Matt Hardy is one of the wrestling industry's most beloved legends and undoubtedly a future Hall of Famer. Entering his 30th year of professional wrestling this North Carolinian has been a part of wrestling’s biggest moments. He is known for not being afraid to experiment with his character and storylines but even he had some doubts about the rivalry with his brother Jeff Hardy which exploded at WrestleMania 25.
Matt Hardy's Journey To WWE
Matt and his brother, Jeff Hardy first got into wrestling after their father bought them a trampoline. The brothers would rig the trampoline into a makeshift wrestling ring and start the Trampoline Wrestling Federation. They would take after their favorite wrestling stars they would see on TV every week from Bret Hart to Matt’s favorite Macho Man Randy Savage.
After they continued to out on Trampoline Wrestling Federation shows they got their first break after meeting WWE enhancement talent, Gary Sabaugh. The Hardys were self-taught but Sabaugh would put the final touches on what they needed to learn in order to make it in the wrestling business.
Sabaugh would use his contacts to get the brothers a tryout for the WWE. At the age of 19-years-old he made his WWE debut in Youngstown, Ohio against Nikolai Volkoff. Matt would continue to make sporadic appearances on WWF television but wouldn't be signed as a full-time wrestler until the late 90s.
Now signed as The Hardy Boyz, this duo would captivate the minds and hearts of fans with their daredevil charisma and flashy move sets. The two would win the WWF World Tag Team Championships on multiple occasions and compete against the likes of Edge & Christian, The Dudley Boyz, and others on their path to be the greatest tag team in all of space and time.
Matt would also have a successful singles career as a mid-card act in WWE and a main event star in companies like TNA/IMPACT Wrestling and ROH. As the Hardy Boyz they've won every major North American Tag Team Championships they could have won and as a single star Matt can add the ECW Championship, WWE United States Championship, TNA World Heavyweight Championship, amongst many top championships along the independent scene.
Matt Hardy Wasn't Entirely Comfortable With Jeff Hardy Feud
Throughout this time if they weren't teaming together they were fighting each other as Matt and Jeff have some very famous bouts. An "I Quit" match at Judgement Day 2009, The Final Deletion in TNA, and most notably their Extreme Rules match at WrestleMania 25.
Depending on who you ask this was either your favorite feud growing up or one that left a lot on the table that wasn't told by the WWE.
Leading into one of their most famed bouts a string of unfortunate events would unfold in Jeff Hardy’s life on-screen and behind the scenes. In the same week as Jeff was suspended from the WWE for 60 days after failing a drug test, his house would burn down. To top this his dog, Jack did actually pass away in the fire. This was turned into a storyline and the blame for all of these instances would be pinned in Matt Hardy’s direction.
Matt would cost his brother the WWE Championship at the 2009 Royal Rumble before officially turning himself heel who was jealous of his brother’s fame.
During Starrcast V weekend, he told MuscleManMalcolm on Muscle Memory about if he was comfortable with the blame for Jeff’s real-life tragedies for a storyline,
“As far Jeff being historically more popular than me and me being jealous of that I was totally down. Even when they did these accidents I was cool with all of that. I’ll admit, I told Vince face to face whenever we did that whole burn his house down… Jeff’s house accidentally burned down, and his dog did die in it which was very tragic. Vince had that idea of pinning that on me saying I was the one who did it. You know it was just coincidence that it all happened during that time we were doing that program and I said this might be a little too much. It might be jumping the shark because I feel like people could believe that yes, Matt is jealous of Jeff, but would Matt legitimately burn down Jeff’s house and kill his dog? It was a little much for me, but he wanted to do it so being an employee that was going to go with the flow I did it.”
Matt would pick up the win over Jeff at WrestleMania 25 and their program would continue into Judgment Day when Jeff would beat Matt in the "I Quit" match before entering the World Heavyweight Championship picture against Edge and CM Punk. Matt Hardy is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling where he regularly appears on Dynamite and Rampage.