Three Electric Hardy Boyz Segments That Made Them Legends

With "one final match" against their longtime adversaries, The Dudley Boyz (aka Team 3D), set for Bound for Glory in October, nostalgia surrounding The Hardy Boyz, (aka The Hardys) is reaching an all-time high. Teaming together for more than 30 years across dozens of promotions, Matt and Jeff have cemented their place in wrestling history, creating memories for fans across the globe throughout multiple incarnations of their characters. From first appearing together in WWF in 1996 on an episode of "WWF Superstars" as The Jynx Brothers (Ingus and Wildo—no, really), to a run as the New Brood (which, if nothing else, gave a peek at legendary rivalries with the Dudleys and Edge & Christian), to their time as Team Extreme alongside Lita, and primarily, simply as The Hardy Boyz, their tenures in WWE headline their illustrious careers; but the impact doesn't stop there. 

Thanks to the creation of "The Broken Universe," both Matt and Jeff were able to innovate and reinvent themselves at a later stage in their careers, thinking outside the box, appearing across several promotions, and helping to bring cinematic wrestling to the forefront of the business more prominently than it ever had been before. That, along with the story behind a pair of all-time classic triple threat tag team matches, and a WrestleMania return for the ages, stand out as pillars of Matt and Jeff's run as a tag team, and proving that it wasn't just the matches, but the moments too, that helped create their eventual Hall of Fame legacy.

In 2016, the Hardys were performing in Impact Wrestling when, a brief feud between the brothers resulted in both men being beaten down in an "I Quit" match, with Matt leaving on a stretcher. Upon return from the damage incurred in that bout, Matt was, well, different, speaking in an oddball accent on account of his "con-deesh-un," and being challenged by Jeff (soon to be known as "Brother Nero") for a match at The Hardy Compound. The Broken Universe soon expanded with Matt's wife Reby, father-in-law "Señor" Benjamin, young son Maxel, and others playing roles, while "The Final Deletion" match introduced "The Dilapidated Boat," Skarsgård, and a drone named Vanguard 1, taking place in and around the "Lake of Reincarnation" adjacent to House Hardy. At one point, there was boxing against a kangaroo named "Smokin' Joe Frazier," proving that, when you take wrestling out of its traditional setting, pretty much anything is possible.

This was all beyond a leap away from the ordinary but a jump-cut into a new world in terms of how to present professional wrestling. Trendsetting in and of itself, a few years later, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, there's no debating that the creativity that came from the minds Hardy, as well as Jeremy Borash and others, allowed for a safety valve previously unforeseen when in-ring stories being told would have been less than without fans in attendance. 

In the end, "Final Deletion" was just the start of these outside-the-box matches in the Broken Universe, with "Delete or Decay," "The Great War," and "Total Nonstop Deletion" still to come under the Impact umbrella, along with the "Woken" WWE incarnation that never really got to flourish, for better or for worse. It did allow for the pairing of Matt with the late Bray Wyatt, however, as "The Deleters of Worlds," so for that, fans can at least be thankful.

With the Hardys and Dudleys set to renew their rivalry one last time at TNA Bound for Glory, it's hard not to also think of Edge & Christian, with the teams forever tied at the hip thanks to a pair of unforgettable triple threat TLC matches at SummerSlam 2000 and WrestleMania X-Seven. The matches themselves stole the shows at each event, building off of a Triangle Ladder Match at WrestleMania 2000, and now expanding the weaponry to showcase each team's favorite foreign object. Every time these duos got together, the carnage and creativity was taken to another level, with countless tables smashed, piles of ladders bent and broken, and chairshots galore to one and all.

Speaking of one and all, not only did these iconic showdowns further the careers of the combatants involved, they also gave the rub to associates for each team in TLC 2, with Lita getting involved on The Hardys' behalf, Spike Dudley joining the frey for his storyline brothers, and Rhyno inserting himself to help his buds, E&C. In what became a moment in time that stands as iconic for not just the WrestleMania X-Seven match but also its predecessors and the three-way rivalry itself, Edge hit a Spear off of a 12-foot ladder and through a suspended Jeff Hardy, who was stuck hanging from the belts above after an unsuccessful attempt to secure the win. 

It's good that the Hardys and Dudleys get to run this back one more time, but it will be hard not to think about the third team that really should be involved here. Unfortunately, that seems impossible with Edge (now Cope) and Christian (Cage) now spending their time in AEW.

Away from WWE for eight years, by early 2017, partially because of battling with Impact's parent company, Anthem, over ownership of the "Broken" gimmick, it was time for the Hardys to move on from Impact and by March, a run in Ring of Honor culminated in them capturing the Tag Team Championships as part of their "Expedition of Gold." But that ROH run wouldn't last long, and when they lost the gold to The Young Bucks (or as Broken Matt would say, "The Bucks of Youth"), the night before WrestleMania 33 at ROH Supercard of Honor, a fantastical whisper began to stir as longtime fans hoped that maybe, somehow, they might get the surprise of all surprises.

With WWE having secretly signed The Hardys and hidden them away from just about everyone for most of wrestling's trademark event, it was time for a Triple Threat Ladder Match for the "Raw" Tag Team Championships between The Bar, Enzo & Cass, and Gallows & Anderson. With the teams set to compete, The New Day (hosting WrestleMania that year) announced that the match would become a Fatal Four-Way, wondered aloud who the fourth team could be to tease their own participation, only to pull off the ultimate swerve when The Hardys' iconic music hit.

The reaction was, in a word, wonderful, as the crowd roared its loudest roar of the evening, danced along with Jeff's patented juke, and peppered in a significant display of "Delete!" chants as Matt complied with the gesture as they made their way down the ramp. The match itself was fine enough, and the Hardys even pulled off the win, but this was about the moment, and will go down as one of the greatest returns of all time.