Before their well publicized battle in court over the Broken character that gave Matt Hardy’s career a much needed revamp, Matt Hardy and Jeff Jarrett squared off in the main event of a WrestleCade event. WrestleCade is a show that usually has a strong lineup and has a wide range of competitors. There’s a mix of past, current and future stars.
It’s the first time Matt Hardy and Jeff Jarrett have ever squared off inside the squared circle. I’ve wanted to see this match for a little while now, mostly just to see how they worked together. Luckily, I found the footage. I’m not sure what to expect.
The date is November 28th, 2015. Matt Hardy is the WrestleCade Heavyweight Champion and he’s defending against Jeff Jarrett in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Hardy backs Jarrett into a corner to kick off the match as they locked up. Jarrett shoves Hardy but is shoved back into the corner. Jarrett arm drags Hardy and taunts the fans with his strut. Jarrett arm drags Hardy a second time and does another strut. Jarrett controls Hardy with a side headlock. Matt comes back with a few hip tosses and does the strut, too. Hardy ducks a clothesline and hammers away on Jarrett causing Jarrett to bail to the floor. Hardy grabs Karen and Jeff on the floor and punches Jeff a few times. Hardy rams Jarrett chest first into the guard railing. Hardy tosses Jarrett over the railing into the crowd. Hardy tosses Jarrett onto a table and hits Jarrett with a drink. They quickly return back to ringside. Hardy hits Jeff with the ring bell followed by a right hand as they get back into the ring. Karen struggles to toss a chair into the ring. Hardy sets two chairs up in the ring. Hardy lays Jarrett on the chairs and goes to the top rope. Karen grabs Matt’s leg and it allows Jarrett to get up. Jarrett takes Hardy off the top with a superplex onto the chairs.
Jarrett continues to work over Hardy with the chair jabbing him in the midsection. Karen chokes Hardy while on the floor and the referee was distracted. Hardy gets a sunset flip but Karen gets on the apron. Jarrett nails Hardy with a kick to the head after Hardy blocked a kick attempt. Jarrett catapults Hardy throat first into the middle rope. Hardy fights back with right hands but Jarrett cuts him off with a sleeper hold. Hardy gets free and puts a sleeper on Jarrett until Jeff is able to break free with a back suplex. Karen throws water on Jarrett to wake him up. They begin to exchange punches on their knees. Hardy delivers a back elbow and clothesline to drop Jarrett. Hardy clotheslines Jarrett and hits a running bulldog out of the corner for a two count.
Hardy goes to the middle rope and waits for Jarrett to get up before delivering an elbow strike. Jarrett avoids the Twist of Fate, but Hardy manages to hit the Side Effect! Karen puts Jarrett’s boot on the bottom rope to break the count. Hardy grabs hold of Karen and brings her into the ring. Karen tries for a slap but Hardy blocks it and spanks Karen several times. Hardy goes for the Twist of Fate but Jarrett saves his wife by hitting the Stroke for a two count!
Jarrett grabs his guitar and tries to use it but the referee is stopping him ECIII comes out but Hardy hits the Twist of Fate on Jarrett! ECIII takes out the referee and begins to brawl with Hardy. Hardy plants ECIII with a Twist of Fate. Jarrett is up and whacks Hardy with the guitar! The referee comes back in and counts the three to give Jarrett the championship. (*1/2)
Well, that didn’t live up to any kind of entertainment that I thought it would be. There were a few reports of the match being bloody and I suppose I got suckered into it thinking it was going to be a good brawl or hardcore match. The blood came on the guitar shot and was only after some lackluster wrestling for eighteen minutes. I should have known better than to think this would have been anything good.
What did you think of this match?
Thanks for reading.