Matt Hardy: The other perspective

[iggymcfly 0]

There's been a lot of speculation that when Matt Hardy wrestles at the ROH shows against Daniels and whoever else, he'll get shit all over by fans who feel like the angle insults their intelligence or some other such bullshit.

 

I think this is ridiculous. Everyone who actually cares about ROH should be thrilled to see the way this angle is playing out. I mean face it, a company that relies on word of mouth to sell DVDs doesn't exactly have a lot of growth potential. They have no TV deal, and it's got to be extremely difficult for them to pick up new fans.

 

However, this situation is a golden opportunity. All of a sudden, they're getting some free advertising on WWE Raw, about the most fertile environment they could find to bring mainstream fans to their product. If nothing else, the fact that the lead character from the hottest angle in the industry wrestles on their show gives them some credibility that they wouldn't have otherwise.

 

Even if Matt Hardy were to win the ROH World Title, come to Raw with it, and defend it against Edge on PPV, I don't see how it could be anything but good for ROH in the long run. I mean obviously, they don't want to abandon their fanbase by becoming a WWE clone, but Hardy's a good worker, and as long as he eventually jobbed the belt to a better worker back in ROH, I think it would be a tremendous growth opportunity.

 

Thoughts?

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

I think it'll help RoH as long as a bunch of top-level RoH workers don't come to WWE and get manhandled by everybody.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

I think if Matt Hardy were to show up on Raw with a cheesy title belt with big red "ROH" letters across it Jerry Lawler would have a field day.

[The Buzz 0]

I actually think ROH expands its fanbase quite well with their current business plan. They aren't huge in terms of the mainstream, but they are definately growing by the months and are probably the biggest indy promotion out there. I think Matt Hardy coming to ROH is cool just like Steamboat, Foley, and the other "stars" coming was. I don't think it's going to drastically help or hinder the promotion. I just think it makes for a very interesting part of the product in both WWE and ROH.

 

I just know personally if I was at a WWE show watching a show and I heard Matt Hardy say something about come see me at ROH I probably wouldn't go out of my way to find out what it was.

[JustJoe2k5 0]

Being the most popular independent wrestling company is like being the most popular AA baseball franchise, it may matter to the people who follow the team but to everyone else it doesn't really matter. The fans would have to be idiots to jeer Matt Hardy when he appears, not only are they having the opportunity to see what should be an amazing match but WWE is doing RoH a big favor by even letting Matt Hardy appear at the show. RoH fans need to be happy with any publicity they can get at this moment, they can't live off of Northeast and Mid-West fans forever.