Shining a Spotlight 5.08.08: The Hardyz

Posted by Michael Weyer on 05.08.2008

Inspired by their new DVD, another look at the brothers and which of them is more deserving of the main event spot.

It's not often I examine the same subject and especially not as quickly. Last year, I did a column about the Hardyz as at the time both were pretty much in the midcard at WWE with not much outlook for rising further. Circumstances, of course, have changed for both as Matt and Jeff have each gotten big pushes that have made them true single stars but have also hit a few roadblocks along the way. This has caused me to shift my opinions on them slightly, a shift also pushed by WWE's new DVD on the brothers which hit last week.

As much as I liked the Austin and HHH anthology sets, the Hardyz one shows that the documentary features are really the way to go with these things. It just comes off better seeing the footage alongside the great production values WWE has to tell the story of the main subjects. Splitting it into two discs, one on each brother, is an intriguing idea and makes the tales of them more interesting to watch.

I don't think I have to relate the irony of the DVD's timing in release. It's more than a bit jarring to hear everyone talking about how on the top of his game Jeff has become when he's serving a suspension for breaking the wellness policy. Meanwhile, Matt has been talking as if he hasn't been on the shelf for the last few months, slowing his progress toward the US title and feud with MVP. But, as usual, the DVD is a great way to show more insight to the two brothers and their journey to stardom while also highlighting the personal aspects of their lives. It's partly because of that that I'm examining them now and how their past attitude affects their current one.

What gets you watching the DVD, both discs, is that Matt and Jeff absolutely adore this business. Now, it may seem odd that Wrestlemania IV could hook someone onto the sport but that's what happened with them as in one night, they became complete fanatics for it. It's natural for kids to put down some mats and wrestle around in them. It's something else entirely (especially back in '89) to put up a trampoline, cut down logs to make ring posts, an entranceway and a full-fledged local promotion with belts and even cameras to do promos. You could tell these were two guys who would do absolutely anything to get into wrestling for real. That included starting their own promotion, OMEGA, which did a lot of high-flying, high-impact bouts on the indy circuit and did some respectable business too.

That got the Hardyz into WWE where they were part of the "extras." Back in the early to mid 1990's, it was still standard to see matches on both RAW and the weekend syndicated shows where a big star would face some unknown, the star using all their moves en route to an easy victory. They'd also have side jobs like dressing up in jester costumes to open the doors at the King of the Ring. Jeff would get some more face time taking on Rob Van Dam during the ECW interaction with WWF in early 1997. Everyone puts over how they liked the Hardyz among the jobbers as they would sell like crazy for their opponents (like Jeff taking a clothesline from King Kong Bundy and doing a 360 in mid-air from it). That hard work ethic got them attention and they decided to invest some actually work in them with Michael Hayes as their manager.

Hayes puts the guys over well as good listeners as he tried to teach them his old-school style. He may have been a bit too old-school at times and it's funny when he admits he had hoped to turn into a new Freebirds, with the same style of clothing and they basically told him "Um, dude, it's 1999." They still hadn't really taken off as they were mostly the typical babyface tag team in wild clothing and headbands but getting more street clothing with Hayes did help. It earned them a brief run as tag team champions and upon losing the belts, turned on Hayes. That freed them to try to find their own identity, which took a bit of doing.

But at No Mercy '99, they found it in the classic ladder match against Edge & Christian as all four men took bumps and moves never before seen in a battle that instantly made them stars. Soon, the Hardyz were showing their skills in the tables and ladders matches with E&C and the Dudleyz, taking some of the most brutal bumps anyone has ever witnessed (a nice bit on the DVD is both brothers acknowledging how even they got sick of all three teams dominating the tag title scene). They also added the final ingredient to their popularity: Lita. To its credit, the DVD does acknowledge how big Lita was when she and the Hardyz hooked up and even has the great comment about how she was basically a female version of them. It's true, from her attitude to her attire, she mirrored them perfectly as back in 2000, you didn't see a woman in WWE doing moonsaults or taking lumps like the guys. She fit with them as they would come down, high energy from the second their music hit, an energy the crowd fed into and vice versa. You never heard anyone really booing them at all, they just had so much great heat. That seemed to carry over when they moved to singles action but never quite became as huge as most expected and their personalities do play a part in that.

From watching the DVD, it's clear that Matt was the more mature of the two. Jeff himself notes that Matt was the one who led the stuff on business with contracts and such which is natural as the older brother. Matt saw the business as that, a business while Jeff enjoyed the more fun aspects of it. That makes sense as his DVD is littered with stuff from his songs, poems and artwork and you know that if he wasn't a wrestler, he'd be an artist. Like artists, his mind works a bit differently than others which explains his ring style. I mean, what kind of truly sane person would willingly put his body through so many tables and take leaps off ladders just to thrill a crowd? Jeff has always had that wild style to himself which unfortunately has led to another trait a lot of artists: Addiction.

You could probably trace it to Michael Hayes. Let's face it, if you want to make sure a young wrestler stays away from booze, you shouldn't hook him up with Hayes. The man is notorious for his hard-partying ways on the road and that obviously rubbed off on Jeff. It's also not surprising he would turn to drugs to ease the pain of all those massive bumps he took. It's clear it was starting to impair his performance as 2002 went on and like many a wrestler hooked on drugs and drink, Jeff refused to acknowledge he even had a problem which led to his firing. He actually puts it over as a good thing as it let him take a year off, catch up on his art and motorbiking before going to TNA. Keep in mind, back in 2004, TNA was still on the rise and trying to make a name with more X Divison action and not as many ex-WWE guys so Jeff was a good fit then.

It seemed Jeff had lost a bit of his passion with TNA. He got a good start against AJ Styles and even a title program against Jeff Jarrett before they started to put him in hardcore matches with Abyss and Raven. You can actually see some of Jeff's interest and heat fading as he went on so it's not surprising when he no-showed the "Final Justice" '05 PPV. He would have been fired but he was a big merchandise mover and TNA needed all the money they could get then. They were also hoping that with Matt a free agent, they could snag him and firing his brother might not have been a good move. Jeff would come back but continue his rather lackluster run before no-showing again and being shown the door.

Meanwhile, Matt had taken off pretty well on Smackdown with his "Matt Hardy Version 1.0" character. The DVD nicely shows the genesis, that Matt knew Jeff was getting more cheers but claimed he was the more popular of the brothers. From that he created the character of a guy who acted like he was the biggest star in the sport, deluding himself to how popular he was. It led to a nice push as Cruiserweight champion with "MF'er" Matt Morgan and he seemed to be rising well. But, as with so many men before him, his good sense got sidetracked by his heart as he agreed to be moved to RAW in order to be closer with real life girlfriend Lita. Despite trying to have him go heel on her, he never clicked on RAW without that Mattitude character and his injury came at a rough time. It did sound like he was going to come back with an edgier character but then real life took its now infamous turn.

The DVD makes you feel for Matt all over again as he shares how he found out that Edge and Lita were screwing around behind his back and how that naturally threw him for a loop. Edge tries to brush it off as people not knowing the full story and even looks at the positive side how it helped his main event heel push. Matt, of course, was angry as hell, putting it out there which soon led to his firing, another major blow. After going to ROH for a bit, Matt managed to negotiate his return which started with him attacking Edge on camera before he was formally announced as being signed, which really ranks as one of the most brilliant moves WWE did. The announcers didn't even mention his name to better sell it and it led to a big hype when he did officially come back.

I know everyone has judged their actual feud as not as good as it was supposed to be. I think that is true but when you watch the DVD and hear them talking, you get the sense that what prevented it from going well was that, despite all the talk Edge and Matt have about being professional about it, there was just too much raw emotion to work past. If they'd really gone all out, it's quite probable Matt would have hurt Edge which wouldn't have done either of them good. Their "Unforgiven" cage match was a great battle but I think it was clear that neither could work together in the same show, moving Matt to Smackdown.

So when Jeff came back to WWE in late '06, he did so with a nice media push as, despite his problems with TNA, he still had a good fanbase and got a nice push right off the bat winning the IC title. He and Matt would also team up again for an ECW show and the wild ladder match at Armageddon. I do wish they'd included the MITB match at Wrestlemania 23 where they actually fought each other for a bit before Jeff did that great ladder splash on Edge. That led to a brief tag title reign and then how each of them saw their singles careers take interesting turns.

The Matt-MVP program has to rank as one of the better long-range feuds WWE has put together in a while. What strikes you is how so much of the MVP character is rather like Matt's "Mattitude" with the arrogance, the assumption of greatness and acting like everyone loves him. Also great was the idea that Matt seemed to think MVP saw him as an equal with respect and admiration instead of trying to show him up in all the competitions. Throw in the nice twist that MVP wanted them tag champions to distract Matt from the US title and you've got a great long-term setup. Matt truly seemed fired up by the whole thing, increasing his skills and thus his heat. Of course, Matt had to go and get injured again just before the payoff but his surprise return at Mania was great and he now has the belt and continues to rise more on Smackdown.

As for Jeff, after a bit of a break, he got the biggest push by beating HHH clean and regaining the IC belt to set up a Royal Rumble match with Orton. The heat was on him, the fans were behind him, everyone was saying it made perfect sense for him to win the belt from Orton. Well, almost everyone. Despite the push and the heat, I just couldn't shake the feeling that Jeff wasn't the type of guy who can carry as a champion. His whole persona is being such an outsider, having him conform as champ would seem limited. He also seemed one of those guys fans love to see chase the belt but cool to him once he's actually champ (see Cena, John). Not to mention with his track record, putting the big belt on him might be a risk. Sadly, my fears were proven right.

I can't help but feel nothing but sympathy for Jeff for losing his house, dog and possessions. But it was pretty dumb of him to break the wellness policy in the midst of the biggest push of his career. He had to know that with his past record, they'd be checking on him more closely than most and he honestly seemed to have cleaned up his act, which makes it sadder. He'll be coming back but the damage has been done. It's not just that he let down all his fans yet again, which could lead to a blow for his popularity and respect. It's also that, like RVD before him, Jeff has shown he can't handle the big time. He was given a push most guys would kill for and he let it slip through his fingers and proven the doubters right. That's something he may not recover from. In fact, when the Fink did the reader stuff on how to book Jeff's return, almost no one made a main event level push as he'd shown he wasn't reliable enough for it.

Matt is different. I had some doubts in his main event credibility but his program with MVP has shown a new determination and skill, perhaps brought on by his time off. The pop when he won the US title was big and he's shown a nice maturity and sense of business that makes me think he truly can handle being the World champ on the Smackdown side. He's been through a lot but keeps on going which shows he can handle the rigors of the title and with Smackdown needing a fresher face on top, he'd be a good pick.

So as you look at the brothers, you see two guys who are more friends than siblings but have their differences which has shown in the ring. Matt was the more mature, the more level-headed, the one who treats it as a business and that's been shown in his determination and drive to keep going no matter what life throws at him. Jeff, an artist and free thinker, saw it as an outlet for his daredevil side, more fun than work which isn't always the best attitude. His personal addictions have hardly helped as he appears to be a man who refuses to acknowledge he has a problem which led to the end of his grand push. When he does return, it's unlikely he'll be anywhere near that level again as he just isn't trustworthy anymore.

They'll always be linked, these brothers but their differences are what set them apart more than their similarities. One has proven he can carry a company well while the other has sadly let his personal demons overcome his abilities. They'll always be regarded for their great battles and I do think Matt can still go far in the singles ranks but Jeff sadly might not be able to rise further now. Still, they continue to live up to their old name of Team Xtreme and have achieved their goal of wrestling stardom. It's hard to argue with a childhood dream coming true…even if the reality isn't as good.


Also around 411mania:

First farewell to Randy Byers whose Impact Crater was always fun reading as well as Chris Lansdell and Samuel Berman who had good stuff too.

Both Fink's Payload and Thoughts From the Top Rope imagine a WWE/TNA program.

Whacky Wrestling Theory looks back at Bob Holly.

Truth B Told examines title programs affected by injuries.

Seventh Dimension has a nice bit on generations seeing certain wrestlers.

Mike Chin looks at the Importance of Secondary Belts.

Julian Bond asks us to Not Hate Sean Waltman.

The Shimmy gets back to its look at the World Heavyweight Title.

The Wrestling Doctor examines the WWE schedule.

Piledriver Report has a good article at DVDs WWE should do.

Don't forget Column of Honor, Triple Threat, 3 R's, Fact or Fiction, Ask 411 and the rest.


Next week I take a look at some overrated performers. For now, the spotlight is off.