What’s the story?
The Hardy Boyz took the wrestling world by storm when they returned to the WWE at Wrestlemania 33 in Citrus Bowl. The duo spent a better part of the decade performing for the competitors of WWE (Impact Wrestling) but finally returned to the place where they first tasted mainstream success.
In this article, we would revisit every instance at which the dynamic duo left the company and find out the reasons behind it!
In case you didn’t know...
After weeks of speculation, The Hardy Boyz finally returned to the WWE at Wrestlemania 33 last night and once again managed to leave us starstruck with their broken Brilliance. Matt and Jeff entered the RAW Tag Team Championship match as the surprise entrants and ended up winning the title at the Camping World Stadium.
In case you missed it, here are the highlights from the match:
The heart of the matter
Over the years, the Hardy Boyz have shared a love-hate relationship with the WWE. The duo was originally signed to the WWE in 1998, where they performed as a tag team for several years up till 2003 when Jeff Hardy was released from his contract citing several failed drug tests and his proclivity of not showing up at live events.
In 2006, Jeff Hardy was re-signed by the WWE and spent three strong years within the company enjoying a successful run as the Intercontinental Champion and a world title win before he was once again ousted due to recurring injuries. Prior to last night, this was the last time we saw the Charismatic Enigma inside the WWE ring.
While Jeff Hardy was struggling with his demons, Matt Hardy was enjoying a relatively successful singles career. However, in 2004 when he was forced to take time off from wrestling due to a knee injury. During this time, Matt was dating fellow wrestler Lita who began cheating on him with another WWE Superstar Edge.
The by-product of this was a great deal of backstage drama, that eventually resulted in Hardy getting fired, while Edge and Lita stayed on. However, Matt Hardy returned to the company in the following year, and what ensued was a storyline feud between him and Edge that was inspired by their off-screen conflict.
Matt Hardy stayed with the WWE for five more years but eventually demanded a release from his contract in late 2010 citing underutilisation of his talent.
What’s next?
The Hardy Boyz returned to Monday Night Raw after seven years as the new RAW Tag Team Champions and it was absolutely WONDERFUL! They will defend the titles against Sheamus and Cesaro at Payback on April 30th.
Author’s take
The Hardys are without a doubt one of the most iconic tag teams of their generation. Their resurrection was unarguably one of the biggest pro wrestling stories of 2016, and they certainly deserve to be the RAW Tag Team Champions.
It would be interesting to see whether they would debut their broken gimmick in WWE as it could potentially lead to various lawsuits of gimmick infringement with Impact Wrestling.
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