The Hardys Detail Surprise WWE WrestleMania 33 Return

One of the best kept secrets when it comes to surprise returns in WWE was The Hardys in the four-way tag team ladder match at WrestleMania 33. The New Day faked out the fans by coming out in their ring gear before the final entrants of the match were announced, but instead of them entering, The Hardy Boyz' music hit to the delight of thousands of fans. Matt and Jeff Hardy recently sat down on an episode of "WWE Retrospective" to talk about the return. Jeff recalled keeping the secret at the long signing they had the day before the show.

"I just remember all day during that signing, 'Any chance of seeing y'all tonight? Any chance we might see a Hardy return?' I'm like, 'No, we're on the first flight to Raleigh-Durham.' Just over and over again,” he said.

Matt explained that they talked with WWE to come back during their "Expedition of Gold" storyline across the independent scene. They won the TNA Tag Team Championships and were headed to Ring of Honor to win those titles. Matt said they got WWE's blessing to do so, in part to keep the return a secret, as they still had a month to go before WrestleMania. He also recalled the weekend before, calling it "crazy" because they wrestled both Friday and Saturday at WrestleCon before their return.

"We did a big signing [Friday] and then we wrestled Penta and Fenix," he said. "The next night we had a 30 minute match with the Young Bucks in a ladder war which was a crazy match. We're getting calls from the WWE office like, 'Don't let your brother get hurt! Don't let your brother get hurt' from various people."

They recalled getting to Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida around 45 minutes before their grand return. Matt said it was surprising, because in 2017, information was getting around pretty quickly, but nobody had solid proof that they were going to be there. He gave kudos to WWE for the way they set things up, with New Day as a red herring. He said the moment they walked out felt surreal and almost dream-like. Matt said he thought he was seeing the fans in slow-motion.

"It was blurry around the edges as I'm coming out which was so wild," he explained. "Then it's like this massive ramp you gotta go down. We're like, 'Oh my god, this is so big, so long.' We hadn't seen any of this. It was such an overwhelming, amazing moment. That's a top three moment for us in our career because it was so spectacular."

Jeff explained he even wrote a song that was heavily influenced by his thoughts that he would never go back to WWE. The song, called "Obsolete" was released back in 2012, well before the Hardys knew they'd be back at WrestleMania. Jeff said he was thankfully he didn't have to "fade away and classify himself as obsolete," like his song says.

"I was afraid wasn't going to be good enough or something, so I think I was testing my fate and my faith a little bit before the night of WrestleMania 33," he said. "I was like, 'This is wild,' but it was meant to be."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "WWE Retrospective" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.