40 Years Of Fascinating WWE WrestleMania Facts (Part 4)

8. WrestleMania 33 - Jeff Hardy's LONG Wait

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WWE

WrestleMania 33's best moment by a mile, The Hardy Boyz' WWE return capitalised on just how popular the pair had become following the innovative "Broken Universe" the pair occupied outside of the spotlight in 2016. Matt and Jeff were darlings of the scene to such an extent that just hours earlier they'd been wrestling in a celebrated bout against The Young Bucks for Ring Of Honor, but the shocking 'Grandest Stage' return was just the start of their celebrations.

The duo were inserted into a multi-team ladder match for the Raw Tag Team Championships and went on to win the entire thing. It was simultaneously creative, forward-thinking and nostalgic, but also binned one of the more surprising WrestleMania records in the process. Until that moment, Jeff Hardy had never won a WrestleMania match.

Beaten in ladder epics at 16 and X-Seven, The Hardyz were on the losing end of a four-way of an X8 show that marked the last WrestleMania Jeff worked until 2007. He lost a Money In The Bank match then, and was defeated by Matt at 25 before both were soon gone from the company once again. The cycle mostly repeated before the two were gone yet again in 2020 and 2021 respectively, leaving this one night as Hardy's only moment of WrestleMania glory.

 
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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