Smark Out Moment

Welcome to another edition of SUPERSTAR SCORES! For entry #23 in this series, we'll be focusing on The Sensei of Mattitude himself, one-half of the legendary Hardy Boyz duo, MATT HARDY.

If you're unfamiliar with how the segment works, here is a quick breakdown: Each edition, a wrestler will be put under the spotlight and rated on a 0-100 scale based on 10 categories that have been broken up into 5 umbrella sections: In the Ring Skills, On the Mic Skills, Appearance, Behavior, and Crowd Reaction. The rating scale is as basic as you can get: 0-1-2-3-4 | 5 | 6-7-8-9-10. It follows the Three-Count Critique method of green being the good, yellow being in the middle, and red being the bad. A perfect 100 is the goal.


Update: On March 20, 2020, we did a recalibration of points for a 25th episode special. In that episode, nearly every wrestler saw some adjustments. Below, you'll see the original scores on the left and then the updated score on the right, with the original description for the original score underneath. For explanation on the updated points, check out the 25th edition podcast.

IN THE RING SKILLS

Athleticism: Does the person have a good signature moveset and finisher? Can they perform a wide variety of moves on a regular basis and not botch them?

My Rating = 6 / 7
Matt was the less athletic of the two Hardy Boyz. He did some spots, but that's more of stuntwork than athleticism the same as the cruiserweights.

Psychology: The wrestler's ability to tell a story in the ring. Do they make you believe it's real or do they forget to sell their injuries properly? Can they make a long match stay interesting and not get boring?

My Rating = 7
I always felt like Matt understood how to put a match together more than Jeff, but that his matches lacked a feeling of adrenaline that was missing without Jeff by his side to swoop in and do something big here and there.

ON THE MIC SKILLS

Charisma: If they get a mic, can they cut a promo without stuttering? Are they repetitive or do they keep things fresh?

My Rating = 6 / 8
Broken Matt Hardy was the pinnacle of his mic work and the fans were into it, but I have to admit that he still struggled with the actual skill in and of itself from time to time. It wasn't effortless.

Character: Is their gimmick(s) interesting? Can they pull off being both a heel and a face?

My Rating = 8
Generic Matt Hardy has no real character, but is just a guy with an appealing look for a certain demographic. Version 1 was entertaining in an entirely different way. Black Cloud was a good nickname, but a bad gimmick. Broken Matt Hardy was, again, his peak, and Woken was a step down.

APPEARANCE

Physique: Are they in the proper shape for their gimmick or are they out of shape? (note: someone like Mabel isn't supposed to look like John Morrison, but Matt Hardy gaining weight deducts his points).

My Rating = 6
At his best, Matt was in good shape, but not enough to stand out in a land of giants and people with far more advanced musculature. At his worst, people referred to him as "Fat Hardy" so he's slightly above average here when balancing out the scales.

Entrance: Their music, the pyro if they have any, whatever taunts or actions they do to make it interesting.

My Rating = 6
Jeff was always the more animated one and most of that entrance was tied to him, even the song. With Matt's solo career, his entrances were pretty bland and normal. I never saw him slap a tornado.

BEHAVIOR

Backstage Professionalism: Are they a locker room leader or do they cause problems behind the scenes? Are they bogged down in politics? Do they put other people over or screw people over?

My Rating = 6
It didn't seem to me like Matt was the type to take his ball and go home. He spent years not being in the spotlight.

Public Relations: Does this wrestler project a bad image onto the company with arrests and such, or are they someone that promotes the company well, does charities, talk shows, etc?

My Rating = 4 / 5
Here's the killer for him. Matt's suffered from far too many drug and law problems to put him on a higher ranking in my mind.

CROWD REACTION

Popularity: How loud are the cheers and boos for them? Do they sell merchandise? Are ratings up or down when they're on screen? How many Twitter and Facebook followers do they have?

My Rating = 7
The Hardy Boyz as a unit are more popular than Matt Hardy himself, and I think we need to separate that distinction. If we were to make this the duo, I'd say an 8 for sure. If we're limiting this to Matt, I don't think he reaches that level, as Jeff was the more popular one and even Jeff wasn't reaching top-tier longstanding status.

Credibility: Is this person someone you would see as a main eventer and a future legend or are they doomed to forever be a jobber?

My Rating = 7
Look at his championships. He won quite a bunch of them. However, none of them were the WWE Championship or Universal Championship or World Heavyweight Championship. Yes, he won world titles outside of WWE, but this is a WWE ranking primarily.

TOTAL SCORE: 63/100 - 67/100

FINAL THOUGHTS: Makes sense. If the highest realistic score is around the 90-something range and that's reserved for the best people of all time, a 60-something score is basically a C-grade and Matt Hardy is a C type guy. He wasn't as important as Jeff, who would be a C+ or a B- in many regards, nor was he low enough to be in the 50s range. Above average sums it up well for a career that was above average, not main event level, but the highlight being half of a tag team.