WWE vs. TNA 1.28.07: Matt Hardy vs. Austin Aries

The Pre-Match Warm-up:

Yo yo yo yo! Pop your 40 and check your rollies! It’s Lynkous Tyme! I’m back with another fabulous edition of WWE vs. TNA! But first, let’s look at the results from Edge vs. Christopher Daniels:

Edge: 64% 643 votes
Christopher Daniels: 36% 357 votes

We have a clear victor here as Edge demolishes Daniels with nearly 2/3 of the votes. Not only that, but I have a total of 1,000~! votes! OOOHHHH YEAH! When trying to think of a good opponent for Austin Aries (Starr), I consulted my friend Samuel Berman. We went through a series of opponents before we arrive on the decision of Matt Hardy. I know I have already done the Hardy Boyz, but I believe the singles Matt Hardy is much different. And here we go…..

Matt Hardy vs. Austin Aries

Category 1: Strengths

Matt Hardy: Matt Hardy has been a fan favorite for as long as I can remember. He has tons of charisma, is a great wrestler, and, from what I have heard, is a really great person. Granted he will never get a push unless it is with Jeff, he always goes out there and tries to entertain the fans. He is focused, passionate, concentrated, and devoted to wrestling. Matt is a 6-time Tag Champion, all with his brother Jeff. Although his name has become synonymous with tag wrestling, there is much more. I’m not by any means taking away from him that his is a great tag wrestler, because he is. He pioneered the tag team division during the Attitude Era along with Jeff, E&C, and The Dudleyz. However, Matt is also a great singles wrestler. He won the European Championship, Hardcore Championship, and also the Cruiserweight Championship. Let’s take a look at some of the things that made Matt Hardy such a success. His main strength is his aerial assault. He and his brother have been known for putting their body on the line multiple times in order to thoroughly damage their opponents. In many of the TLC matches, you would be sure to see Matt doing a high risk maneuver off of the ladder. On of his trademark moves is the leg drop, and you can often see him do it off ladders and cages. He can be seen flying every which way, and this can be attributed to OMEGA, a wrestling promotion he and his brother started, which, in place of a solid ring, has a trampoline type mat. Matt is also an innovative wrestler, being that he will use what he can to win. For example, in a match for the Hardcore title, I remember seeing (If my 16 year old memory serves me) Matt climb a curved metal structure and splash onto his opponents. Now although he may be a daredevil, Matt Hardy is a smart wrestler. He is cleverer and less aggressive than his brother, which is why they made a good team. This intelligence can be seen in his singles matches. He seems to know what his opponents moves are, and has counters for many of them. Not only that, but he shows an intensity when in the ring that takes him to another level. If Matt was to face Aries, I think he should use the type of wrestling that he knows best, which is his smart, yet high-flying, arsenal.

Austin Aries: In order to prepare myself for this column, I watched the title rematch against Samoa Joe at Third Anniversary Celebration. Aries is the champ going into this match, and uses his wits to retain the title. This match made me really appreciate Aries. He can take on larger opponents; he is a smart wrestler with great ring presence, and he is quite athletic. He has won many titles in the independent circuit, notably the ROH World Champion after defeating Joe. He was also the ROH Tag Champ along with Roderick Strong. Let’s break down the many strengths of Aries. He has great ring presence, as I said before, and is a smart wrestler. For example, in the rematch against Samoa Joe at TACP3, he used Joe’s Coquina Clutch to gain the victory. You see, while Joe had Aries on locked in the choke, Joe’s shoulders were on the mat. Aries realized this, and used his body weight to keep Joe down for the count. I LOVED this finish because it really showed how smart Aries was. He is also a very evasive wrestler and can counter his opponents moves. Aside from this, Aries is a phenomenally athletic wrestler. Like Matt he can be seen flying all around the ring. He has multiple elbow drops, ranging from a slingshot elbow drop to a pendulum elbow drop to his opponent. He also can be seen doing a no handed springboard moonsault, corkscrew plancha, crucifix bomb, and of course the 450 Splash. He is also a technical wrestler, using moves such as the triangle choke and a move similar to the Rings of Saturn. He is able to combine this and the athleticism to make him a real threat in the wrestling business. And, as Samuel Berman pointed out to me, Aries is a HARD HITTER. That means he has stiff chops, kicks, and clotheslines. He weakens his opponents down with his nasty shots and then capitalizes with the strengths I previously mentioned. All in all, Aries is a great multitalented wrestler and shouldn’t be taken for granted by anyone, especially his opponents. If he was facing Matt Hardy, I think he should try to take out Matt’s flying game and try to ground him.

Category 2: Fighting Styles

Austin Aries: As I said before, Aries is an extremely athletic performer, he is agile, quick, but also can be slow and technical. He can hit you with a hurricanrana or wear you out with a headlock. One at a time, though, so we will start with the athletic style. He will take his opponents down with such moves as the neck scissors, or an airborne attack like a plancha or frogsplash. That is one of the things that I enjoy about watching Aries. He is spontaneous with his moves and always keeps his opponents off guard. He is quick with his snapmares and armdrags, as with his quick kicks. He can knock his opponents off their feet with his discus forearm smash and his dropkicks, and his clotheslines look as if they could take off somebody’s head. Like I mentioned before, his stiff kicks and chops will leave welts on his opponents, and you can really hear the impact of each shot he takes. He performs all of his high-flying moves with a certain grace and elegance, as the all look breath-taking and carefree as he delivers then to his opponents. Aside from that, some off his power moves a quite devastating, notably his powerslams, powerbombs, and the BRAINBUSTER. For a small guy he can sure push some of his opponents around, and can take it to the bigger guys as well. His clever style of wrestling comes in handy when he is wrestler said big wrestlers, too. He attacks their knees, and slowly wears them down with a flurry of running shoulderblocks, forearms, and dropkicking or clipping the knees. Since I am talking about targeting body parts, lets move onto his next fighting style, which is a little more scientific than the other, but in no means less effective. He IS a smart wrestler, and seems to know the right move for each opponents, and will do what it takes to save himself. Hell, in the match against Joe, he BIT Joe’s hand to break a hold. This proves that Aries will do what it takes to get the job done, which is why he is such a extraordinary performer.

Matt Hardy: It’s difficult to pick one style of wrestling for Matt. One one hand, you have the daredevil tag team Matt, and on the other hand you have the more precise Matt. Either one is a good bet, so we’ll start with the first. He is an extreme performer, no pun intended. Along with the great show of athleticism in his TLC matches, he is a madman when it comes to Hardcore and Cage matches. He has been tantamount when classified with the TLC matches, when he frequently abused his body using the ladders, tables, and, you guessed it, chairs. He could often be seen scaling the ladder to perform a high risk mid-air tactic, be it a leg drop or a splash. However, when put in a Hardcore environment, Matt would use everything from trash cans to fire extinguishers to weaken his opponents. On some occasions, Matt would place his opponent in a trashcan, under/in between/on a ladder, or on a table, the fly through the air with spectacular accuracy and demolish his opponents. His intensity really comes out in these matches, as he does everything he possibly can to pick up the win. Where there is intensity, there is intelligence. Matt may seem to rush in, but he is more aware than many may think. This is what I don’t understand. Matt has proven that he is a competent wrestler, and gets RIDICULOUS pops (in a good way), but still is yet to get a push. Anyway, Matt is as good a singles wrestler as he is a tag wrestler. As Samuel Berman said, “he relies a lot less on spots when he’s a single [wrestler]. [He is] more technical, [and] less likely to fall into the rut of his Hardyz spots.” He also said, “It’s basically an issue of him showing more personality. He isn’t as focused on being ‘THE HARDY BOYZ’ and so without the restraints (and the fact that his brother’s spottiness makes him seem (unfairly) dull by comparison) of the team, he tends to be more individualistic and able to do more mat wrestling.” Couldn’t of said it better myself.

Category 3: Finishers

Matt Hardy: Matt’s twp finishers have remained with him throughout most of his wrestling. The first is his primary finishr and that is the Twist of Fate. He has his opponent in a front headlock, then spins and lays his opponent out in a cutter style maneuver. This move has been done many times, and each time leaves his opponent in pain. He also utilizes the Leg Drop, and makes it his own, by screaming. Woot. Anyway, he delivers this move like the best of them, and especially hurts his opponents when he does it off of the top of a cage or ladder. Needless to say, When Matt hits you with the devastating Twist of Fate or Leg Drop, beware.

Austin Aries: Similar to Hardy, Aries’ two finishers are a standing maneuver and an aerial maneuver. The first, the Brainbuster, has been used by numerous superstars, and is as destructive as they get. It is when Aries lifts his opponent in the air like a Suplex, but then drives his opponent to the mat HEADFIRST. Ouch. Aries also uses the 450 splash, which is a double front-flip splash that leaves his opponent gasping for breath. Either of these moves would be sufficient in taking out opponents, but just to be sure, I think Aries should do them both.

The Final Result:

Similar to last week, I really can’t decide between these two awesome superstars. Once again, I’ll let you guys be the judge.

Who would win in a singles match?
	Matt Hardy
	Austin Aries
pollcode.com free polls

FEEDBACK~!

Yessiree, I received some feedback this week. Let’s start with some corrections as well as predictions from RM:

The poll said Ladder Match but you said Cage Match first so I’m going with
that. Daniels has been unlucky in the cage in recent years while Edge has
had some success. Also, Edge has been more ruthless and determined then ever
recently. So I give Edge the um…edge…

Anyway, for a finish I’ll go with a variation of the Edge/Benoit cage match
since I liked that one alot. Daniels is bloody and trying to regain his
bearings in the corner by the door. Edge sets up for the spear from the
opposite ropes. Edge charges only for Daniels to see him at the last moment
and side-step. Edge crashes through the cage door (already unlocked from an
earlier escape attempt) and falls to the floor in a daze, the victor.

-RM

I like that ending in the fact that it leaves both men looking strong, but I really would like a decisive victor. And I know the poll got messed up, but I’m pretty sure it won’t happen again. Bram points this out as well:

I just read your newest WWE vs. TNA article and I thought I should tell
you how much i enjoy them. Dream matches rock. Anyway, I also wanted to
make sure you knew that you suggest a cage match for Edge and Daniels,
but the poll question says ladder match. I would say Edge would go over
in a Cage, but Daniels probably has the edge (no pun intended) in the
Ladder Match. But either way, it would totally result in a markgasm. Am
I right.

Keep up the good work and I look forward to the next column
Bram

Actually, I think Edge would be better in the ladder match, and Daniels in the cage, but that’s just me. And John Baker finishes it up with some trivia.

I don’t know if you knew this or not, but Edge and Christopher Daniels have a bit of history together. In the E&C days, when they were feuding with the Hardy Boyz there was a stipulation at one point that Edge and Christian could not challenge the Hardys for the tag titles again if they lost. They lost, and shortly thereafter, Los Conquistadors showed up in the WWF to challenge for the belts. Obviously it was E&C in disguise, but they had a few segments where they had different wrestlers donning the costumes while E&C were in the same room. When they did this, Los Conquistadors were played by Aaron Aguilera and Christopher Daniels. What does this have to do with the fantasy ladder match? Nothing of course, just thought you might find it mildly interesting. Keep up the good work.

John Baker

I actually knew that, thanks to Wikipedia. But thanks for sending it in anyway, and thanks for reading Mr. Baker.

That is it for me folks. Make sure to check out all of the columns, and send me what you think, and possible match results. Peace out.