"Extremely frustrating" - WWE legend disliked losing against Kane in handicap match
Matt Hardy recently recalled the time WWE booked The Hardy Boyz to lose a handicap match against Kane.
The Big Red Machine defeated Jeff and Matt Hardy on the June 19, 2000, episode of RAW. The short storyline revolved around the masked superstar’s pursuit of Triple H’s WWE Championship and not around The Hardy Boyz’s aspirations to retain the tag titles.
Speaking on “The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy” podcast, the current AEW star discussed his issues with WWE’s booking of tag teams during that time.
“That was one of those extremely frustrating WWE moments that would drive you crazy,” Hardy said. “You’re like, ‘Hold up, man, we brought tag team wrestling to a brand new level that it’s never reached before, especially after this thing at WrestleMania, and now you just give so little of a s**t about us you’re just gonna throw us in this handicap match with Kane and have him beat one of your top tag teams?’” [51:18-51:40]
As Hardy referenced, he and Jeff competed in a widely praised ladder match against The Dudley Boyz and Edge & Christian at WrestleMania 2000. However, the momentum they built up after WrestleMania soon took a hit when they were booked to lose the handicap match.
Matt Hardy on The Hardy Boyz’s ability to bounce back after losing to Kane
The #HardyBoyz @matthardybrand & @jeffhardybrand had their hands full with the monstrous @KaneWWE ON THIS DAY in 2000! wwe.me/S5sJiI https://t.co/EltsWvAT1W
Fortunately, Jeff and Matt Hardy recovered from the two-on-one defeat within a matter of months. One of their major highlights of 2000 came at Unforgiven when they recaptured the tag titles from Edge and Christian in a steel cage match.
Reflecting on the loss to Kane, the 47-year-old questioned why WWE booked The Hardy Boyz so inconsistently.
“In the big scheme of things, it’s just poor booking, it’s like lazy booking,” Hardy continued. “You’re putting one of your top tag team acts in a position to fail. We can bounce back from it, but it really doesn’t do anything for us except make us look bad. These two guys got beat by one guy.” [52:53-53:13]
Two decades on, The Hardy Boyz are considered one of the greatest tag teams of all time. Both men now work for AEW, although Jeff Hardy is currently absent after his recent DUI arrest.
Please credit “The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy” and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.