Dear Matt Hardy: Shut up already

Thursday October 1, 2009 4:25 PM By Alfonso Castillo

If you spend much time reading wrestling news sites like this one, you know that Matt Hardy is quite the attention seeker. He is constantly making news – if you want to call it that – through his posts on his “Twitter” account, many of which include deliberately cryptic comments designed to get wrestling fans talking.

Earlier this week, he topped himself by tweeting: “I am exhausted from being punished because of someone else’s sins.” Logically, many fans and writers took this to be a reference the treatment he has received in WWE since his more popular brother, Jeff, left the company WWE, and two weeks later, got arrested on drug charges.

And, like he always does, Hardy soon followed up his tweet with another in which he buried “the media” for constantly getting their facts wrong. He later wrote that his original comment was in reference to a recent restaurant dinner he attended in which the other diners at his table stiffed the wait staff. He picked up the tip. He also wrote about how he had bet someone that the evil media would be all over his original comment.

On one small point, I’ll agree with Matt. It was irresponsible for any writer to report that Hardy was talking about Jeff in his original comment – regardless if Matt wanted to give just that impression. I think it’s OK to write that it appeared to be a reference to his brother, but without confirmation, nobody should have reported it as fact (Some did.)

But the root of the problem is obvious, and it’s the reason Matt Hardy has continued to languish in the mid card as his less-responsible, arguably less talented brother has become a megastar. Matt doesn’t know when to shut up.

It seems like Matt, who just turned 35, spends more time texting and tweeting than a 16-year-old girl. And while he may get a kick out of being a God to his adolecent followers, he also continues to hold himself back from a full-fledged main event push through his immature attitude, which has included constantly bragging about getting drunk, all the while defending WWE from criticisms of rampant substance abuse.

The best example of Matt’s lack of judgment came in his handling of the real-life love triangle involving Matt, Edge and Lita four years ago. Having his girlfriend stolen away by his close friend positioned Matt to be the ultimate babyface. But rather than keep his cool, put his head down, and bask in the sincere sympathy he had earned, Matt chose to air his dirty laundry at every turn. Hardy behaved like a total baby, and when it came time to pull the trigger on what could have been one of the hottest feuds in WWE history, Matt choked in his big promo. Edge picked up his slack and saved the angle with a career-making promo. Six months later, Edge was wearing world title gold, while Matt was still in the mid-card.

Make no mistake of it – Matt Hardy is a solid performer who at times has deserved a better push than he’s received in WWE. But he continues being his own worst enemy by giving WWE management plenty of reason to be squeamish about getting behind him.

And so, Matt, speaking on behalf of the many, many fans who would like to see you achieve all the success you deserve, please put down the Blackberry, log off of Twitter, keep your mouth shut, and do your job.