Hardyz are wrestlng's greatest tag-team ever

Photo courtesy of World Wrestling Entertainment


At last night's World Wrestling Entertainment [WWE] Armageddon pay-per-view, the unexpected happened as Jeff Hardy achieved a life-long dream when he became the NEW WWE Champion by defeating both Edge and Triple H in the triple-threat main-event match.

With the win, Jeff and his brother, ECW Champion Matt Hardy [both pictured above], cemented their legacies in professional wrestling history as both are World Champions at the same time, put an exclamation point on their seven World Tag Team Title reigns and surpassed the Road Warriors as the greatest tag-team of all-time.

I know wrestling historians will complain with my claim and say the Road Warriors competed during a tougher era of tag-team wrestling with teams such as "The Midnight Express," "The Russians," "4 Horsemen," and "Fabulous Freebirds" and became the first heels to win audiences over as a result of their massive physiques, entertaining promos and high-impact power moves.

However, the Hardyz for over a decade have re-defined what determines a successful tag-team by re-writing the rules. Before the Hardyz came along, a tag-team usually enjoyed a maximum of several years of success before the team was disbanded by the promotion in order to have the light shine on the better partner of the duo in the promotion's eyes, which was the case with teams like "The Hart Foundation," "The Rockers," "Edge and Christian," and even "The Dudley Boyz."

During the BOOM period of WWE when professional wrestling was the "it" thing for popular culture, every expert said that the Hardyz had to disband because they couldn't remain over with the fans due to their lack of promo ability and that there high-flying style would soon bore audiences. How wrong were they?

In actuality, the Hardyz became the first-tag team and wrestlers to become mega-popular with fans, both male and female, without uttering a single word or cutting any promo, serious or comedic, by allowing their wrestling style to do the talking for them.

The Hardyz had and still have that rare ability to allow their ring- work to be their connection with the fans, which magically draws the fans in and gets them on the edge of their seats for their matches.

As already stated, the Hardyz are seven-time tag team champions and while that is not the most title reigns for one team, one still has to factor in their individual accomplishments for the whole scope.

Matt has been a Crusierweight Champion, European Champion, Hardcore Champion, United States Champion and ECW Champion. Jeff has also been European, Hardcore Champion as well as Light Heavyweight, Intercontinental and WWE Champion.

No other team in wrestling history can lay claim to the accolades the Hardyz have achieved during their storied careers, which are now just beginning to peak. For all the innovations the Road Warriors brought to the table during their era, the Hardyz have shattered those innovations with innovations of the their own and have shattered the long-standing wrestling myth that a tag-team could never be THE GUYS in a wrestling company.