Dudleys, Hardys wrestle with the end of an era
“We created so many special moments over so many years”
Extra Mustard is a weekly subscriber-only column looking at the highs, lows, and everything in between in combat sports and beyond.
More than 10,000 miles separate Perth from Lowell, Massachusetts.
Yet one day after John Cena and AJ Styles had their epic encounter at Crown Jewel in Perth, the Tsongas Center in Lowell hosted Bound for Glory. Like Crown Jewel, the co-main event was a trip down memory lane, with the Dudleys and Hardys facing off in a tables match.
This was the exact match that raised their profiles 25 years ago when they met at WWE’s Royal Rumble in 2000. It was a fundamental building block that led to the creation of the famed TLC matches with Edge and Christian, forever changing the trajectory of their careers.
[In case you don’t think 25 years is a significant chunk of time between matches, a reminder of the passing of the years was visible when Little Spike Dudley briefly returned to rejoin Bubba and D-Von. A bald head replaced Spike’s floppy blonde hair, a not-so-subtle reminder that time keeps moving.]
“The biggest difference between then and now is Father Time,” said Matt Hardy. “And the amount of abuse we’ve put our bodies through.”
