411’s WWE Rivals Report: The Hardy Boyz vs. The Dudley Boyz vs. Edge and Christian

-The tag division finally gets some shine with this series as we go back to the late 90s/early 2000s when three teams set the WWF Tag Division on fire. Let’s get to it!

-Freddie Prinze Jr is the producer and is at the table with JBL, Kevin Owens, Johnny Gargano, and Renee Paquette.

-Edge brings up that he and Christian met in 6th grade and bonding over wrestling. Edge started to train and Christian joined as well, and they just stayed together. Edge: “We stumbled into The Hardy Boyz.” Jeff Hardy says he and Matt trained themselves by watching on TV. We see video of them as kids wrestling on trampolines.

-Feb 13, 1999: Edge and Christian and The Hardy Boyz face off at a TV taping. They all had the same goal in that they wanted to steal the show and drop jaws. They were all fans of the 80s Golden Era with Bulldogs, Hart Foundation, etc. They continued to wrestle each other throughout 1999 and started the ground movement of the rebirth of tag wrestling.

-The two teams have a Best of 5 Series and Edge says it was their idea. They pitched the series and the idea it would end with a Ladder Match. Edge is in Cleveland and says this is the site of the first Tag Team Ladder Match. He says he was in Miami before the show and hurrican was hitting, so he could not fly. He had an idea how big the match would be for their careers, so he drove through the storm to Tampa and got on a flight there to Cleveland. He made it to the arena at 4 PM and met the other three to put things together.

-No Mercy 1999: Ladder Match: No mention of it being the T.I.T. Just an amazing, revolutionary match that stole the show and created 4 new stars. Christian says it felt like they were changing the direction of Tag Team Wrestling and other teams would need to step up their game. Jeff’s favorite was the see-saw spot and it’s still crazy. Years later though Joey Mercury’s face exploded with that spot. Jeff and Matt get the win, but Christian and Edge get a standing ovation from the crowd. Edge says it blew him away and it sunk in that they did it. Foley told them after the match that all four of them cemented their spot. Edge is in the spot they met after the match and the hallway will always be special.

-Freddy jokes that Jeff is built different and instead of bones, he has rubber in his body.

-The next night on RAW all four men come out to congratulate each other and get another standing ovation. Crazy how they have all changed in the last 25 years. Oh man, this fall will be 25 years since that match. I smell a Retro Review coming this fall. Christian will long hair just looks weird now.

-Commercials!

-Enter The Dudley Boyz! They were in ECW and we get some footage. Paul Heyman says he got to work with great talent and develop new characters and The Dudley Boyz were their top Tag Team. D-Von says they were jealous seeing Edge/Christin and The Hardy Boyz and they wanted to be in there. Renee says you knew they were frothing at the mouth to get a chance to work with them. Christian says they were the tough guys that beat the crap out of you.

-Royal Rumble 2000: Tables Match: Another revolutionary match! Bubba wanted it to top and be remembered more than the previous Ladder Match. Just a great show top to bottom as everyone turned it up in front of the MSG crowd. Bubba says he looked around the Garden and saw the entrance and made the decision he wanted to fall off of it and then let Jeff jump off with The Swanton.

-The next night The Dudley Boyz offer a handshake to The Hardy Boyz. Edge and Christian watched the match and didn’t want to get left in the dust. Edge: “when you put all of us together, it’s….fun.”

-Commercials!

-Bubba says all three teams knew they were unstoppable. They weren’t Austin, Rocky, Taker, Mankind, or HHH, but they were going to give them a run for their money. The Dudley Boyz got over as faces and they didn’t want three face teams, so there was a plan to split Edge and Christian. They both shot that down, and asked for more mic time and a heel turn. It’s what their careers needed at the time.

-WrestleMania 2000: Triangle Ladder Match: This was basically TLC, but before they thought of the catchy name. They were told to be safe and spectacular. Jeff knew it would be hard to be have a great ladder match and be safe. Kevin Owens says anytime he had something crazy planned, Vince would ask him if he could do it safely and he thinks it was the same for the three teams. He notes Vince always had a way of trusting their talents to know their limits and be safe at the same time.

-They stole the show again as they continued to work out the kinks of what a match like this should be. Matt says it was a little bit of luck mixed with skill. Edge says everyone was pushing to have the best match on the card. Bubba says they wanted to add the tables to go in with what Edge/Christian and The Hardyz had done with ladders. JEFF WITH A SWANTON OFF A GIANT LADDER IN THE AISLE!

-Commercials!

-Back with Jeff doing Jeff things as he notes it was WrestleMania and why not go with it. He thought he was going to have a heart attack at 22 as he was hoping everything was going to be good. “So much could have gone wrong, but so much went right.” Undertaker is amazed at the way they pushed things and says they were fun to watch, but he was glad he wasn’t out there. Apparently Bubba had the idea for the scaffold being built and the other four thought it was impossible. It looked a little sketchy, but it worked and Edge and Christian get the win. Edge says that will always be one of his favorite memories. Kevin Owens is curious what ideas they had that could not make it into the match. We get some great backstage footage of them coming through the curtain and embracing while congratulating each other. The Hardyz get checked by a doctor and all are basically healthy though Jeff says he smashed his heel a bit.

-Edge and Christian ran with their obnoxious heel gimmick. FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY! REEKING OF AWESOMENESS! Lita pops up and says these three teams man the fans want to see tag wrestling again.

-Edge says the chairs fell to them as The Hardys had the ladders and The Dudleys had the tables. They needed a weapon, so they became the chairmen of the WWE. Mick Foley then announces the first TLC Match!

-SummerSlam 2000: TLC I: Edge says they all knew that Mania match was the first TLC Match, but now it had the name and they had to top what they did. Edge jokes that if he had known there would be more TLC matches down the road, he would have taken in easier in that first one. That’s pretty funny! The match was basically an action movie with crazy spot after crazy spot! Renee says she watches those matches through her fingers as they freak her out. This woman is married to MOX, so she would know about being freaked out watching dangerous matches.

-Commercials!

-Back with Jeff and D-Von swinging from the Title Belts hanging above the ring. D-Von was terrified and yelled at Jeff, “if you every loved me, you would stop kicking me.” Edge and Christian get the win again as was a theme between these three teams.

-They kept using combinations of all three teams over the next few months including in cage matches and ladder matches (one being Hardys vs. Edge and Christian on the first RAW on TNN). They made sure to use tables, ladders, and chairs whenever possible. All six men discuss about how much it hurt and the toll it took, but once you went through that curtain, the pain went away. Prichard notes the audience expected more each time.

-WrestleMania X-Seven: TLC II: The peak of The Attitude Era. Bubba notes how big the show was as it was headlined by Rock/Austin and they wanted to steal the show. The six discuss the pressure of putting that match together and how they would fight over what would be included and what would be left out.

-This was the best TLC Match of all time in any iteration or company. The setting was magical, the crowd was hanging on every move. Jeff talks about trying to go bigger and bigger every year. As JR noted: “OH MY GOD.”

-Commercials!

-One of the greatest spots you will ever see as EDGE SPEARS JEFF OFF A LADDER AS HE IS HANGING FROM THE TITLES! Freddie says it was one of the scariest moments he has ever seen and they planned to do it. Gargano says some people think you rehearse that, and he can guarantee you aren’t trying that out beforehand. Edge gives all the props he can to Jeff for trusting him. He says if you watch, he flinched as he nearly went a split second too soon. If he had gone there, he hits Jeff in the feet and flips him over and he lands on his head. “Luckily, I held on.” Jeff says he has been fortunate to walk away with only being sore. Bubba says that moment will go down for 100 years as one of the Greatest WrestleMania Moments of All Time. Sadly, they don’t touch on how much Lita, Rhyno, and Spike added to this match, but I guess this isn’t about them.

-Steve Austin gets them their props and notes he and Rock had to follow that. They were able to follow them and that’s why it’s such a mind blowing show. Lita says it you didn’t congratulate them backstage, you were jealous.

-All the teams went their separate ways and all had amazing careers after. They show Edge, Christian, and Jeff all becoming World Champions. Edge says all three teams were level playing field and could have picked any team to win and it would not have changed a thing. Bubba agrees and says nobody cared who was winning, but they would bust Edge and Christian’s chops because they won all the matches. They all bonded over the trust they had with each other as they put their lives in each other’s hands. D-Von says he loves everyone one of those guys and there is nobody else he could have done those matches.

-Hall of Fame 2018: The Dudley Boyz get inducted and have Edge, Christian, and The Hardy Boyz join them on stage. He felt that would be the last time the fans could see all six of them together at the same time. He wanted it to be a Hall of Fame moment for all three teams. Great ending there!

-Another enjoyable episode and it was nice to see the Tag Division get some love. It can’t be overstated how influential these matches were and how influential these teams were. Had there been Two Night WrestleManias back during this time, TLC II easily could have been the first Tag Team Title Match to headline WrestleMania. I really enjoyed some of the cool, backstage footage we got here. It was also kind of funny seeing how many people were referred to as “former WWE,” on this show: Renee, Jeff, Matt, Christian, Edge. I know these were all filmed a while ago, but I found it funny how many are now in AEW. Worth a watch to hear them talk about the crazy things they did and somehow come out rather healthy all things considered. Thanks for reading!