High Road/Low Road 10.19.07: Matt Hardy vs MVP

The Results for the WWE Title Situation at No Mercy:

High Road: 55%
Low Road: 29%
Both Roads: 16%

E-Mails:

These are all of the e-mails that we received for the past two weeks. We do not respond to the actual e-mail, but the reply to your e-mail will be below.

Stephen Straka Writes:

Sat: The first two hour was a thumbs down from me, but I felt that the second episode was better. I think that in a few months we will know the true impact for Impact going to two hours.

Uncle Trunx: I also think it would be sensible to review things in a month or so. I know it should be possible for them to create something good from two hours, but I’m not sure that they will.

Reichou Shinsake Writes:

Sat: There next excuse will be that they need to go head to head with ECW on Tuesday. And I will grant you that if anybody can fuck up the second hour, it will definitely be TNA.

Uncle Trunx: They’ll think of another thing they need soon enough. An international presence will be my guess.

Leagor Writes:

Sat: This is a response to the point that I made during one of the low road points that Randy Orton has not successfully defended a world title. This is why I should not be taking the Low Road.

Uncle Trunx: I think the point still stands, that one defence with help is hardly the stuff of legends. Apologies for missing last week folks; I got a bit battered at a martial arts class, then came home, fell asleep and missed the deadline!

The Matt Hardy and MVP Feud

High Road:
The Matt Hardy/MVP feud has allowed the WWE to fix their tag team division. When Hardy and MVP won the tag team titles from Deuce and Domino, there were two tag teams on SmackDown. The two tag teams were Deuce and Domino and the Major Brothers. Since that time, we have seen the introduction of Jesse and Festus and now Dave Taylor and Drew MacIntyre. This feud has allowed the WWE to rebuild the SmackDown tag team division and this was something that was sorely needed.

Low Road:
I credit the improvement of the tag division to there being more teams in it, rather than to the tag titles being used as props for two singles wrestlers to feud around. I hate the “odd couple” storyline they run every few years; I hated it with Michaels and Diesel, I hated it with Stone Cold and Michaels and I hate it now. It makes the tag titles less valuable and reduces the emphasis on specialist tag teams, if two thrown together singles stars can win the belts.

High Road:
I have been a fan of the competitions between Matt Hardy and MVP because I have found most of them to be entertaining. I would like to note that I have not seen the No Mercy segment, but reports are saying that it was bad. To me these segments have helped the feud because it shows that the two are always competing. Plus, the segments that I have seen have been short, so I really have not been able to find anything wrong with that. A short little competition continues to reinforce the point that they do not like each other

Low Road:
Surely one or two such segments, along with some wrestling matches, would get the idea across? It now seems as if they’re struggling for things to do. The whole thing is shown in a nutshell by the Cyber Sunday idea, where one of the options is a wrestling match. One of the ideas? Surely, if this were a feud built around wrestling, they’d all be wrestling options of one sort or another. This just shows how far down WWE’s list of priorities actual wrestling is.

High Road:
This feud between Matt Hardy and MVP has worked because you can see MVP’s motivation for trying to keep himself and Matt Hardy has the tag team champion. As the tag team champions, MVP knows that Matt Hardy will not be challenging for the United States Title. I love this because this is something that MVP would do.

Low Road:
As I said a few weeks ago when TNA were throwing all the belts on one man, this merely devalues the tag team titles; they are merely a tool for MVP to keep Hardy away from his (more important) US title. It doesn’t matter how many tag teams they have nor how good they are; if this is how the tag belts are used, the division is worthless.

High Road:
One of the major problems with the WWE is that we very rarely get a good feud. However, this feud has definitely been the best feud in the WWE. I think that there are many reasons for this. The first reason is that both guys can get a reaction from the crowd. Matt Hardy is loved by the fans, while MVP is hated by the fans. The second reason is that both guys have a reason to be feuding with each other. Both guys think that they are better than the others. The third reason is the feuding tag team partners. I think this concept gets the fan interested because it is a cool concept and something that we don’t see that often. This is definitely the best feud of 2007 in the WWE.

Low Road:
It’s something we see far too often for my liking, and usually with the tag belts thrown on them for good measure. I’d have a far greater interest in this feud if it was based on wrestling rather than other sub comedy skits about who is the better at eating pizza. Both men are good wrestlers, so let them wrestle!

High Road:
As I mentioned above, this is the best feud in the WWE right now so the best thing to do is to find a way to stretch the feud. If Matt Hardy and MVP had not won the titles, then this feud would have been long gone. With Matt Hardy and MVP as the tag team champion, it is allowed for this feud to be extended.

Low Road:
There are many ways this feud could have been extended without burying the tag belts or resorting to pizza eating. Last year they did a similar run with MVP and Kane, where the two faced off in many different types of match. That, to me, is how this should have gone; rather than determining who could do most press ups or something equally asinine, they could see who prevailed in various types of wrestling match. That way, they could finish up with a 30 minute Iron Man match or something equally epic. Had they done so, we would have had decent matches throughout the feud rather than awful comedy skits.

High Road:
This feud between the two has worked because they are both polar opposites in everything. Matt Hardy is loved by the fans and MVP is hated by the fans. MVP has a big mouth, while Matt Hardy doesn’t. One is a veteran wrestler, the other is a rookie. MVP says that he is better than everybody else, while Matt Hardy is just like everybody else. The partnership works because these two are a true odd-couple.

Low Road:
The reason for the feud is indeed obvious; it’s the execution of it I take exception with. As I said above, handled as a wrestling feud between two polar opposites, I think it could’ve been excellent. Instead, we have either time wasting skits or the devaluing of the tag belts. An “I’m better than you” feud could have been built based on the relative differences between the men without the need to bury the tag team roster in the process.

High Road:
Matt Hardy and MVP’s partnership does something very important and that is it basically allows these two to face anybody. One of the things that the WWE does is that it has the baby face against the heel. But, the partnership of a baby face and a heel allows for them to face everybody on the roster. For example, there was no way we were going to see MVP against Deuce and Domino. This past Friday on SmackDown, we saw Matt Hardy get in the ring against the Undertaker and Kane. This partnership allows us to see things that we would not have seen. That is why this feud has been so good.

Low Road:
Indeed, that would be a refreshing change if tag team wrestling had any value at all left in WWE. The team of Undertaker and Kane has some prestige, for certain but they are primarily singles wrestlers. None of the other teams have been built up to any great extent, so people have no reason to care. This is a great shame, as it could have been a magnificent selling point for the feud, which to me is now starting to drag.

Are you taking the High Road or the Low Road?