It seems that Matt Hardy must continue to suffer on the sidelines, at least for another week. After last week's Tag Team Match on SmackDown, during which Hardy sustained a skull-deep gash that required 17 stitches to close, doctors would not clear him to compete at Cyber Sunday against fellow WWE Tag Team Champion, MVP. Unfortunately, Hardy received the same diagnosis from doctors this week in Uniondale, and is therefore not cleared to compete -- either alongside or against the United States Champion -- on Friday Night SmackDown.

"Not being cleared again is real frustrating," a dejected Hardy told WWE.com. "I hate being on the outside looking in, especially after I did my damnedest to be able to wrestle MVP at Cyber Sunday. Still, the doctors won't clear me. They said it was a deep laceration that went all the way down to the skull, and if it bursts open it could get easily infected. So, I'll have to follow doctors' orders, which isn't my favorite thing to do."

WWE physician, Dr. Ferdinand Rios, understands and appreciates Hardy's frustration. Nevertheless, his prime concern is for the Superstar's physical wellbeing.

"If we can keep Matt from getting injured where he had his laceration, he'll heal nicely," Dr. Rios explained. "If not, he can develop an infection and have a significant scar. Once you open up a wound that has been sewn, it's much more vulnerable to become infected, and that means we'd have to give him antibiotics and other treatments.

As for Hardy's chances of seeing Friday Night SmackDown action, Dr. Rios sounded far more optimistic.

"I think that within the next seven days, we can have Matt back in the ring," he replied.

Informed of the likelihood of being able to compete next week, Hardy said, "That's good, because then I can get back to my environment. I can get back to being Matt Hardy, to being one-half of the WWE Tag Team Champions and, maybe more important, back to concentrating on my ultimate goal: Earning another U.S. Title Match against MVP."