10 WWE Breakups You Forgot Were HEARTBREAKING

There's been a lot of talk about how far Matt and Jeff Hardy were willing to go when bidding to sell their split as real in 2009, and their WrestleMania XXV scrap routinely pops up when people reminisce about disappointing bouts from the biggest night(s) on the WWE calendar. All of that is fair, but do you recall the sudden shock value of Matt's turn at the '09 Royal Rumble?

Few can grumble about that. It's been buried beneath all of the sensationalistic stuff like Matt claiming he burned down Jeff's house and murdered his dog, which played off real-life tragedy, but the initial moment was heartbreaking for those who loved the brothers and considered them a team for life. Nobody thought The Hardys would have their Rockers moment.

That was an unfavourable, although perhaps unavoidable, comparison too. Critics dubbed Jeff the Shawn Michaels and Matt the Marty Jannetty of this breakup overnight. More attention was put on that and the dreadful house fire/dog death combo than there was on a beloved sibling tag team splintering apart. Don't forget that Matt also cost Jeff the WWE Title by stabbing him in the back.

Edge was there to scoop the glory for himself and launch into another championship reign.

Jeff was depicted as crestfallen and disconsolate on TV afterwards. That would've been enough to get fans onside without mixing in real-world misery for the sake of it. The audience's heartache over Matt's snap decision at the Rumble should be remembered fondly, not everything that came next.