Title: Brother Versus Brother Versus Everything: The Batshit Beauty Of “The Final Deletion”
Date: July 7, 2016
Original Source: The Classical
Synopsis: For my debut at The Classical, I got the rare opportunity to write about pro wrestling. Specifically, I looked at the strangest, most bizarre wrestling feud of all time, as Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy squared off in The Final Deletion.
On Tuesday night, Matt Hardy finally defeated his younger brother, Jeff Hardy. It’s understandable if you missed it, but you missed out if you did.
The Hardy Boyz were two of the defining faces of the early-aughts post-Attitude Era WWE, helping to lead a tag-team renaissance and introduce the ultra-batshit aesthetic of backyard wrestling to the craft. But they’ve been out of the WWE since 2009 (Jeff) and 2010 (Matt), due to personal/substance problems and the resultant heat-loss in the ring. For the bulk of casual wrestling fans, that means they’ve been MIA for more than half a decade.
For the more initiated, the Hardys plying their trade in TNA, the long-suffering and perpetually bankrupt-adjacent would-be pseudo-competitor to WWE, meant that their match likely wasn’t worth tuning in for. TNA’s flagship show, Impact Wrestling, is not only hard to find since being relegated to Pop TV, but more broadly such a mess that #LOLTNA has defined the promotion nearly as much as their fervent-unto-rabid legion of die-hards.
Continue reading at The Classical.
Blake Murphy Sports Writing 