Matt Hardy has been involved in a number of memorable moments throughout his career, from his incredible series of matches against The Dudley Boyz, and Edge and Christian, to the creation of his ‘Broken’ Matt Hardy character. In 2008, though, the older Hardy brother was involved in something resembling more of an infamous moment – an eating contest vs. MVP.
Taking place at the 2007 No Mercy pay-per-view, the segment saw Tazz preceding over the segment as the host, while Melina and Maria Kanellis acted as the judges. Hardy ultimately won the contest, finishing more pizza slices than the then-WWE United States Champion in the space of two minutes.
Matt Hardy Recalls Being Sick Over MVP
Recalling the segment on the latest Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast, Hardy divulged how the segment was originally going to be a hot dog eating contest until MVP refused to eat them:
“Vince [McMahon] explained what he wanted to happen. And originally, it was going to be hot dogs because apparently just recently there had been a hotdog eating competition. Something had triggered that and we’re going to do hot dogs and MVP said, ‘Man, I hate that sh*t. I can’t eat that, man. It’s just disgusting. I won’t eat hotdogs.’ He said to make it something else. And then they ended up making it pizza. But they got us the deepest dish Chicago pizza possible, which is you know, it’s not a fork and knife kind of thing. So that’s what they gave us.
And they had a sh*t tonne out of it. And I was like, ‘Oh, holy sh*t.’ So we’re going over this. And Vince says, ‘So we’re having this eating competition, right? Why are you [MVP] allergic to these hotdogs or whatever? F*ck, what kind of man is allergic to a hotdog?’ He may or may not have said that. But MVP said, ‘Man, I’m not eating that sh*t. I don’t like those.’ And he [Vince] said ‘Okay, well, fine. We’ll do pizza.’ And then they got that deep dish pizza, which was the worst. I mean, because it’s so detrimental to everything we’re doing, especially if you’re trying to eat pizza fast. So yeah.”
Continuing, Matt Hardy explained how it was Vince McMahon’s idea for him to puke all over MVP:
“And Vince goes over to me and said, ‘So what I’m seeing here is you’re eating and you know, maybe MVP does kind of win this but you’re gonna win in the end because you ate this pizza so fast. You’re gonna puke on him. People are gonna f*cking love it.’ I said, ‘Excuse me?’ [Vince said] ‘Yeah, you know, you’re downing these pizzas, and you’re tired [from] eating so fast. You’re resilient, you will not die. You’re gonna beat him in this pizza contest, dammit.
And you don’t, you don’t necessarily win. But you win in the big scheme of things because you puke on him, how degrading is that to have a man puke on you?’ He’s popping himself. And yeah, we’re both very much taken aback by it. So then we’re sitting there and I said, Okay, let me get the prop guy. Vince said [to me], ‘Do you think you could make yourself throw up?’ And I said, ‘I don’t know. But if I’m gonna do it, I really want to commit to it.’ And I said, ‘Let me talk to the prop guy.’
And I said, ‘Dude, I was looking it up online, and there’s some stuff that you can take, they can help you regurgitate. So can you get this stuff for me and mix it up and do whatever?’ So we made this special little mix. MVP said, ‘You give this motherf*cker, he’s got this iron belly that can eat anything. You know, this motherf*cker is gonna eat anything, poison, and he’s fine. And now he’s taking some sh*t that is gonna make him regurgitate, throw up on me?’”
Concluding, Matt Hardy noted that although his plan worked for helping the segment, it also resulted in him being up all night puking:
“So they get this mix and they do it and you’re supposed to take it. He [the prop guy] said, ‘Okay, like, take it 30 minutes before whatever. So I drink this stuff, it is f*cking terrible. My stomach’s upset. We’re doing this, we’re eating, and I eventually get to that point where I do regurgitate on him a little bit. There’s a little bit of puke and it’s more spit than anything else.
But dude, for the remainder of that night, I was throwing up all night, sick as f*ck all night from all that stuff I took because I feel, in theory, if it was gonna make you regurgitate, you should have probably taken a few hours before.”
Matt Hardy and MVP’s rivalry lasted until early May 2008, concluding with Hardy lifting the United States Championship at that year’s Backlash pay-per-view. This ended MVP’s reign at 343 days, the longest reign for the title under the WWE banner until Dean Ambrose’s 2013/14 run at 351 days.
If you use any quotes from this transcription, please credit Extreme Life of Matt Hardy and link back to this article with a H/T to Inside The Ropes.