12 Wrestlers Who DESTROYED Their Bodies For The Business
6. The Hardy Boyz
Nothing written in this article is attempting to be cruel, but Matt Hardy moves like one of those old 'two-piece' action figures. You know the ones; they've only got one point of articulation per half. An arm might move on the upper portion, and a knee might bend on the lower, but there's next to nothing going on in the hip department. Matt can thank endless amounts of leg drops from the middle turnbuckle for that, and some other painful bumps too.
Similarly, Jeff Hardy cut a totally wrecked figure several times in WWE and definitely once he went to AEW. The brothers have rekindled some of their magic in TNA and on NXT, but they're just nowhere near the dynamic, athletic workers they were in their respective primes. Again, like with Bryan Danielson trying to escape the damage he'd done, this would be outright impossible.
The Hardy Boyz put their bodies through the mangle far too much for that. They dared to dice with death in incredible ladder, table and combo TLC spectacles over the years, and neither brother held anything back. Of course, even as they aged, that style was still expected of them. This, rather stupidly, led Matt to work some ill-advised spots in All Elite.
Both Hardy siblings suffered for their art. They likely did it gladly, because they're icons of the industry as a result, but everything has to hurt. Memories of Matt telling WWF Magazine way back in 2001 that he'd often fall asleep in agony due to all of the night's worst bumps are haunting now.