The latest episode of Monday Night Raw featured some of the, well, weirder things that have been seen on WWE television in quite some time.
But perhaps lost in all the neck-biting and WrestleMania implications was the last appearance of Matt Hardy.
While the program between Randy Orton and Edge continues its slow burn towards WrestleMania 36 and the return to ring for the “Rated-R Superstar” and his first one-on-one match in nearly a decade, “The Viper” has been doing a masterful job of carry the weight of the feud, mostly strictly through body language. But this past Monday that changed, when the former “Broken” one interrupted Orton as he once again struggled to explain the reasons for his actions the night after Royal Rumble.
Hardy then cut one of the more intensely real promos he has in what feels like a long time; he fused shoot with work, calling to attention his real-life past issues between he, Edge, and Lita, before pledging his respect for Edge and his improbable comeback and demanding answers from Orton.
He was met with an RKO– though he countered Orton’s first attempt at the devastating finisher– then put away with a one-man Con-Chair-Co.
Afterwards, Hardy took to social media with what seems to be his farewell to the WWE Universe. To which Evil Uno, the figurehead leader of the cult faction The Dark Order in AEW, appeared to have posted a response.
GOODBYE. https://t.co/qplBdmjFKp pic.twitter.com/SSsKpErA4H
— Matt Hardy in LIMBO (@MATTHARDYBRAND) February 11, 2020
You say goodbye and I say hello pic.twitter.com/HN1jl3Kk1H
— EVIL UNO of the DARK ORDER (@EvilUno) February 11, 2020
There have longer been rumours that the secret, unseen leader of The Dark Order has been a placeholder character, first for “The Villain” Marty Scurll before he signed his reported godfather contract to remain with Ring of Honor, now for the return of “Broken” Matt Hardy. In the latest episode of his “FREE THE DELETE” YouTube series, in which Hardy deals with the creative limbo he finds himself, he reunites with Vanguard V.1, meets with an Evangelist, and appears to have a religious awakening after having a flashback memory of being superkicked by The Young Bucks (though weirdly Bray Wyatt is also featured heavily in the flashback montage) before he makes a desperate phone call and asks if “he’s there.” The video then cuts to black.
Will we see the return of “Broken” Matt Hardy on Dynamite soon, possibly as soon as this Wednesday? It would be quite a coup in the Wednesday Night War for AEW, brining back a beloved character that many fans felt was sanitized by WWE in its “Woken” version.
Now we wait.