After a lengthy absence
from the grandest stage in all of professional wrestling, 2017 saw the
return of The Hardy Boyz, Matt & Jeff Hardy, to a WWE ring. One of
the most accomplished and innovative tag teams in WWE history, the
Hardyz paved the way for a faster paced, high intensity (and high risk)
daredevil style which changed the face of tag team wrestling within the
WWE. After returning to great acclaim at WrestleMania 33 and winning the
WWE RAW Tag Team Titles, WWE have set out to mark Matt and Jeff's
homecoming with this 3-disc DVD set 'Twist of Fate: The Best of the
Hardy Boyz' featuring over 25 matches and newly recorded interview
segments at the Hardy Compound that add some context and
behind-the-scenes information to the storied careers on display.
The
first disc begins, where else, with the WWE debut of Matt and Jeff as a
tag team from way back in 1996. Facing off against the short-lived duo
of The New Rockers (Marty Jannetty and Leif Cassidy, AKA Al Snow), the
young Hardy brothers acquit themselves well while taking a resounding
beating. Jeff takes a huge back body drop over the ropes and to the
floor, before suffering a doomsday powerbomb to give the Rockers the
victory. Fast forward a couple of years and The Hardy Brothers (now both
out of high school and able to compete full-time with the WWE) have
become The Hardy Boyz, but are still in search of victory as they take
on the Kai En Tai team of Funaki & MEN's Teioh. The Hardyz get to
display some innovative offense, but their risk taking is almost their
undoing as Jeff misses a step-up tope and crashes hard to the floor. But
when Kai En Tai's nefarious tactics backfire on them, the young Hardyz
take full advantage and pick up their first WWE win in the process.
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| A VERY young Matt & Jeff Hardy in the WWF |
Their
first taste of WWE Tag Team gold came in 1999 against The Acolytes of
Bradshaw & Farooq. With the help of Michael Hayes as their manager
The Hardy Boyz steal a win over their intimidating opponents, thanks to a
tombstone on the ring steps Kane delivered to Bradshaw the night
before, and a shot to the head from Hayes' cane. Next we're treated to
two of the earliest matches in the long-standing rivalry of The Hardy
Boyz and Edge & Christian. The first of the two is a fast-paced
Tornado Tag match from an episode of Smackdown, while the second is the
very first (but most certainly not last) ladder match in which both
teams faced off against one another.
Here we
get a glimpse of the inventiveness of The Hardyz and Edge &
Christian, the chemistry they had together in the ring and the
death-defying lengths they would go to in order to steal the show. Next
up is another big first, the first time The Hardy Boyz wrestled each
other on WWE television. Forced into the match by Stephanie McMahon, the
reluctant Hardyz soon find their competitive spirit and the result is a
brief but entertaining singles bout pitting brother against brother.
Another tag match vs Edge & Christian follows, this one from No Way
Out 2000 is a bit more grounded than the last and notable for The Hardyz
manager Terri turning on them.
The year from
WrestleMania 2000 to WrestleMania X-Seven was an important one for The
Hardy Boyz and the first disc of the set closes out with four huge bouts
that went a long way to cementing their status as one of the most
exciting tag teams in the world. First, the 3-way ladder match from WM
2000 introduced the destructive Dudley Boyz to the Hardyz/E&C mix,
while SummerSlam a few months latter saw all three teams collide again
in the first ever TLC match. At Unforgiven Edge & Christian faced
the Hardyz in a memorable cage match, while WM X-7 saw the three-way TLC
match return for a second year. These four matches include some of the
most memorable moments in the careers of all six men involved, and set
the bar for tag team wrestling in the WWE.
Disc
2 begins with The Hardy Boyz at the very top of the tag team game,
having seen it all and done it all as a tag team their increasing
popularity grants more and more opportunities for them outside of the
tag division and in the main event. Case in point, a huge Monday Night
RAW main event match pitting The Hardy Boyz & The Brothers of
Destruction vs Stone Cold, Triple H, Edge & Christian. Matt &
Jeff talk about what it meant to them to get to work with some of the
biggest names in the WWE and how they used the experience to improve
their game. Next, old enemy Edge teams with The Hardyz to take on Test
& The Dudleys, setting up a unification match between The Hardyz
& The Dudleys for the WWF & WCW Tag Team Titles in a steel cage
at Survivor Series 2001 that saw a memorable (but disastrous) Swanton
Bomb off the cage.
Over the next year or so
Matt & Jeff would branch out more as singles competitors with
varying degrees of success. While Matt established himself with his
Version 1.0 character, Jeff struggled to find his footing on his own and
would end up leaving the WWE in 2003. The matches chosen here reflect
that, with Chris Jericho taking on a Jeff Hardy struggling to find his
identity in the "solo dimension", as Jeff puts it, and two great matches
from a popular feud between Matt Hardy and Rey Mysterio for the
Cruiserweight Title. The second of which is an important match in the
career of Mysterio, his first singles title in the WWE.
Fast
forward to December 2006 and the Hardy Boyz are once again teaming
together in a WWE ring for the first time in just under 3 years. The
match vs MNM is a bit of a mixed bag, although it drags in places and
goes longer than necessary it was the one bright spot of a generally
ill-remembered ECWWE PPV, but the crowd were definitely pleased to see
The Hardy Boyz teaming again. Next up a solid tag bout pitting the newly
minted WWE Tag Team Champions (The Hardys won the belts in a Battle
Royale on RAW) against Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch, notable for being
the first Hardy defence of the tag titles in six years.
The
final match on this portion of the set is a show-stealing ladder match
from One Night Stand 2007 that saw The Hardy Boyz defend the World Tag
Titles against The World's Greatest Tag Team of Charlie Haas and Shelton
Benjamin. A classic car crash of a bout that illustrates how well
matches these two teams were, and what a shame it is they didn't face
off again. Shelton has the athleticism and will to put his body on the
line like Jeff, Charlie has the skills to handle Matt in the ring, but
The Hardys have the experience and the result is a great tag contest
that is deservedly highlighted here.
Disc 3
picks up the action in 2009 with the Hardy brothers locked in an
embittered feud stemming from Matt's jealousy of Jeff's popularity, and
resulting in a memorable storyline where it's revealed Matt burned down
Jeff's house (a real life event incorporated into the tale). They face
off in a ladder match at WrestleMania XXV that sees both brothers test
the extremes to which they'll go in order to gain victory, before the
feud is settled at Backlash 2009 in an I Quit match where Jeff finally
defeats his brother.
A few months later Jeff
would again leave the WWE, and a year after that Matt followed him. They
reunited in TNA and ROH, a period of their career covered here by a ten
minute interview segment and a few scant clips courtesy of the Global
Wrestling Network. Quickly, however, the set races towards The Hardy
Boyz big return to the WWE at WrestleMania 33 in Florida. Fresh off a
gruelling ladder match to finish up their time in Ring of Honor, Matt
& Jeff were brought back to the WWE in the utmost secrecy and,
although their return had been widely speculated upon, the response from
the crowd was no less rapturous.
The match
itself is a chaotic 4-way ladder match for the RAW Tag Team
Championship, pitting The Hardy Boyz against Sheamus & Cesaro, Enzo
& Big Cass and Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson. While much of the
action inevitably revolves around the other teams in the match, the
experience of the Hardyz pays off and they pick their moment perfectly
to win the tag titles (as well as reminding everyone that they're still
as crazy as ever, Matt with a Twist of Fate off a ladder, and Jeff
hitting an insane Swanton to the outside).
The
next two matches on the set come from The Hardy Boyz feud with Cesaro
& Sheamus over the RAW Tag Team Championship, namely the cage match
from Extreme Rules 2017 and the Iron Man Tag Team Match from WWE's Great
Balls of Fire PPV. The name of the show being 'Extreme Rules' only
highlights how different the modern WWE cage match is from the sort of
cage matches Matt & Jeff were innovating nearly two decades prior.
That being said, all four guys work hard in this one, as they do in the
Iron Man match. Not a rule-set terribly suited to tag wrestling, but
they make it work here and after a bit of a rough start the crowd get
really into the final third of the match.
Rounding
out the set are two singles matches from Monday Night RAW with the
Hardy brother in turn trying to wrest the WWE Intercontinental Title
away from the hands of The Miz. Compared to the other singles matches on
the set these show a different side of the Hardyz, older, a bit wiser
and more experienced, but still with a spark of that same energy they
possessed when the were in their prime. Afterwards Matt talks about
Jeff's recent injury and how that gave him an opportunity to bring his
'Woken' character to the WWE, before the brothers contemplate what the
future will bring for their careers to bring the interview to a close.
Overall
this is a content-rich set that will please any fan of The Hardy Boyz.
While not a definitive collection, the matches have been selected to
tell the story of Matt & Jeff's careers from the beginning up to the
present day and, to that end, the selection suceeds with only a small
number of matches feeling superfluous. The interviews are a welcome
addition and provide good context where needed as well as a number of
backstage anecdotes, and it was cool to see early footage of the Hardyz
as kids and some clips of their time in TNA.
'Twist of Fate: The Best of the Hardy Boyz' is available on DVD from WWE Home Video UK
