Matt Hardy and Mark Henry nearly formed an oppressed tag team.
The Attitude Era was known for pushing boundaries and the Ruthless Aggression Era followed a similar suit. While Matt Hardy was involved in many wild matches and segments throughout his time in WWE during both eras, there was one thing he was uncomfortable doing.
Fortunately, it never came to fruition.
"There was one thing I was very nervous about doing, that didn't end up happening," Hardy recalled on his Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast with Jon Alba. "I was going to have a deal where I teamed with Mark Henry and there was talk of us working against Booker T and Rob Van Dam when they were the tag champs and winning the tag titles. It was right towards the end of Matt Hardy V1 and what was pitched to me, from Vince and creative, I would almost go to Mark Henry and, him being black, had a lot in common with me having Mattitude because we're both oppressed, and I don't talk like a black person. They knew at this time, even with John Cena was doing raps, we'd be on international trips and myself and John would be freestyling and messing around. They knew I was a big rap fan and aware of all that stuff. There was a point where I was almost going to be talking with more black slang and almost tell Mark Henry, 'Mattitude is oppressed too, man, we have that in common.' I was very uncomfortable with that then at that juncture. Obviously, Mark got hurt and maybe it was a sign from the seven deities and it didn't happen at all. That was something I was a little worried about doing because it was something they wanted me to start doing and pushing me into."
Booker T and Rob Van Dam were World Tag Team Champions in 2004. Henry tore his quadriceps muscle in February 2004, putting him on the shelf for a year.
Henry and Hardy now work together in AEW.
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