The Art of: Tag Team Wrestling With The Hardy Boyz

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Tag-Team wrestling was something of a lost art in the Attitude Era, and only handful of teams were able to get it right. There were the Dudleys, Edge and Christian, and then there were the Hardy Boyz.



For those who weren’t avid wrestling fans back in the Attitude/Ruthless Agression Era(s), tag team wrestling wasn’t nearly what it is now. Very few people were part of a tag team, and most of them weren’t very successful as a direct result of the following fact: two individual wrestlers don’t make one good tag team. A prime example is the Rock-n-Sock Connection. Sure, they were incredibly over with the crowd, but they were individual performers that acted like such inside the ring.



The tag team division had taken a big hit during this era, and it wasn’t until three great tag teams burst onto the scene that tag team wrestling became relevant again. In 1998, the WWF had a lot of great – and currently underused – potential on their roster in the way of Edge and Christian, Buh-Buh Ray and Devon Dudley, as well as real life brothers Matt and Jeff Hardy, but it wasn’t until 2000 that the scene exploded.



See, in the year 2000, Edge and Christian had broken away from Gangrel and The Brood, paving their own path in the WWF, and Buh-Buh Ray and Devon Dudley had cemented themselves as one of the best tag teams not in the WWF, but the industry as a whole. Then came the Hardy Boyz, who had broken away from Michael Hayes and formed Team Xtreme with Lita, and would go on to revolutionize that tag team division.







The crown jewel of this time is the first Table Ladders and Chairs match at Summerslam 2000, which was the first ever TLC Tag Team match, and one of the most dangerous matches to date. The moment that most people will remember from this match was Edge spearing a dangling Jeff Hardy from twenty feet in the air, but that was simply the tip of the iceberg that catapulted all three teams into the stratosphere, but most notably Jeff and Matt Hardy.



What happened after that night spawned an epidemic of outstanding matches that were highlighted by the high-flying, daredevil tactics of Jeff Hardy, coupled with the tactical thinking and hard-hitting ability of Matt, they were the perfect tag team; The Ying to the others Yang. By creating this perfect balance of athleticism, skill, and overall charisma, they were able to obtain the tag team gold on seven total occasions, and while their longest reign only lasted three months, they put on some of the most entertaining matches of their generation. To put it simply, they had successfully put tag team wrestling back on the map.



Now, before you say that “Well, Edge and Christian were actually better historically.” or “The Dudley Boyz would totally kick the Hardy Boyz asses in a match today.”, this article isn’t meant to be fact driven. I could have gone on all day about the facts and bore you to death, but the fact of the matter is, the Hardy Boyz sparked a revolution in this industry. Some of the most popular matches – TLC being the best example – would have never existed had the Hardy Boys burst onto the scene.



They knew how to own the spotlight when they came down to the ring, full of energy and hype, ready to do whatever it took to achieve their dreams. They are arguably one of the most perfect tag teams from a technical standpoint; all of their joint moves were so fluid and crisp, you couldn’t help but look on in awe. But the most important characteristic they captured: The ability to do it all over again every night, no matter the venue, the crowd, nothing else mattered except going out and putting on a show that people would remember.



They forever changed the landscape of the tag team division, mixing agility and speed, with power and charisma, and thus is why the Hardy Boyz truly mastered the lost art of tag team wrestling.