Matt Hardy and his broken brilliance have been Woken in WWE Universe to create a surreal experience for the multi-verse that has been unanimously frustrated with the little creative freedom given to the talent. Jeff Hardy has always been termed as the high flying innovator but Matt has always been the brains of the team; planning and laying out the blueprint for those death-defying ladder matches in the Attitude Era
Matt has loved this business which reflects in the characters and psychology that he instils in his personality. Even his version 1.0 character which was a cocky SOB was quite an interesting act and his matches depicting hand signals, stats cylinders, and arrogant impersonator as his Mattitude worked great for his gimmick which unfortunately the office couldn’t get. Hopefully, the magnitude of Matt’s talent can finally wake the Universe from broken fragments of fascism.
Wrestling needs revolution more than evolution and characters over the years have reformed and reinvented themselves to achieve relevance and excellence in this ever-changing environment. Let us look at 3 superstars who have reinvented themselves from time to time.
Stone Cold Steve Austin
Steve’s rise to the top was a story in itself, overcoming numerous odds to nullify hypocrite perception in that enigmatic era. Stunning Steve Austin of WCW was a great in ring mechanic with a brash attitude that was destined to explore the anonymity of the upper mid-card. His firing was a blessing in disguise and working with Paul Heyman gave him a hold on his promos to paint a character that had a stone Cold attitude.
He was given a mouthpiece in the form of legendary Ted DiBiase in WWE and the ringmaster gimmick was pushing him back but he absorbed that frustration to create a fantasy gimmick for the fans that will live on forever. The gimmick name, famous Austin 3:16 promo and even that skull 3:16 T-Shirt was all his ideas that ignited an industry into immunity. When you are in a creative business, the creativity of the talent is to be complemented by the booker/writer rather than confiscating it.
His much-criticized Heel turn in 2001 also brought some magical comical moments with Kurt Angle and Vince McMahon that are very underrated and pictured Steve’s versatility as an entertainer.
Mick Foley
Mick Foley has received loads of criticism on his body of work which was certainly over the top hardcore most of the time. Ric Flair has termed Foley as a ‘Glorified Stuntman’ in the past but the pundits forget the different shades that he has added in his character with times that has excited as well as entertained the fans.
The Cactus Jack gimmick was all pain that was difficult to achieve the top level status, his arrival in WWE with a mankind character was the perfect persona of a geek who exploded after years of torture from a two-faced society to create his own alter egos that were believable and relatable. Dude Love, the cool flirtatious fellow is also an underrated gimmick that had good matches with Steve Austin and provided a different dimension to the proceedings when WWE was short of main event talent.
Chris Jericho
The Ayatollah of Rock and Roll’a has not only reinvented but also reassembled to redefine the dynamics of relevancy in rendering times. From the Lion-heart to the list, his lust for levitation has elevated him into a cult character, thus creating a league of his own. He had the greatest debut in the history of WWE with that millennium countdown, was pushed down the card rather quickly though after that initial run stating the nature of the business.
He redeemed himself to earn a main event push but he always deemed as an underneath guy up until 2008 which was his real 2nd coming pushing him up into the Elite status with that Shawn Michaels feud. His heel persona both polished his exploits and enhanced the talent working with him to maintain the mystique of a rivalry or a match.
The list in recent times has been liked by the Universe inside and outside with an idea and a look which is both sell-able and unique. His segments with Kevin Owens depict how chemistry is constructed to contemplate a classic. Alpha vs Omega is going to be another larger than life clash of the characters who are champions of their craft.
