By James Caldwell, PWTorch columnist

During last week's ECW Title match against Finlay that aired on Tuesday night, ECW champion Matt Hardy suffered an injury to his previously surgically-repaired left knee. Hardy continued the match after hyper-extending his knee, then he was evaluated afterward.

WWE doctors in Manchester last week determined he slightly tore his posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) and stretched some other ligaments in his knee. Hardy was supposed to have the day off after the ECW taping last week, but he was booked for the double-shot Smackdown taping the next night.

Hardy wrote on his myspace page that he woke up last Tuesday morning and his knee felt "absolutely horrible." He added, "I can barely walk."

Hardy said he went through a process of wrapping and icing his knee to get it prepared for Smackdown, where he had a near-15-minute match against Shelton Benjamin.

"In case you're wondering, I was in excruciating pain the whole time," Hardy said about the match. "I also wrestled another tag match that will be featured on this week's Smackdown."

Hardy returned to the U.S. yesterday along with the Smackdown crew after working tag team matches at the end of the tour in Germany. Hardy will get some needed rest prior to the Survivor Series PPV on Sunday in Boston.

Caldwell's Analysis: It seems inevitable that anyone who holds a major title in WWE will suffer some sort of injury. WWE is pushing its top stars to be on Raw, Smackdown, and ECW with significant regularity these days, almost to the point of when WWE's Undisputed Champion would appear on all TV shows as the main star of the company.

Hardy pushing himself in the match against Finlay last week is admirable to a point, but when you consider that Evan Bourne pushed himself to finish a six-man tag match after suffering a serious injury a few weeks, WWE really needs to re-evaluate the policy of wrestlers "finishing matches." One guy doesn't want to be the one to tell the ref to stop a match, so WWE needs to consider creating a universal policy for wrestlers to not attempt to risk further injury if they suffer something serious in the ring.

Of course it would throw off a planned finish, but when considering how few main event, money-drawing stars WWE has right now, it's imperative to maintain the health of the wrestlers. The roster isn't getting any younger with Michaels, Undertaker, Batista, and Triple H still headlining TV and PPVs.

RELATED STORY at PWTorch.com: Matt Hardy's match announced for Survivor Series.

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