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Profile: Matt Hardy
After working as jobbers on and off for the World Wrestling Federation in the mid-1990s, Matt and Jeff Hardy became regular performers in 1998. Trained from fairground and small indy workers up to WWF standard by Dory Funk Jr, they eventually debuted with Michael Hayes as their manager before joining Gangrel as The New Brood, feuding with former Brood members Edge and Christian. At No Mercy '99, they briefly replaced Gangrel with Terri Runnels by winning a ladder match against their rivals, turning many heads in the process.
Joined by Lita in 2000 to form Team Xtreme, Matt and Jeff enjoyed a highly successful period in the tandem division over the next two years, popularizing the TLC (Tables, Ladders and Chairs) match with The Dudley Boyz and Edge and Christian, and winning the WWF (WWE World) Tag Team Titles five times during their initial run.
During the WCW/ECW Invasion angle of 2001, Matt wore the European Title for four months while brother Jeff had Intercontinental and Hardcore Title reigns. They remained competitive as a team however, adding the WCW World Tag Team Titles to their resumes, though had a brief on-screen falling out towards the end of the year leading to a singles match between the two that was poorly received by fans, partly due to its mat-based style and partly because they were far more popular as a team.
They soon reunited, but began spending more time in pursuit of singles success. After the WWE brand extension in 2002, they split up properly when Matt, jealous of the greater spotlight shone on his brother, attacked Jeff with a Twist of Fate and moved to the SmackDown brand as a heel. With his new "Version 1" gimmick (suggesting that fans hadn't seen the real Matt Hardy until now) and flanked by his number one MF'er (Mattitude Follower) Shannon Moore, Hardy scored a series of fluke, tainted victories over The Undertaker due to various shennanigans, before setting his sights on the cruiserweight division. In early 2003, he struggled to drop under the 220 lb weight limit to challenge for the Cruiserweight Title, and defeated Billy Kidman for the gold at No Way Out, and successfully defended it against Rey Mysterio at WrestleMania XIX.
Despite adding Shannon's Moore-on, Crash Holly, to his stable of cruiserweights, Hardy moved back to Raw in November to be near his real-life girlfriend and former Team Xtreme partner, Lita. On his first night back on the brand he feigned a babyface turn by proposing to her, only to turn on her later in the night, claiming that she'd been selfish for returning to Raw after her injury instead of SmackDown to be with him.
Nonetheless, the following April he reunited with Lita by attacking Kane to protect her. Kane and Matt feuded while Kane kept tormenting Lita, eventually coaxing her into sleeping with him at the threat of her boyfriend getting badly hurt. It would soon be revealed that she had fallen pregnant, and that the baby was Kane's. As a result of a subsequent "Till Death Do Us Part" match between the men in her life, Lita was forced to marry Kane on Monday Night Raw, and though Matt tried to interrupt the wedding, he was chokeslammed off the stage and taken off TV to sell injuries. While he was gone, Lita and Kane grew into a loving on-screen couple, surviving a miscarriage at the hands of Snitsky, while she and Matt remained an item behind the scenes.
In early 2005, Hardy announced on his personal website that while he'd been off television, Lita had, in real life, been cheating on him with a married Edge. Airing this dirty laundry in public led WWE to release Matt, and the writers paired Lita and Edge as heels on Raw, feuding with Kane. After a few appearances on the independent scene, Matt would return to WWE in June with a worked shoot, targeting Edge in a series of supposedly unscripted assaults, before announcing his rehiring and breaking kayfabe on Lita's storyline marriage to Kane, explaining the true situation between himself and Edge. The two engaged in several brutal matches, culminating in Edge winning a "Loser Leaves Raw" match, sending Hardy back to the SmackDown brand.
Matt would become a midcard babyface, feuding with various opponents from Road Warrior Animal to Gregory Helms, and was the first to score a victory over Mr Kennedy. In late 2006, he would reunite with brother Jeff to answer an open challenge made by MNM for December to Dismember, stemming from a months-long rivalry between Jeff and Johnny Nitro. The teams would engage in a bitter interbrand feud, with Jeff and Nitro remaining on Raw while Matt and Joey Mercury were tied to SmackDown.
The night after strong individual performances in WrestleMania 23's eight-man Money in the Bank ladder match, The Hardyz emerged victorious in a ten-team battle royal to win their sixth WWE World Tag Team Titles, previously held by fellow participants Shawn Michaels and John Cena.
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