"So tragic and so sad" - WWE Legend explains why his feud against Jeff Hardy was distasteful
Jeff Hardy and his brother Matt have reunited in AEW and aren't looking back. However, nearly 15 years ago, the two were embroiled in a heated feud that Matt Hardy recently called "distasteful."
The rivalry began when Matt cost Jeff the WWE Championship at the 2009 Royal Rumble. Shortly after that, Brother Nero would suffer a slew of attacks and accidents, and The Broken One would be revealed as the culprit. The brothers eventually had two significant bouts at WrestleMania 25 and Backlash.
During an episode of The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy, the older brother recalled his now controversial feud with Jeff in the late 2000s.
“That was an event that was so tragic and so sad. Literally, his house burned down. All the old tights and all his old gear were lost in the fire,” Matt said. His dog died. It was a really traumatic event for him. Just for them to put that in our storyline was almost like it was in bad taste."
April 5th 2009, WM XXV. Matt Hardy beat Jeff Hardy in an Extreme Rules Match. @MATTHARDYBRAND @JEFFHARDYBRAND #WWE http://t.co/Aol4nqDE7N
The 47-year-old continued, voicing how he still vividly remembers the crowd reacting to the story as it played out.
"I’ll never forget them burning a dog collar and then I held the dog collar,” he continued. "I could just feel the air coming out of the crowd. It’s not that they were mad at me because I’m playing the bad guy in the story. They were mad at me because this is in poor taste. So that’s how it felt.” - (H/T: PWMania)
In hindsight, fans had mixed reactions to the feud mainly because WWE opted to include the real-life tragedies of Jeff Hardy's life at that stage. Luckily, The Hardys seem closer than ever in AEW and might even capture gold during their run.
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Jeff Hardy was upset with WWE for including his late dog, Jack, in the feud
In an interview on Wrestling with Freddie, Jeff Hardy shared his feelings about the program. The former world champion noted that he was upset with the Stamford-based promotion for including his dog in the storyline.
“Man they played the video package and Jack, our dog that died in the fire, was the last visual of that and I almost broke down. They were like, ‘you’ve got to be fired up,’ and I was like ‘f*** you.’” (23:29)
Watching @JEFFHARDYBRAND documentary. Beautiful human, rip to his dog Jack. Jeff is a prime example for when life gets you down all u need to do is trust yourself and keep the fight going. Keep the faith, . Strongest personality ever. #alwaysfighting #HB https://t.co/mnMSowCDiW
With the feud now behind the two, Matt and Jeff Hardy can focus on growing their bond both in and outside of the ring. It will be interesting to see if they can defeat The Young Bucks at Double or Nothing on May 29.