I often wonder why Matt Hardy doesn't get more credit for all the things he's accomplished in such a short period of time. Oh, right.... because he's a huge douche canoe.

 

That said, it's hard not to give a world of credit to the guy for reinventing the wrestling business in the late-1990's, forming and running his own promotion that launched about a dozen wrestlers of note.

 

While Matt and Jeff Hardy are obviously the most accomplished graduates to come from OMEGA (Organization of Modern Extreme Grappling Arts), the group also spawned Shannon Moore, Gregory "Hurricane" Helms, Joey Matthews, Christian York, Jason "Joey Abs From The Mean Street Posse" Ahrndt, "King Of Old School" Steve Corino and others. Not bad for a promotion that was started in rural North Carolina and lasted only a couple of years.

 

This documentary, produced by Highspots in 2007, is the first real look at OMEGA (WWE has touched on it in past productions). While it lacks the slick feel of a WWE-style documentary -- or even Jeremy Borash's stellar Forever Hardcore DVD -- there's definitely enough material here to make it worthwhile.

 

In addition to comments from both Hardys (Hardyz?), Corino, Moore, Arndt and Matthews, the documentary also gets comments from part-owner Thomas Simpson, announcer Ted Hobgood, and competitors Marty "Cham Pain" Garner, Mike Maverick, Murray "Otto Schwanz" Happer and others.

 

As a side note, it's a shame Garner never had a prominent run in the business, beyond a handful of WWE spots and as one of The Dupps in ECW.

 

OMEGA's appeal was largely because of its "underground, X Division before there was an X Division" vibe, but a lot can be credited to the characters -- ranging from Jeff Hardy as the masked Willow The Wisp to Helms and Maverick as The Serial Thrillaz.

 

The documentary gets emotional when they discuss the real-life friction that exists between Matt Hardy and Ahrndt, stemming from -- surprise, surprise -- a girl. Sadly, the story doesn't have the happiest of endings, with Arndt self-destructing and losing his job in the now-defunct Memphis developmental territory. Believe it or not, sans the Posse sweater vest, he actually had a decent look during his OMEGA days.

 

OMEGA officially closed up shop shortly after Matt and Jeff received their first WWE contracts, demonstrating that Matt was the real heart of the promotion -- backstage and in the ring.

 

My biggest complaint with the documentary is that it's really, really long. No offense, but the story didn't need to be as long as, say, The Rise & Fall of ECW when the promotion lasted a couple of years and had only a fraction of the overall impact in the wrestling business.

 

Extras are a little on the chintzy side -- you have about five matches (most of which have a Generation Me - Motor City Machine Gunsvibe to them, albeit in front of a much smaller crowd), a handful of promos that look like they were filmed in someone's basement, and some road stories about Garner working with The Rock on a film set.

 

Overall, I'd recommend taking a look at this (especially if you are a Hardy Boyz fan). Not the most polished of documentaries, but a solid look at one of the smaller promotions not likely to be spotlighted by WWE any time soon.