Matthew Moore "Matt" Hardy (born September 23, 1974) is an American professional wrestler. He is under contract with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). Hardy is best known for his time in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). Before signing with WWE, Hardy, with his brother Jeff, founded a wrestling organization called Organization of Modern Extreme Grappling Arts (OMEGA). While there, Hardy held many championships including the Heavyweight and Tag Team Championship, which he held with Jeff. The promotion folded in October 1999 when they signed contracts with WWE. The Hardys gained notoriety in WWE's tag team division due to their participation in Tables, Ladders, and Chairs matches. As a tag team wrestler, Hardy is a six-time World Tag Team Champion, a one-time WWE Tag Team Champion, and a one-time WCW Tag Team Champion. Apart from his success as a tag team wrestler, Hardy is a one-time world heavyweight champion, having won the ECW Championship in 2008. He also has won other singles championships, having held the Hardcore, European, Cruiserweight, and United States Championship on one occasion each. Hardy, along with his brother Jeff and friends, started their own federation, the Trampoline Wrestling Federation (TWF) and mimicked the moves they saw on television. They later created their own wrestling promotion, OMEGA Wrestling, in which Hardy competed under the name High Voltage. Shortly after Hardy sent in a tape for the World Championship Wrestling (WCW) Amateur Challenge using the ring name High Voltage, a tag team named High Voltage began competing in WCW, causing Hardy to change his name to Surge. A few years later, it was revealed to him by Chris Kanyon that the tape had been kept in the WCW Power Plant, watched multiple times, and that the name High Voltage was blatantly stolen from it. The Hardys also wrestled for several other North Carolina based wrestling organizations and adapted a number of alter-egos. As The Wolverine, Hardy captured the New England Wrestling Alliance (NEWA) Championship in May 1994. As High Voltage, he teamed with Venom to claim the New Frontier Wrestling Association (NFWA) Tag Team titles in March 1995. A month later, High Voltage defeated the Willow for the NFWA Championship.
Matt Hardy & John Morrison saving Jeff Hardy
In 2001, after Jeff's Intercontinental Championship run, Hardy was given a singles championship push. He won the European Championship on SmackDown! four days before Backlash. Hardy believes that he was pushed to win the title because of Jeff winning the Intercontinental Championship, and because of the effort he put into his previous storyline with Triple H and Stone Cold Steve Austin. He became the second-longest reigning European Champion in history and the longest-reigning American-born European Champion. Throughout the year, the Hardy Boyz continued to win as a tag team, winning the WWF Tag Team Titles two more times, and the WCW Tag Team Championship during the Invasion. By the end of the year, the Hardy Boyz began a storyline where they were having trouble co-existing. This culminated in a match between the two, with Lita as the guest referee, at the Vengeance pay-per-view, which Jeff won. At the beginning of 2002, it seemed Team Xtreme had patched things up. After the Brand Extension, however, Hardy was relegated to Heat while Jeff wrestled on the main show, Raw. On the August 12 episode of Raw, Hardy turned against Jeff during Jeff's match against Rob Van Dam, because Hardy was frustrated at not receiving a match against Van Dam for the number one contendership for the Intercontinental Championship. A short time later, Hardy joined the SmackDown! roster. On the October 3 episode of the show, Hardy took advantage of a run-in from Brock Lesnar to defeat The Undertaker. Having now dubbed himself "Matt Hardy: Version 1", and with his MF'er (Mattitude Follower) Shannon Moore in his corner, 2003 began with Hardy frantically trying to lose weight to get under the 220 lb (100 kg) weight limit to compete for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship. After just barely making weight, Hardy defeated Billy Kidman at No Way Out to win the Cruiserweight title. At WrestleMania XIX, he successfully defended it against Rey Mysterio. The Mattitude faction then expanded to include Crash Holly as Moore's "Moore-on" (follower). He later disbanded the group and returned to Raw in order to be able to travel and work with his then girlfriend Lita, who just returned from an injury. On his first night back, he turned on Lita in storyline after teasing a proposal to her. Hardy spent little time on Raw and later turned into a fan favorite by engaging in a rivalry with Kan. Lita was also involved in the storyline, and Hardy took time off after a chokeslam from Kane off the stage during Lita and Kane's wedding. This time off was due to a knee injury. Along with his friend Rhyno, Hardy was released by WWE on April 11, 2005. Edge and Lita received jeers from the crowds at WWE events, often resulting in chants, "You screwed Matt", and, "We want Matt". Paul Heyman, in a "shoot" promo, mocked Edge for his actions at One Night Stand. Lita, for the first time in over five years, became a heel (villainous character) as a result of the affair becoming public knowledge. Fans began a petition on the internet, wanting WWE to re-sign Hardy, and amassed over fifteen thousand signatures. Hardy released two character promotional vignettes, that he was planning to use before he was offered a new contract by WWE. Hardy called himself The Angelic Diablo with the tagline "the scar will become a symbol" in reference to the way in which he had been treated by Lita and WWE. On the June 20 episode of Raw, during the storyline wedding of Edge and Lita, Hardy's entrance music and video were played when the priest asked if anyone had a reason why Edge and Lita should not be wed. On the July 11 episode of Raw, Hardy made his return, attacking Edge as he made his way to the ring. On the July 13 edition of WWE's webcast Byte This!, which featured Lita as its guest, one of the callers was Hardy himself. The two engaged in a huge argument which led to Lita walking off the set. Hardy appeared at a scheduled Ring of Honor (ROH) event on July 16 in Woodbridge, Connecticut where he defeated Christopher Daniels via submission. Hardy also cut a brief promo where he continued in full 'worked shoot' mode, attacking WWE and John Laurinaitis. Following his official return to WWE, Hardy was met with backlash following a match with Homicide from the fans at a subsequent ROH event, which Hardy won. The next day at his final ROH appearance, he lost to Roderick Strong.
On January 9, 2011, Hardy made his debut for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) at the Genesis pay-per-view, as part of the heel stable Immortal. He was the surprise opponent for Rob Van Dam, and defeated him to prevent Van Dam from receiving a match for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, held by Hardy's brother Jeff. In the main event, Hardy attempted to interfere in Jeff's World Heavyweight Championship match with Mr. Anderson, but was stopped by Van Dam, which led to Jeff losing both the match and the championship. On the January 13 episode of TNA Impact! the Hardy Boyz reunited to defeat Anderson and Van Dam in a tag team match, following interference from Beer Money, Inc.. Two weeks later, Hardy suffered his first loss in TNA when he was defeated by Mr. Anderson. On February 13 at Against All Odds Rob Van Dam defeated Hardy in a rematch. On the following edition of Impact!, Hardy aligned himself with Ric Flair, as he turned on Fortune and jumped to Immortal. On March 13 at Victory Road Hardy was defeated by Flair's previous protégé, A.J. Styles. On April 17 at Lockdown, Immortal, represented by Hardy, Abyss, Bully Ray and Ric Flair, was defeated by Fortune members James Storm, Kazarian and Robert Roode and Christopher Daniels, who replaced an injured A.J. Styles, in a Lethal Lockdown match. On the April 21 episode of Impact!, Hardy faced Sting for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship on Hulk Hogan's orders, but was defeated. In 1999, Hardy, along with his brother Jeff, appeared as an uncredited wrestler on That '70s Show episode "That Wrestling Show". Hardy and Jeff also appeared on Tough Enough in early 2001, talking to and wrestling the contestants. He appeared in the February 25, 2002 episode of Fear Factor competing against five other World Wrestling Federation wrestlers. He became the eventual winner, and won $50,000 for the American Cancer Society Hardy also appeared on the October 13, 2009 episode of Scare Tactics, as a mental patient who threatens to attack the prank's victim. In 2001, Hardy, Jeff and Lita appeared in Rolling Stone magazine's 2001 Sports Hall of Fame issue. In 2003, Hardy and Jeff, with the help of Michael Krugman, wrote and published their autobiography The Hardy Boyz: Exist 2 Inspire. As part of WWE, Hardy appeared in their DVD, The Hardy Boyz: Leap of Faith in 2001. On April 29, 2008, WWE released "Twist of Fate: The Matt and Jeff Hardy Story". The DVD featured footage of the brothers in OMEGA and WWE. Hardy also appears on The Hardy Show, an internet web show which features the Hardys, Shannon Moore and many of their friends.
Kenneth Anderson (born March 6, 1976) is an American professional wrestler and actor. He is currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), under the ring name Mr. Anderson. He wrestled under the ring name Mr. Kennedy during his time with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) between 2005 and 2009. Before being promoted to the main WWE roster, Anderson wrestled for numerous promotions in his career. While performing in these promotions, he won various championships, both in tag team and singles competition. Anderson was assigned to WWE's developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) in Louisville, Kentucky in 2005. After signing with WWE, Anderson made his debut on the SmackDown! roster in August 2005. In September 2006 he captured his first and only title with the company, the WWE United States Championship, and would hold onto it for a month. The following year, at WrestleMania 23, Anderson won the annual Money in the Bank ladder match, a contract, which guarantees a match for one of WWE's world titles. He was released from his WWE contract on May 29, 2009. He returned to the independent circuit before signing a contract with TNA in 2010. He is a one time world champion, having held the TNA World Heavyweight Championship once. Anderson was picked first overall by All-Star Championship Wrestling Alumni Eric Hammers and Mike "Mercury" Krause. He was invited to appear in a trial basis on WWF Jakked, WWE Velocity, and WWE Sunday Night Heat as an independent jobber several times from 2001 to 2004. Anderson made some appearances on TNA Xplosion and was initially approached for a contract at Total Nonstop Action Wrestling by Jeff Jarrett but communications broke down. Anderson competed in the 2002 and 2003 Ted Petty Invitational tournaments (the first one then known as the Sweet Science Sixteen tournament) but did not advance past the first round in either of them. After wrestling for over six years, in February 2005, WWE signed Anderson to a developmental contract.[Upon signing with WWE in February 2005, Anderson was sent to the Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) developmental territory. After six months he was called up to work on Velocity. Before his first SmackDown! match, a victory over Funaki, he showed himself to be a cocky and arrogant wrestler with not only his mannerisms but by taking a microphone and performing his own ring announcement. He referred to himself as "Mr. Anderson" for this match. A few weeks later, to avoid comparisons with the more famous Anderson family (as well as former Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Ken Anderson), he changed his name to "Ken Kennedy", or "Mr. Kennedy". This idea was initially suggested by Paul Heyman and was chosen as his name because it is the middle name of WWE Chairman Vince McMahon.
Kennedy defeated Funaki once again in his SmackDown! debut on August 25, 2005. Kennedy also created an ongoing mini-feud with SmackDown! ring announcer Tony Chimel, based on Kennedy believing that Chimel's announcing was not done well enough or with sufficient respect, and therefore performing his own introductions or forcing Chimel to introduce him again. Kennedy's self-ring introductions before the match became one of his trademarks. While working on both Velocity and SmackDown!, he was also still working in OVW. Kennedy made his pay-per-view debut at SmackDown!'s No Mercy, defeating Hardcore Holly and injuring Holly's ribs during the match. On the November 11 episode of SmackDown!, Kennedy faced Eddie Guerrero to compete for a spot on SmackDown!'s Survivor Series team. He lost the match when Guerrero tossed him a steel chair and played possum, a move which Guerrero had made famous. The groggy referee turned around and saw Guerrero on the ground with Kennedy holding the chair, and consequently disqualified Kennedy, awarding the place on Team SmackDown! to Guerrero. This was Kennedy's first loss. In retaliation, Kennedy struck Guerrero over the head with the chair after the match. This was Guerrero's final televised match, as he died on November 13 in his hotel room in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In interviews about the incident, Kennedy has stated that he considers this an "unfortunate honor". In December 2005, Kennedy participated in WWE's overseas tour. On the second day in Italy, Kennedy suffered a serious latissimus dorsi tear. Even after surgery in December, Kennedy was still forced out of the ring for nearly six months while he rehabilitated the legitimate injury. He continued to make appearances on SmackDown! and Velocity throughout January and February. He even made an appearance on the January 11 episode of WWE Byte This! with Todd Grisham to maintain visibility. In November 2006, Kennedy joined forces with Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) in matches against the Brothers of Destruction (Undertaker and Kane) in various combinations. On a November episode of SmackDown!, Kennedy and MVP lost to the Brothers of Destruction three times. After first getting counted out, Theodore Long restarted the match with no countouts. When they disqualified themselves following a low blow by Kennedy, Long restarted the match again with no countouts and no disqualifications. Kennedy and MVP continued to feud with the brothers, with MVP feuding with Kane while Kennedy challenged the Undertaker to a match at Survivor Series, which was later announced as a First Blood match. Kennedy won the match after MVP turned on him and aimed for his head with a steel chair, but missed and hit the Undertaker instead, leaving him bleeding. After the match, the Undertaker attacked Kennedy, forcing him to bleed. At Armageddon, Kennedy and the Undertaker met in a final match; they were scheduled in a Last Ride match. In the match, the Undertaker defeated Kennedy.Kennedy earned a spot in the 2007 Money in the Bank ladder match by defeating Sabu in an Extreme Rules match in a February episode of ECW. At WrestleMania 23, Kennedy won the Money in the Bank ladder match, giving him the right to challenge any World Champion in WWE at any date up until WrestleMania XXIV. Kennedy announced on the April 30 episode of Raw that he would be cashing in his Money in the Bank championship opportunity at WrestleMania 24. On the May 7 episode of Raw, Kennedy, however, lost his Money in the Bank opportunity to Edge, losing mere moments after a blow to the head from a monitor before the match began. Because of the injury Kennedy sustained during his match with Edge, it was revealed that his right triceps muscle tore off the bone and he would be out for a minimum of five to seven months. The injury, however, was not as serious, as the triceps tendon did not tear off the bone but was, in fact, a massive hematoma.
At Bound for Glory Anderson failed in his attempt to win the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, when Jeff Hardy turned heel with Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff and pinned him in a three-way match, which also included Kurt Angle, to win the title and ending his partnership with Hardy in the process. On the October 21 edition of Impact!, Anderson was given an opportunity to earn a shot at Hardy and the TNA World Heavyweight Championship at Turning Point; all he had to do was survive an Ultimate X match with Fortune member Kazarian. Kazarian managed to win the match, following interference from his stable mates, but Anderson persevered and thus earned himself a World Heavyweight title shot against Hardy, who attacked him after the match. However, during the attack Anderson suffered a legitimate concussion, which would sideline him for a few weeks and prevented him from taking part in the title match. The vacant spot in the title match ended up going to Matt Morgan, who turned face during Anderson's time away from TNA, standing up for him against Hardy's, Hogan's and Bischoff's group Immortal as an advocate for the effects of concussions. Anderson returned on the December 2 edition of Impact!, chasing Hardy and Fortune out of the ring, before being announced as the special guest referee for the World Heavyweight title match between Hardy and Morgan at Final Resolution. Anderson was bloodied and taken out of the match by Eric Bischoff, who managed to help Hardy retain the title, after a three count made by a replacement referee. On January 9, 2011, at Genesis Anderson defeated Matt Morgan in a number one contender's match. Immediately afterwards, Eric Bischoff came out, and announced that Anderson would get his title match against Jeff Hardy straight away. After interference from Morgan, Mick Foley, Matt Hardy, Rob Van Dam and Bischoff, Anderson defeated Hardy to win the TNA World Heavyweight Championship for the first time. On the February 3 edition of Impact!, Anderson defeated Hardy in a rematch for the title, after Fortune turned on Immortal as they were interfering in the match. On February 13 at Against All Odds Anderson lost the TNA World Heavyweight Championship back to Hardy in a ladder match. On the February 24 edition of Impact! Anderson defeated Kurt Angle and Rob Van Dam in a three–way match to earn a rematch for the World Heavyweight Championship. Anderson was looking to get his title match on the following edition of Impact!, but it was instead given to the returning Sting, who defeated Hardy to become the new TNA World Heavyweight Champion. On the March 10 edition of Impact!, Anderson began to show signs of a possible heel turn when he attacked Sting backstage, after claiming that he had been screwed out of his title match. In the main event of the evening Anderson teamed with rival Jeff Hardy in a tag team match against Rob Van Dam and Sting. During the match Anderson took on more of a role as a tweener by turning on Hardy, before being pinned by Van Dam, following an attack from Sting. On March 13 at Victory Road, Anderson wrestled Rob Van Dam to a double countout in another number one contender's match. On the April 7 edition of Impact!, Anderson feigned completing his heel turn by joining Immortal, before turning on them and announcing his intention of going after Hulk Hogan next. On April 17 at Lockdown, Anderson failed in his attempt to regain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship from Sting in a three–way steel cage match, which also included Rob Van Dam. On the May 12 edition of Impact!, Anderson defeated 24 other men in a battle royal to earn a shot at the TNA World Heavyweight Championship at Slammiversary IX. Anderson soon turned heel after that, when on the May 26th edition of Impact Wrestling, attacked Disco Inferno. The following week, he joined Immortal's Gunner in assaulting Eric Young.
