5 Reasons Matt Hardy Was Better In TNA (& 5 Reasons He Was Better In WWE)

Matt Hardy’s career continuing in AEW will see him trying to add more success to his already impressive resume in the wrestling industry. Fans of WWE and TNA mostly saw the best work of Matt when watching him experiment with various characters throughout the years. The WWE career of Hardy featured multiple stints with him wanting to prove his creative vision.

RELATED: Matt Hardy: His 10 Final WWE Matches Ranked From Worst To Best

TNA provided more freedom for Matt to expand and show his overall talent in a bolder way. Fans of each promotion will have their own preferences based on their memories. Both sides have a fair point as being the best place to showcase Hardy. Make your own choice after breaking down the rationale for WWE and TNA as the ideal place for Matt’s career.

10 WWE: TLC matches

Matt Hardy will always be remembered as one of the most important wrestlers to the ladder match and TLC match stipulations. The matches teaming with his brother Jeff against Edge and Christian and the Dudley Boyz changed the industry.

RELATED: 5 Best Feuds Of Matt Hardy's Career (& 5 Worst)

WWE put more emphasis on ladder matches and even named a PPV after the TLC match. Any wrestler having such a role in an important WWE concept will lead to having it associated with their legacy. Matt clearly deserves the love for his contributions in WWE.

9 TNA: Broken gimmick

One of the biggest game-changers for Matt Hardy’s career featured him introducing the Broken gimmick to TNA. The creative freedom allowed Matt to come up with a unique concept and basically book his own angle with Jeff.

WWE would never give a performer that much creative input, but TNA was in a position where talents could offer their insight. Matt benefited immensely from getting to put his cards on the table and show his complete vision for such characters.

8 WWE: Rivalry with MVP

An underrated chapter of Matt Hardy’s career came in a feud with MVP. Both wrestlers were in the mid-card picture of Smackdown in the latter half of the 2000s trying to break out. WWE placed them in a feud that ran for months.

Hardy and MVP won the WWE Tag Team Championship together and often took part in competitions to prove who was the better athlete. MVP eventually turning on Matt led to them ending the team and having a few noteworthy matches.

7 TNA: Becoming a top heel

The main event picture was always out of reach for Matt Hardy in WWE despite trying a few different concepts. TNA allowed Matt to move into the top spot when having a memorable double turn with EC3 to change both of their characters.

Matt was now the top heel with Brodus Clay and Rockstar Spud helping him steal matches while EC3 moved into the face role. TNA benefited from both performers adapting and moving into new situations. Matt putting over faces like Drew McIntyre and Eddie Edwards improved their careers as well.

6 WWE: Feud with Edge

The personal rivalry between Matt Hardy and Edge added a real-life element with the love triangle involving Lita being used on television. WWE initially fired Matt to keep Edge and Lita on the roster without making things too strange.

However, fans started to chant “We want Matt!” at shows to make their voice heard about how unfair it was. Matt returned to WWE in the summer of 2005 to feud with Edge in quite a few violent matches. Edge ultimately won the feud, but Matt delivered some of the best work of his career in a superb rivalry for both talents.

5 TNA: Kept the company afloat during rebranding

The various changes in TNA always saw the company having to fight to stay alive. Talents like AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, and Bobby Roode leaving the company should have doomed them. Matt Hardy played a huge role in the company staying alive during this time.

RELATED: The 5 Best Matches Matt Hardy Had In WWE (& 5 He Had Somewhere Else)

The Broken characters of Matt and Jeff became one of the hottest acts in wrestling. Matt’s creativity was the main reason that the over the top storyline connected. Fans went out of their way to watch TNA again, allowing the company to stay afloat until new management and ownership came in.

4 WWE: Version 1

The end of the Hardy Boyz tag team allowed Matt Hardy to finally start showing his own personality in the original brand split. Matt wanted to stray away from his former face run with Jeff by developing the Version 1 gimmick.

The hilarious “Matt Facts” during his entrance made fans both appreciate him for having such entertainment value and also boo him for his arrogance. Version 1 provided many great matches and moments despite never getting pushed outside of the cruiserweight division.

3 TNA: Better feud against Jeff

WWE and TNA each tried to have their own version of a feud between Matt and Jeff Hardy. The first one in WWE had a few solid matches, but the rivalry ultimately failed to elevate Matt into a top role like his brother Jeff.

TNA allowed them to have more input with Matt scoring a few huge victories to get the Broken Universe over. Jeff even wanted to join him and was more than fine taking the losses to set it up. TNA is the place to find the most compelling matches between the Hardy Boyz.

2 WWE: Arguably the greatest tag team run ever

The tag team success of Matt and Jeff Hardy saw them thriving in WWE at the highest level. Fans loved the Hardy Boyz and cheered them from the Attitude Era to the late 2000s to their recent return in the 2010s after the TNA stints.

Few tag teams have ever had the peaks and the consistency of Matt and Jeff. The duo dominated the WWE landscape with classic rivalries against the Dudley Boyz, MNM, The Bar, Edge and Christian, and many others for a legendary run.

1 TNA: World Championship reign

The biggest argument for Matt Hardy’s success in TNA over WWE are his two TNA World Championship reigns. Matt’s first win came as a face in the main event of Bound for Glory 2015 with Jeff as the referee for a great moment.

The second win came in the double turn against EC3 that put Matt at the top of the company. Matt proved that he could thrive as a world champion if given the right chance to succeed and show his worth. TNA gave him that for a valuable chapter of his career.

NEXT: Matt Hardy: The 10 Best Title Reigns In His Career, Ranked