Matt Hardy Remembers WWE WrestleMania Match Against His Brother

For much of their careers, Matt and Jeff Hardy have stood in each other's corners, both as tag team partners and in moral support. In the early months of 2009, however, The Hardy Boyz were positioned on opposite sides as they built to a match against one another at WWE WrestleMania 25. During a recent edition of "WWE Retrospective," Matt recalled their familial faceoff, which he describes as a long-time aspiration.

"This was also something else that Jeff and I dreamt about as children, to one day wrestle each other in a big match, in a marquee match on WrestleMania. Lo and behold, we were able to do it," Matt said. "Earlier on, whenever [WWE] wanted us to feud with one another and really to have a heated rivalry of hatred, it was a little harder for me. At this point, I was totally comfortable with it and he was too, we both were. I really tried to change away from everything that was Hardy Boyz, once again going back to the tights and doing my own thing. Obviously, storyline wise, I was making Jeff's life hell at this juncture."

The feud between Matt and Jeff began with the former staging "accidents" at the expense of the latter, such as a hit-and-run automobile collision and a pyrotechnics mishap. Continued storyline tension eventually led the brothers to battle in an Extreme Rules match at WrestleMania, with Matt emerging victorious after delivering a Twist of Fate on the chair-wrapped neck of Jeff. According to Matt, that was not WWE's vision for the match finish.

"Do you remember that after you missed that leg drop because we were tight on time, they were saying, 'No, no, cover him'? We kinda had been around long enough, I said, 'No, we're doing the Twist of Fate [first],'" Matt said.

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