WWE Profile No. 3: The Hardys Boys Climb to the Top

In My Third installment of “WWE Profile” I will examine the careers of my favorite tag team of all time, The Hardy Boyz.  Matt and Jeff Hardy began wrestling before they were even in their teens. 

They used a trampoline and tree branches to make a ring in their backyard and learned the basics on their own. 

When the brothers were in their teens they began wrestling at fairs and other local events in their self promoted Omega Wrestling. They wrestled with such talents as Shannon Moore, Shane “Gregory” Helms and Joey Abs of the Mean Street Posse. 

Before long Matt and Jeff began wrestling on WWE television as jobbers to major stars.  Jeff was not even 18 the first time he was featured on WWE raw. 

The two would spend a few years jobbing before management decided to offer them a contract. The Hardys won their first tag team titles under the tutelage of tag team specialist and Fabulous Freebirds founder Michael Hayes.

The three feuded with Gangrel, Edge and Christian.  Before long The Hardys turned on their mentor and joined forces with Gangrel to form the new brood. 

During the Terri invitational tournament The Hardy Boys defeated Edge and Christian to win the first ever tag team ladder match. The team also competed in the first WWE tag team tables match against the Dudley boys.

Soon these three teams began what would become a staple in the WWE, the TLC match. These matches elevated all six men to the status of fan favorites and showed the risks that they were willing to take to entertain the fans. 

Lita soon joined the brothers as Matt’s real life girlfriend and the team’s manager.  The team received huge acclaim from the fans as they connected on a personal level with the teen and young adult fans. 

Their style and in ring skills have helped to make the Hardy boys feature attractions in the WWE.

All three teams would hold the tag team titles several times throughout their long feud.  During this time Matt and Jeff also began competing in and winning singles matches. At one point the brothers held the Hardcore and European titles at the same time.

After years as a team the WWE decided to split the brothers up to see how they fared as singles stars. 

The brothers would still team together from time to time, and Matt even helped Jeff win his first IC title. Jeff also won the Light-heavyweight title during this time while Matt competed for the European title. Matt soon developed a new heel character that became an ego-maniac. 

He called himself Matt Hardy Version One. His entrance would feature tidbits about Matt and he also changed his entrance music. Jeff and Matt feuded shortly over the Hardcore title before Matt began seeking the cruiserweight title.

Matt along with his MF’er Shannon Moore got Matts weight to within the limits to compete for the title. Matt dominated the other cruiserweight as he was usually the biggest guy in the match.

After Matt returned from an injury he joined Lita on Raw and feuded With Kane over her. Matt was injured during a choke slam from Kane that put him on the shelf until his release.

Around the same time Jeff began his quest for the Undisputed Title. He met up with the Undertake on Raw in a ladder match for the belt. The 'Taker won the match but Jeff earned his respect as well as the respect of all the fans. 

Jeff and Matt both met with personal issues that led to them leaving the company. Matt had been cheated on by Lita and this led to Matt’s release while Jeff was falling into the dangerous pattern of drugs and partying. 

Both brothers being gone left a void in the WWE that would not be filled until their return.

While Matt competed in the independent circuit for a time, Jeff had a short stint in TNA. Jeff competed over the NWA title with Jarrett, but came just shy of wining the title. Jeff formed friendships with TNA wrestler such as current WWE star R-Truth who at the time went by Ron “The Truth” Killings. 

Matt would make a surprise return on Raw attacking Edge before his match.  He made more appearances throughout the coming months until he was officially back in the ring.

Matt engaged in a feud with Edge that included some of their best matches. Edge eventually won out and sent Matt packing to Smackdown. Soon after Jeff re-signed with the WWE and returned to face Edge on Raw. 

Upon his return Jeff engaged in a string of matches with John Morrison, at the time he was Johnny Nitro, over the IC title including a cage match and a ladder match. Jeff would hold the IC title for months until he was defeated by Umaga. 

Matt was given a big push on smackdown garnering big wins over King Booker, Mr. Kennedy and MVP. Jeff fought the giant Umaga and eventually beat him to regain the IC title. Over the following months Jeff won several matches over the Samoan bulldozer becoming the first man to defeat the big man several times.

After Wrestlemania Matt and Jeff were re-united to win their seventh tag team championship during a ten team battle royal. The brother competed on all three brands during their time together before losing the titles to Cade and Murdoch.

Matt Engaged in one of the mast entertaining feuds on Smackdown when he fought MVP for the US title. The two ended up teaming together to win the tag team championship. They competed in several contests which usually ended in Matt winning or MVP cheating.

Matt was assisted by the Legendary Stone Cold Steve Austin in a beer drinking contest that ended with a Stunner, of course. Matt was eventually betrayed by MVP after their loss of the tag titles. Matt suffered a real life appendicitis putting him out for months.

Jeff began to get his first world title push as he engaged in a very personal angle with Randy Orton. Randy Orton attacked Matt before he was recovered and pushed Jeff to the edge. 

Jeff ended up performing one of his best spots ever when he swanton bombed Orton from a 30' structure at the entrance ramp. Jeff did not win the title from Orton but he certainly showed he could main event a PPV in the process. 

Matt returned to win the US title from MVP and held it for several months. He defended the title on a regular basis against the likes of MVP, Shelton Benjamin, Chavo Guererro, and Elijah Burke. 

After the WWE draft Matt found himself on ECW and Jeff was moved to Smackdown.  Matt lost his UStitle to Shelton Benjamin, but he bounced back and began fighting the world’s strongest man for the ECW title.

Matt Ended up beating Mark Henry to win his first major title.  This proved that Matt could hold his own against the bigger guys.  Jeff was on his way to a major title as well as he fought HHH and Edge over the belt. 

Jeff won the title by pinning Edge in a triple threat. Jeff received a huge ovation when he finally won his first world title.  His reign was short lived however as he lost the title only a few weeks later.  Matt was also defeated for his title and the brothers found themselves both without gold.

Jeff in Matt recently began a very personal feud with each other that will come to a head at this years Wrestlemania. 

Matt and Jeff have seen huge success that many wrestlers can only dream of. They have held pretty much every title there is to win as well as innovating the ladder match.  It’s no big secret that they remain the most popular brother tag team of all time.  Hopefully the WWE won’t make us wait another four years to see the Hardy’s reunited like last time.

As always, thanks for reading and let me know what you think.