10 Most Absurd Forgotten Matches In WWE History

5. Jeff Hardy & Bradshaw Vs Matt Hardy & Faarooq

Chris Jericho Roman Reigns John Cena Mark Henry Big Show
WWE

By early 2001, Vince McMahon's character was out of control.

Again.

And not for the last time, regrettably.

Anyway, when he wasn't grimly necking on with Trish Stratus or emotionally abusing his drugged wife, he was promoting the every-man-for-himself drama of the Royal Rumble by forcing babyface teams The Hardy Boyz and The APA to battle each other on the January 25th edition of SmackDown.

The results - mostly because the company was still on a fairly hot streak - were remarkably impressive. Jeff and Matt rolled back the years to trade athletic assaults, while Faarooq and Bradshaw beat the sh*t out of each other as if they'd both been sneaking aces up their sleeves in those backstage poker games. Sure enough, by the end the concept broke down and The Hardyz "outsmarted" The APA by double teaming them for Matt to get the cover. Even though that made Jeff one half of the losing team.

A fundamentally stupid idea worked because the characters were over enough to make it so. WWE would replicate loads of the former with zero of the latter for the following two decades, never once stopping to think why such tricks were never made for successful sequels.

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett