BY MIKEY MIGO
I was never a big Matt Hardy fan, but I sure as hell liked him more than his brother Jeff. I was the right age at the right time to be a huge Hardy Boyz fan, but I just never got behind them. They put on some good high spot matches, but I seriously can’t think of ANY “big Hardy moments” that didn’t involve fall from something, a big bump, run ins with the law, or embarrassing themselves in public. That said, I did enjoy their ladder matches and I was on the edge of my seat for probably 50% of their big bumps. Like five or so years ago I went to a local indie show, paid $10, and got a personalized autograph. It wasn’t that big of a deal. I collect autographs and at the time had more expendable money that I should have. I don’t remember anything special about the show or the meeting. All I remember is the $10 personalized autograph picture not including eye contact and that a friend and I left the show at intermission to go to the casino.
I came home, took the autograph and put it in a random plaque that was lying around. I don’t remember what was in it to begin with, but it fit and I just put away. It would eventually get hung up in an empty office. Over the years people would look at it and compliment it. Some would roll their eyes at it and some would be in awe. Sadly, over time less and less people would be in awe. They’d mock me and I’d have to try to defend not only having the autograph on my wall, but Matt Hardy himself. That’s the thing though. I’m not a huge Matt Hardy fan to begin with so I had no reason to defend him. About a year or two ago I was given a new framed photo as a gift. My quick thinking resulted in the Matt Hardy plaque photo being taken down and replaced by the new one. Then over time I found myself needing a plaque for a project and I took the Hardy photo out. I’ve still not used the plaque, but I’ve lost the 8 x 10 Matt Hardy personalized photo. This doesn’t bother me. I never really wanted it anyway.
This is pretty much how I feel about Matt Hardy being a professional wrestler. I’m glad he didn’t really “kill himself”, but I’m happy he’s not in either WWE or TNA at the moment. The gap he leaves will be filled by someone who won’t suck. Hardy attempts to do this avante garde’-Andy Kaufman “work-shoot-crazy-guy” thing on the internet. People are buying it, but it’s nothing of any artistic value. It’s like “shock rock” or “shock jock”… but the only people Matt Hardy is shocking are teenage kids and the dim-witted. He can’t go out there and wrestle a great match and get attention by normal means so he’s reaching REALLY far to make himself stay relevant. He wants us to think “oh, he’s so… reckless!”, but thankfully more and more of us are thinking “oh, he’s so… lame”.
If anyone finds a personalized 8 by 10 of Matt Hardy signed “To Mikey!” feel free to just throw it away.
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