{"id":201014,"date":"2025-07-19T08:00:53","date_gmt":"2025-07-19T13:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=201014"},"modified":"2025-07-14T15:23:17","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T20:23:17","slug":"vip-2005-back-issue-pro-wrestling-torch-870-july-16-2005-matt-hardy-returns-to-wwe-after-lita-edge-mess-hardy-disrespects-fans-online-smackdown-terrorist-angle-heyman-replaces-cornet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2025\/07\/19\/vip-2005-back-issue-pro-wrestling-torch-870-july-16-2005-matt-hardy-returns-to-wwe-after-lita-edge-mess-hardy-disrespects-fans-online-smackdown-terrorist-angle-heyman-replaces-cornet\/","title":{"rendered":"VIP 2005 BACK ISSUE \u2013 Pro Wrestling Torch #870 (July 16, 2005): Matt Hardy returns to WWE after Lita-Edge mess, Hardy disrespects fans online, Smackdown terrorist angle, Heyman replaces Cornette as OVW booker"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-3977220815\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p><strong>SUMMARY of #870 cover-dated July 16, 2005:<\/strong> This issue includes The Top Five Stories of the Week such as the Terrorist Angle Controversy from Smackdown, Matt Hardy&#8217;s Shoot-Work Angle, Heyman replacing Cornette, Summerslam taking shape, and more&#8230; The Cover Story goes in-depth on the entire Matt Hardy decision to return to WWE asking a lot of questions and answering most of them, along with a timeline of when decisions were made and why, and more&#8230; End Notes with Wade Keller looks at the pros and cons of Hardy&#8217;s decision including where he screwed up, plus criticism of how WWE has reacted to their terrorist angle last week&#8230; WWE Newswire looks at media coverage of the terrorist angle plus more news and backstage insider tidbits&#8230; Part two of James Guttman&#8217;s review of the &#8217;80s DVD&#8230; Pat McNeill looks at ROH&#8217;s latest home video release and dissects Kevin Nash&#8217;s latest Torch Talk installment&#8230; Bruce Mitchell&#8217;s feature-length column looks at Hulk Hogan&#8217;s latest maneuverings, how it fits with his history, and what Vince McMahon&#8217;s latest moves say about his mood these days&#8230; Letters to the Editor features reader comments on Hardy and the Terrorist Angle&#8230; Plus Backtrack, TNA Newswire, ETC. Newswire, Torch Poll Analysis, Arena Spotlight, and more&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>\u2013<a href=\"https:\/\/vip.pwtorch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/PWTorchNewsletter870PDF.pdf\">DIRECT LINK: PWTorchNewsletter #870<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2013<a href=\"https:\/\/vip.pwtorch.com\/category\/vipexclusives\/2005-back-issues\/\">LIST OF ALL 2005 BACK ISSUES<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2013<a href=\"http:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/members\/artman\/publish\/vipcatchall\/article_76799.shtml\">TUTORIAL ON DISPLAYING NEWSLETTER PDFS ON IPAD OR ANDROID TABLET<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>FULL NEWSLETTER TEXT AND PDF VERSIONS AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY TO VIP MEMBERS\u2026<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<div id=\"pwtorch-com_dynamic_incontent1\" class=\"fs-dynamic\" data-slot=\"complete\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\">\n<div id=\"pwtorch-com_dynamic_incontent1_slot\" data-google-query-id=\"CN-Bz8HL9IMDFbYFTwgdNNgI2w\">\n<div id=\"google_ads_iframe_\/15184186,22430266072\/pwtorch-com_in-content-narrow_position_0__container__\">NOT VIP? NO PROBLEM\u2026 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/pwtorch-vip-membership-information\/\">CLICK HERE FOR VIP SIGN UP INFO WITH DIGITAL PDF &amp; TEXT NEWSLETTER ACCESS<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>OR SIGN UP FOR HOME POSTAL DELIVERY OF WEEKLY PAPER COPY:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/pwtorch.com\/papercopy\/\">CLICK HERE<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-101466133\"><div id=\"pwtor-28406654\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>SUMMARY of #870 cover-dated July 16, 2005: This issue includes The Top Five Stories of the Week such as the Terrorist Angle Controversy from Smackdown, Matt Hardy&#8217;s Shoot-Work Angle, Heyman replacing Cornette, Summerslam taking shape, <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2025\/07\/19\/vip-2005-back-issue-pro-wrestling-torch-870-july-16-2005-matt-hardy-returns-to-wwe-after-lita-edge-mess-hardy-disrespects-fans-online-smackdown-terrorist-angle-heyman-replaces-cornet\/\" title=\"VIP 2005 BACK ISSUE \u2013 Pro Wrestling Torch #870 (July 16, 2005): Matt Hardy returns to WWE after Lita-Edge mess, Hardy disrespects fans online, Smackdown terrorist angle, Heyman replaces Cornette as OVW booker\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":201015,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,1361],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-201014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vipexclusivealerts","category-vip_newsletters"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2025\/07\/TorchCover870_3x2_600.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201014"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201014\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":201016,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201014\/revisions\/201016"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}