Matt Hardy On “Bad Taste” WWE Storylines
Matt Hardy is a veteran professional wrestler that has experienced a lot in a tough business for the last 30 years and he recently commented on some bad taste storylines.
There have been many storylines in wrestling history where personal issues are used such as for Scott Hall and Jeff Hardy dealing with addictions while Hawk from Legion of Doom did a spot on Raw where he teased committing suicide. Another one that fans always bring up is when Michelle McCool & Layla called Mickie James “Piggie James” while making fun of her weight even though Mickie wasn’t overweight at all.
Some of these bad taste storylines were out of WWE, but plenty of them happened when the company was being run by former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon.
A recent example of a bad-taste storyline was between Sheamus and Jeff Hardy on Smackdown in 2020 when Sheamus constantly mocked Jeff for his alcohol problem. There was a storyline of a car crash where Jeff was framed for being intoxicated. They even had a “Bar Fight” match that Jeff won to end the rivalry. Jeff is currently in rehab with the latest report being that he’s not expected to return to AEW until his legal matters are resolved and he’s proven he can maintain his sobriety.
During an appearance on Busted Open Radio, Matt Hardy talked about some of the storylines that have been in bad taste. Matt added that he doesn’t think they will happen now that Vince Mcmahon is retired and Chief Content Officer Triple H is in charge.
“Even when my brother was back, and he’d obviously had his struggles over the years with addiction and alcohol, the most recent obviously. When they put him on TV and put him in like an addict-alcoholism angle and story, I feel like those are in bad taste.”
“I think you won’t be seeing that as much now that Triple H is in charge. That’s something you would never see underneath Tony Khan. He’s very forward-thinking, very progressive, and he realizes people who have these real-life struggles, you have to separate them. You really shouldn’t abuse them and make light of them on your television product.”
Matt also explained that it’s not encouraged for wrestlers to turn down storylines.
“Saying, ‘no,’ is something you have the option of doing, but it isn’t something that is truly encouraged. They want you to go with the flow.”
On the October 21st episode of AEW Rampage, a frustrated Matt Hardy shared his displeasure about having his contract “owned” by The Firm stable.