15 Shocking Things You Didn't Know About The Hardys

The Hardy Boyz seem to be in the thick of things right now in the eyes of wrestling fans, as their bizarre feud as “Broken Matt Hardy” and “Brother Nero” in TNA has elevated the promotion's failing ratings and everyone remains glued to this mockery of a feud. The Hardys introduced themselves to the wrestling world through their iconic TLC matches against the likes of The Dudley Boyz and Edge & Christian as THAT match at WrestleMania X-Seven cemented Jeff and Matt as the top dogs of the tag team division. They would only get better from there on, as they would soon go their own ways and have some successful singles careers with Jeff probably attaining more glorious moments on the way.

Matt and Jeff Hardy found a love for wrestling very early in their lives, and became so obsessed as kids that they made it their goal to become pro wrestlers when they grew up and always stick together. They’ve been in the pro wrestling circuiting for 18 years now, and have put on some breathtaking matches and constantly put their bodies on the line to entertain the audience. Right from their debut as “Team Xtreme” in WWE, they put in brilliant matches week in, week out, and slowly asserted themselves onto the wrestling business. After winning many tag titles together, they showed some versatility in gimmicks with their single runs to attain more love from the fans.

In spite of TNA becoming more horrible by the day with its dull booking, Matt and Jeff seemed to be the last straws of the promotion and their weird, senseless feud right now is what is keeping the promotion ticking. So through all this, we seem to know everything about the Hardys because of their controversial characters, right? Wrong! There are some deep secrets about the Hardys which not many people know about. Let’s take a look at some of the shocking secrets about these daredevils.

15 15. The Hardys Were Used As Jobbers During Their First Stint In WWE

The Hardys rose into prominence in the WWE around the prime time of the Attitude Era as they represented the “attitude” of the booming tag team division and ushered it to newer, greater heights. What many people don’t know is that they had a short tenure in the WWE when they were completely unknown in 1994. They were used as enhancement talent who jobbed to other teams to make other wrestlers of that time look strong. Both Matt and Jeff wrestled in many singles matches against the likes of Razor Ramon, Nikolai Volkoff, Owen Hart and The 1-2-3 kid in 1994 when Jeff was only 16 and Matt 19. They worked with pseudonyms and could be seen appearing in shows like Superstars to put over the mid-carders of that time. Their impressive work over the years brought them full-time contracts from the WWE, who after officially signing the Boyz went on to send them to train under the legendary Dory Funk Jr. which triggered the path to their stardom.

14 14. Matt Allegedly Assaulted His Wife In 2014

The Hardys must be quite the exciting superstars inside the ring, but outside they are always shrouded in controversy which has held them back from being the best in the business for a long time now. Jeff Hardy’s drug abusing is something which is so popular that WWE used it for a storyline purpose, as Matt is no saint either personally. On New Year’s Day 2014, Matt and his wife Reby Sky were arrested with the charges of assault and battery as both allegedly beat each other up. The bruises on them which included scratch marks and black eyes indicated that the fight was pretty intense, as the fight happened in the Hampton Inn, propelling its owner to call 911. Both were given restriction orders after the fight, but seemed to have patched things up pretty quickly after it happened. Not only that but nowadays it seems as if nothing happens, as Reby appears along with their son Maxwell to assist the “Broken Matt” on TNA TV as they seem to be quite happy together. Quite a crazy lives these Hardy’s have.

13 13. Jeff Is 0-5 In Both SummerSlam And WrestleMania

Jeff Hardy became a sensation amongst the wrestling universe because of his time in the WWE, and in spite of becoming quite the hot-shot in TNA, he is indebted to Vince McMahon for making him the “charismatic enigma” which everyone loves even to this day. Jeff has enjoyed quite a successful career in the WWE, both as part of “Team Extreme” with Matt and also a very good singles career where he won an array of titles and is also Grand Slam Champion. Despite winning the likes of the Intercontinental Championship, the World Heavyweight Champion and the WWE Championship, Jeff has never seemed to excel at the biggest pay-per-views in SummerSlam and Wrestlemania for WWE. He is 0-5 in both SummerSlam as well as Wrestlemania as he seemed to fail in these two events in spite of having strong showcases in other PPVs. It might have been because of his unhealthy lifestyle and addiction to drugs which didn’t let Vince trust him to be a “top guy” and hence let him leave the company. Well, we can hope he comes back and breaks this disastrous streak soon enough.

12 12. They Took Part In One Of The First Mixed Tag Team Matches In WWE

During the Attitude Era, the Hardy Boyz were a vital part of ushering in many stipulation matches in the industry (notably the tag team ladder match or the TLC Match) and they took the risks which would inspire other teams in the future to try and replicate. During their time as “Team Xtreme” with Lita on their side, the team would often use the magnificent abilities of Lita to pin down opponents with similar managers and the high-flying ability of Lita perfectly matched their own. So in 2000, The Hardys saw themselves feuding with the intimidating team of Test and Albert who were managed by Trish Stratus and as things started to heat up between the two teams, the women also started to feud with each other. This culminated in the first ever mixed tag team match between Team Xtreme and T&A at WWE Fully Loaded. The match itself was pretty good as the Hardys defied the odds and used their chemistry to rattle Test and Albert, while Lita had a bone to pick with Trish and pinned her to win the match for the team. This match’s success would encourage Vince on booking more intergender matches of these sorts, but not many can be as good as this.

11 11. Matt Hardy Was In A Film Called “Pro Wrestlers vs Zombies”

Matt Hardy has done some ridiculous things in his life with the “Broken Matt Hardy” being the latest of them, as he is now portraying a maniacal Matt Hardy who is obsessed on burying his “Brother Nero” to save the Hardy name for his own. His personal life choices also seem to be quite bewildering, as Matt was a part of a 2013 horror film called Pro Wrestlers vs Zombies with his wife Reby Sky. The film revolves around Pro Wrestler Shane Douglas who has accidentally summoned a horde of flesh-eating zombies and needs the help of other pro wrestlers to stop them. Matt appears alongside Reby in a few scenes as they take on the undead and wrestlers continue to perform their moves to destroy these zombies. The film is just horrible and makes no sense at all, and why Matt who’s still wrestling in the industry would want to wrestle alongside these washed up old pro wrestlers is beyond anybody.

10 10. They Were Both Arrested Multiple Times in their Careers

Matt and Jeff Hardy might be icons for many kids because of their wrestling characters, but outside the ring they can hardly even be called decent human beings. The Hardy Boyz seem to have plundered in the addiction of drugs after receiving the mammoth fame with the turn of the century, and have often been seen in the news of being arrested or derailed in some kind of controversy. Jeff was first reported to be detained in the Nashville International Airport in 2008 because of an incident involving an intoxicated Hardy, who was later sent home and not let to board the flight. Jeff would be in more controversy a year later in September 2009, when he was arrested for the possession of various kinds of drugs and on the charges of trafficking various kinds of prescribed drugs. He would serve 10 days jail time for it in 2011. September of 09 would be terrorizing for brother Matt as well, who would be arrested thrice in the same month because of DUI, and then for threatening to commit suicide online. Matt would be in the news again in 2011 when he allegedly beat up his wife Reby, forcing the authorities to give them restriction orders against each other. A police record is never a good thing for an aspiring wrestler and if these things would’ve happened a decade earlier, we probably wouldn’t have seen the Hardys as famous as they are now.

9 9. They Both Appeared On That '70s Show

The Hardy Boyz definitely took the WWE by storm by putting in some memorable matches after debuting as “Team Xtreme” and also became hugely popular in the entertainment market. This led them towards an opportunity to be a part of That '70s Show which was a hit sitcom during that time. In an episode of the first season of the show called “That Wrestling Show”, Kitty makes the gang go watch a wrestling show and therefore many wrestling stars are shown in the episode. Alongside The Rock and Ken Shamrock, The Hardy’s also make an appearance in the episode as two uncredited wrestlers and that was something big at that time as they definitely caught people’s attention through the cameo performances. This definitely helped them in the entertainment business, as in the years following they got to appear in an episode of Fear Factor with other WWE guys as Matt won it, donating the winning sum to the American Cancer Society.

8 8. Matt Has A Degree In Engineering

Among the brothers, Matt looks like the more composed and intelligent one (despite his current “Broken” gimmick) and has made for some really cool gimmicks in the past like his “Mattitude” gimmick with his own facts and his heel character is also compelling. It’s mostly because Matt was a pretty good student in his school days and was probably the more studious of the brothers, as Jeff wandered around his hobbies and quickly following his brother’s footsteps to wrestling. Matt Hardy was a very good student at the Union Pines High School in North Carolina, getting nominated for the “Morehead Award” which allowed him to get a scholarship for any university in the state. Hardy later started doing a major’s degree in engineering under the University of North Carolina, but had to drop out because of his father’s illness. He would later go on to attend the Sandhillis Community College and get an associate degree, as he’s one of the rare wrestlers to actually have a college degree.

7 7. They Were Part Of A Crazy Hotel Room Incident

When The Hardys came into the fray in the WWE, other teams like Edge & Christian and The Dudleys were also on the rise in the WWE and these three teams benefitted each other with their amazing matches in the Attitude Era. So it’s rather obvious that they became good friends in real life and because of WWE’s crazy schedule would have to travel and live together on an almost daily basis. It was during one of these tours that The Hardys along with E&C and Chris Jericho were part of a humiliating hotel room incident. While they were living together in a room, Edge and Jeff dared each other to jump out of their two story window into a three foot snowdrift. The maniacs actually did it first, and Matt, Christian and Jericho followed wearing nothing but boxers. They didn’t even have the room key so they had to walk up to the hotel lobby in their underwear, as this sort of incident shows the amount of crazy fun these guys used to have back in the days.

6 6. Jeff Has His Own Rock Band

If one’s to properly search about Jeff Hardy’s history, they could find some deep personal hobbies he likes to do in his free time, as his artistic talent is actually pretty impressive. What is more impressive is how he maintains it alongside his wrestling, and with his ability to create art, he is also heavily into music. Jeff taught himself how to play the guitar and formed his own punk rock band named “PeroxWhy?Gen” as becoming a rockstar was one of his childhood dreams. Jeff and good friend Shannon Moore were the first ones to create the band, as members of Fueled by Science and Burnside 6 later joined the group as its members. He turned his living trailer into a recording studio and worked hard to create some original music. The band released their first album (marketed as Jeff’s solo album) Plurality of Worlds through TNA Music in 2013. PeroxWhy?Gen released their second album in 2015 called Within The Cygnus Rift, but members of the band including Moore have since left the band.

5 5. They Have Their Own Web Series called “The Hardy Show”

The Hardys found extreme popularity in the last decade as their excellent tag team chemistry was backed up with compelling singles run for both of them, and the Hardy name found a lot of love from the fans. So just as their popularity was beginning to peak and the name Hardy was in the mouth of every fan, they decided to start their own web series called The Hardy Show in 2005 which showed them competing in many challenges with each other and even featured their good friends in Shannon Moore and Gregory Helms. The series found quite a lot of popularity from the viewers and propelled the Hardy’s to shift this into their own website called TheHardyShow.com as they continued to put in many episodes for the entertainment of the viewer. The series showed them working friendly matches with each other, partying with wrestling friends and basically showed them chilling out in their free time from wrestling. The series maintained its popularity for a long time, stretching for 12 seasons until it had to be stopped because of work pressure, with the last episode being aired in 2014.

4 4. Jeff Has A Passion For Dirt Bikes

Jeff Hardy is known for being a daredevil inside the squared circle, opting to go for moves which nobody else would even think to perform in order to enthrall the audience. It turns out that Jeff is also quite the risk-taker in his personal life, as he has many hobbies which can lead to dangerous events. Jeff is an avid motocross fan and has a love for riding dirt bikes. He first developed an interest in Motocross at the age of 12 and got his first bike, a Yamaha YZ-80 at the age of 13. He even went on to compete in his first race when he was in the ninth grade. He got so obsessed with it in his teens that he built an artificial volcano (with real fire) in his front yard, which he would jump over on his bike. Jeff is still an avid lover of dirt bikes and despite being in a terrible accident last year where he broke his leg in dirt bike accident, he still is enthusiastic at riding his love (as seen in some segments of the Brother Nero feud in TNA) and holds them close to his heart.

3 3. Their Shoot On CM Punk

The Hardy Boyz might be some of the best workers inside the wrestling ring, but their choices outside the ring is probably what forced Vince McMahon to let go of them. Jeff Hardy’s drug abusing was pin-pointed in a storyline with CM Punk in 2009, as him being pulled over for drinking under the influence was also shown in a promo package. So after Punk won the feud, Jeff was forced to leave the company because his contract had expired and decided to vent out his frustrations on Punk who had gone a bit over the limit to legitimize their feud. So a video released on the Internet of a drugged Jeff doing a shoot on Punk, calling him a “nerd” and also going to show the middle fingers to him and saying that he made Punk what he is. He also suggested that Punk takes ambien (a prescribed drug) to go to sleep. Matt appeared at the end of the video to trash talk for a bit and saying how he didn’t believe how Amy Dumas (Lita) was dating Punk at that time. This video caught quite a bit of attention when it was released, as it is sickening to see these in-ring “heroes” do something as pathetic as this to a fellow wrestler.

2 2. Jeff Has Quite The Artistic Talent

Jeff might indeed be a sound technical wrestler inside the ring and an “artist” in his own right in the ring, but he has quite the talent outside it as well. Jeff calls his artistic side “The Imag-I-Nation” and excels at making hand-made stuff. Jeff likes to build giant aluminum sculptures which he calls “aluminummies” and started this as a child. At one stage, he constructed a 30 foot (9.1m) statue of an “aluminummy” which he named “Neroameee” out of tin foil outside his recording studio. Jeff would also make his own toys out of tin foil after his parents couldn’t afford to buy him the He-Man toy in his childhood. Jeff would also go on to create a large sculpture of his brother’s hand-signal “V1” as an ode and gift to his elder brother. Jeff is also a part-time poet and it seems that his “Charismatic Enigma” tagline not is not only viable for his in-ring character, but also for his personal self.

1 1. They Created Their Own Wrestling Promotion

The Hardys obtained the love for wrestling as kids and their obsession towards the product led them to make their own wrestling videos called “Trampoline Wrestling Federation” in 1994 where the brothers along with some friends mimicked wrestling moves on a trampoline in the brothers' back yard and taped them. TWF also got integrated in the North Carolina county fair after a point of time. After a few more years, the Hardys had made a name for themselves as enhancement talents in the WWE and created OMEGA Championship Wrestling along with some wrestling friends. Matt and Jeff took apart the ring and put it back together in every event organized by them. It folded in 1999 after they were signed by the WWE, but Matt revived it in 2013 as they started to do some events with other wrestlers who were close to them. Last year, OMEGA Championship Wrestling formed a partnership with Jeff Jarrett’s Global Force Wrestling and they held an event called “Night of a Champion” where Jeff became the first OMEGA Champion since when they last folded up. Matt currently is the Champion, as the Hardy’s will look to promote this in the long run as they can look onto it after their retirement.

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