When talking about some of the most creative minds in the history of professional wrestling, it's only fair that Matt Hardy is featured somewhere in that discussion. While he may never have been the top guy in WWE, he always managed to position himself as a guy who was capable of achieving so much more than he was at the time.
Two of his most memorable stints in the business saw him portray two incredibly different characters: V1 Matt Hardy and Broken Matt Hardy.
Both were incredibly beneficial for his career and helped him to increase his fanbase dramatically, and today, we want to see whether or not we can definitively work out which of them was the best gimmick.
10 BROKEN - Unbelievably Unique
There’s something that really does need to be admired when it comes to Matt Hardy’s tenacity in throwing everything against the wall to see what sticks. Sometimes it pays off and sometimes it doesn’t, but one thing is for sure - we’ve never seen anything quite like the Broken universe.
Matt has taken his career to a whole new level, and he’s done it in a way that simply wouldn’t have worked if anyone else had tried it.
9 V1 - The Facts
Whenever V1 Matt Hardy came down to the ring, fans were in for a real treat - and that’s before the match had even started.
We saw a series of ‘facts’ about Matt flash across the screen with most of them being pretty amusing. Sure, it wasn’t much, but those are the small details that you need to get over, especially back then when the main roster was so unbelievably stacked.
Matt knew what he had to do, and he did it in an unconventional yet entertaining way.
8 BROKEN - 2020 Legacy
Even though the Broken universe first hit the mainstream back in 2016, it feels like the true legacy of this character didn’t really come into effect until 2020.
That’s mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, bizarrely enough, as both WWE and AEW have been forced to put on theatrical matches that deviate from what we’re used to seeing in pro wrestling.
When you trace it back, the first man to really make this kind of genre popular was Matt Hardy.
7 V1 - Theme Song
I can slap a tornado, I can dry up a sea.
It’s very rare that you get a theme song that works really well for both a heel and a babyface, but that’s what WWE managed to achieve with V1 Matt Hardy. Fans really wanted to see him, and in equal measure, they really wanted to boo him.
Broken Matt has had some good stuff in the past, too, but nothing compares to this beauty.
6 BROKEN - Fantastic Promos
Everyone loves a serious, stare down the camera type of promo from time to time, especially when there’s a big time main event match to promote. Every now and then, though, we enjoy taking a step back with something a little bit different.
Broken Matt’s promos fall into that category, mainly because nobody even knows what he’s saying half of the time. He forces us to invest in the content, and in this era, that’s a tough thing to do.
5 V1 - Cockiness
The best pro wrestlers tend to be the ones that are capable of making us hate and respect them in equal measure - and, as you’ve probably guessed by now, we believed Matt Hardy is able to do just that.
There are levels to this game between merely showing off and really rubbing someone’s face in your greatness, and Matt always did seem to find that balance.
He wasn’t made into a main event star because of it, but that isn't necessarily the biggest indicator for success.
4 BROKEN - Final Deletion
The Final Deletion, as we’ve already alluded to, changed the conversation for weird gimmick matches - and they did it in style.
The bout between Matt and Jeff Hardy truly did split fans straight down the middle, with some loving it whereas others felt as if it was the most insanely ridiculous thing they’d ever seen.
If you can even come close to starting a discussion like that, then you’ve already won the argument, because the people are talking.
3 V1 - In-Ring Mobility
The biggest problem that Broken Matt had, and still does have, is that his mobility in the ring clearly isn’t what it once was. That’s what happens when you spend more than two decades wrestling for a living, and while we understand that, we can’t pretend like we don’t love going back and watching some of his old stuff from the V1 days.
He’s just so much more fluid, and it really is wonderful to see.
2 BROKEN - Helping Jeff
By the time Matt’s Broken character had come around, Jeff Hardy’s appeal and overall star power had declined pretty dramatically. His issues outside of wrestling had been catching up with him, and Matt was slowly but surely improving his value wherever he went.
With the creation of the Broken universe, Jeff turned into Brother Nero - and all of a sudden, he was back on top.
It wasn’t a subtle change, but it was one that he desperately needed.
1 V1 - First Creative Signs
During his tenure with The Hardy Boyz, everybody could tell Matt was talented, but as time went on and they started to flirt with the idea of breaking the pair up, Jeff was considered to be the stand out star.
The V1 version of Matt’s solo career served as his first major opportunity to prove the doubters wrong. He wanted to shine on his own, and this was going to be the way in which he did it.