Matt Hardy is nearing the end of his contract and possibly career, and has dropped down the totem pole of WWE superstars. Bully Ray thinks the WWE is punishing Matt Hardy because he is now a jobber, and it’s an insult to someone with his skill and history in regards to what he’s meant to the WWE over the last twenty plus years. The one good thing to come out of this is a former superstar sees it to. Bully Ray (Bubba Ray Dudley) recently spoke on his Busted Open Radio about his thoughts on the topic.
The Hall of Famer didn’t hold his punches, and it’s understandable why he feels this way as he and D-Von retired because they were used as jobbers as well. Add in that he’s known the Hardy’s for twenty or so years, and it just adds to the credibility of what he’s saying.
Bully Ray shares his thoughts
First, I’d like to thank SEScoops.com and 411Mania.com for these points and transcriptions.
Everyone makes mistakes at some point, and it’s something Bully Ray was sure to point out.
“Hopefully Matt and Jeff won’t be angry with me when I say this. But it is what it is. Have Matt and Jeff individually made mistakes on their journey over the past twenty to twenty-five years personally outside of the ring? Yes, one hundred percent. You know what everybody makes mistakes and it’s going to happen.”
That’s reasonable and something we’re taught from early on while being punished for our mistakes. But what’s interesting about Bully Ray and his cohost’s insights is the difference the WWE places on each brother when the other makes mistakes.
Sliding scale
Bully Ray then dove deeper into it and explained that when Matt makes a mistake, “They make him (Jeff) a singles star. We’ve seen it before, we saw it in the WWE we seen it today he becomes a champion. He becomes a star. They start pushing the hell out of Jeff.”
He then focused on what happens to Matt when Jeff makes a mistake.
“Matt just falls down the ladder completely. It almost seems like they take out their frustrations on Matt for whatever Jeff may have done wrong. Any mistake that Jeff Hardy has made anybody could make it one time or another. And that’s why he would people gang up on people like that Jeff for a mistake they made whatever mistake it is. Drunken driving or that. This stuff happens. It could happen to you, it could happen to a family member, it could happen to anybody and hopefully he learned from the mistakes. These guys are my brothers.”
To me, this sounds like the type of psychology where by pushing Jeff, they hope to show him they believe in him and let Matt see the heights he may be forfeiting if he doesn’t fall into line. When Jeff stumbles, it looks like they’re trying to force him to correct himself by punishing his brother. It’s a peer pressure type of thing that was used in schools and sports for years. While it may work for the short term, it’s not necessarily a solution for the long term.
On disrespecting Matt Hardy
“It just always winds up on the back burner, and he keeps reinventing himself and that is the kick in the ball. He takes it on the chin he reinvents himself V1, Big Money Matt, ‘Broken,’ it’s mad [that he] gets this all this stuff over. I think [he] gets put back on the back burner, it’s ridiculous.”
The disrespect goes deeper, as the WWE has shown a penchant for not listening to fans.
Matt Hardy STILL gets one of the biggest pops the second his music hits … and Creative STILL refuses to listen.#RAW@BustedOpenRadio
— Bully Ray (@bullyray5150) December 17, 2019
Given the insider knowledge given above, is it beyond imaging that the WWE is punishing Matt Hardy? It wasn’t too long ago he and Jeff were Smackdown tag team champions and had to vacate the titles due to Jeff’s injury.
While it’s understandable that Matt doesn’t get a huge push because of his age, if he’s capable (like R-Truth), then give him a shot. If they want their older superstars to put over young talent, then hand them the belts and let the young bucks fight for the opportunity. As a fan, it seems letting them work in the ring and connect with that fans over time so they can then challenge for the championships seems a better way to go than making Matt (like the Dubley Boyz) before them meaningless jobbers to put over talent the fans remain lukewarm about.
Oh, in case anyone is interested in how big a pop Matt gets compared to the current crop of superstars, here’s a video below for you. That’s the result of a career of connecting with fans WWE creative seems to forget at times.
