslam too. In any case I think Hardy was great last year, not quite tip top tier, but basically the next run down. Lots of good singles and tag performances against a pretty wide variety of opponents. I think he's one of the more consistent guy of the last fifteen years or so which should count for something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilTLL Posted April 24, 2015 Report Share Posted April 24, 2015 I watched the Unforgiven 05 Cage Match last night again for the first time in some time and it still holds up as an amazing match, among the best in the history of the promotion. I realize that sounds insane but I absolutely believe it. Not insane at all. I rewatched it recently too on the basis of some similar "slept-on GOAT candidate" praise (can't remember where unfortunately) and was stunned. I always knew it was good--I was there live--but had kind of forgotten about it for a few years. I love so many things about it, especially the way it toes the line between crazy and messy booking so well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badlittlekitten Posted April 24, 2015 Report Share Posted April 24, 2015 He's somebody I need to watch again because in real time during his WWE run he felt like a charisma-less bow legged goon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Redman Posted April 26, 2015 Report Share Posted April 26, 2015 Want to reevaluate his 07 and 08 stretch which I thought was outstanding at the time, but I haven't watched in quite a while. My impression the last time I watched his WWECW work was that he was basically doing what Christian was doing in 09, but in a fashion that was arguably more hard hitting and convincing (to be fair he was working guys like Finlay and Mark Henry during a lot of that as I recall). You weren't imagining it. He really was doing Christian before Christian did it, working his ass off having great TV matches with everyone in sight, and also working as a convincing big-fish-in-small-pond babyface ace. I just watched him vs MVP at GAB 2007, which is a damn great match with a superb Matt performance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goc Posted May 2, 2015 Report Share Posted May 2, 2015 One thing that is worth thinking about with him is that he was really given two chances in meaningful feuds that I can recall - the Jeff feud which was not good but was also a terrible idea on paper, and the Edge feud which was the best thing Edge ever did, and in many respects made his career. I watched the Unforgiven 05 Cage Match last night again for the first time in some time and it still holds up as an amazing match, among the best in the history of the promotion. I realize that sounds insane but I absolutely believe it. I now want to go back and watch the Raw brawl which I remember being great and I seem to recall they had a very good sprint at Summerslam too. I had never seen the Cage match before since 2004-2005 is kind of my WWE blind spot. I thought it was really good, not sure I would go as far as to say it's one of the best in the history of the promotion but I do think it's the best WWE cage match I've ever seen. It is also good evidence that it IS still possible to do a good Cage match since if you take out Edge's blade job they could have done anything from this match in today's environment. I think anyone that plans to have Christian on their list definitely needs to give Matt Hardy serious consideration. Personally I would put Matt over Christian but they do have very similar careers. Never really broke out of the upper midcard but they both had long stretches where you could argue they were the best weekly TV wrestler in the world. I don't really think there is anything that Christian does better than Matt except cut promos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted May 4, 2015 Report Share Posted May 4, 2015 No chance, not under consideration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted May 4, 2015 Report Share Posted May 4, 2015 No chance, not under consideration. Why? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillThompson Posted May 4, 2015 Report Share Posted May 4, 2015 No chance, not under consideration. Why? Ditto. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted May 4, 2015 Report Share Posted May 4, 2015 You see Matt Hardy as being comparible to Bobby Eaton. I don't really see that. I don't know who I would compare him to. I was thinking maybe Robert Gibson or even a Randy Colley (neither of whom would be in contention for my list), but he had more of a singles career than both. How about Rick Steiner? The point is, I don't see Hardy as being on a level to spend time taking into consideration. My priorities for modern era are Rey, Cena, Angle, Bryan, Styles, and maybe one or two others (Brock will likely make the list). There's a whole bunch of guys like Randy Orton or Edge who I'm just writing off entirely, and Hardy is one of them. My benchmark for this has become Roddy Piper. Now Piper is a legend in the business, one of the top heels of all time, and someone who has a handful of great matches and great performances to his name. But for the best part, I don't really consider him a top 100 great worker. I'm likely to take Piper over Orton or Edge or Hardy, so they de facto aren't getting consideration. I'm also perfectly happy to be sold though. Try to sell me. If I say I'll watch, I will get round to it eventually. Just like I will get round to watching Chicky Starr matches. I even watched Low-Ki matches at one point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted May 5, 2015 Report Share Posted May 5, 2015 I can't tell if you are arguing that push is dictating who you watch or if that is just how it comes off on initial reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted May 5, 2015 Report Share Posted May 5, 2015 I don't know what you mean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted May 5, 2015 Report Share Posted May 5, 2015 It sounds like your argument is basically that certain guys are worth your time and those guys seem to be guys who have gotten main event level pushes. I could be misreading you. Hard to tell. If the argument is you don't have time I get that. I probably won't have time for Jack Brisco. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted May 5, 2015 Report Share Posted May 5, 2015 No, nothing to do with main event pushes and more to do with rep. The guys I'm making time for have reps as being best in the world for right or for wrong. I don't really see Matt Hardy get pimped like I see Rey get pimped. Angle is included because a certain section of fans pimp him, while he's not generally thought of very highly here. I'm more likely to make time for Lou Thesz or Verne Gagne than I am for New Jack. I'm more likely to watch five Billy Robinson matches than I am five Bobby Jaggers matches. More likely to seek out Jim Breaks than Davey Boy Smith. And so on. I don't really see Matt Hardy as an elite guy with a rep as an all-timer, so he wasn't on my consideration list. If enough people whose opinions I respect pimp him, that might turn around. I'm open to being sold. I'd take the same approach with any list of this kind of any medium. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted May 5, 2015 Report Share Posted May 5, 2015 Okay that is fair enough. I actually think Hardy was among the best in the World in 07 and 08, and was just a tier or so below that last year. I also think his feud was really great, and produced some excellent matches against a guy I don't think highly of at all. I absolutely understand prioritizing so I can't criticize you for that. I might recommend a couple of Hardy matches once I go back and watch some of that 07/08 stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Man in Blak Posted May 22, 2015 Report Share Posted May 22, 2015 In addition to GAB 2007 (which was mentioned earlier in the thread), what are the other recommended matches to check out from Hardy's post-Edge career? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stiva Posted May 22, 2015 Report Share Posted May 22, 2015 In addition to GAB 2007 (which was mentioned earlier in the thread), what are the other recommended matches to check out from Hardy's post-Edge career? His ECW run had great matches with Mark Henry, Finlay and Jack Swagger for sure. I'd imagine there's even more when you consider he was working Smackdown at the same time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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