WWE’s The New Brood, a group comprised of The Hardy Boyz and Gangrel, briefly operated in 1999 during a feud with Edge & Christian over the management services of Terri Runnels. While the faction didn’t have the same tenure as the original Brood, it still managed to play a noticeable role in the tag team that would eventually go on to win numerous tag titles all over the world. The trio briefly reunited during Big Time Wrestling’s latest event on Saturday night in Prince George, Virginia, which saw Matt and Jeff take on Gangrel and Joey Janela (dubbed The New, New Brood). The Hardyz would pose with Gangrel during the show, which proved to be a nice dose of nostalgia.
The Hardys recently reunited on AEW television following Jeff’s arrival in the company and have since set off on what they claim to be one last run as a duo to prove they are the greatest tag team of all. Jeff spoke with ComicBook about his time in AEW so far during WrestleMania weekend.
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“Oh for sure. The first time I went there, I think I said this on Matt’s podcast, I felt valuable,” Jeff said. “I felt like a ghost in WWE, like I was just… I’ve been this cool guy, 20 years off an on. But I’ve made all these influences and inspired people along the way, I just felt like a ghost. Now I feel like I’m human again, we can have this last run and be really graceful and beautiful, just like the Young Bucks, so we can go out on a good note.”
Jeff competed in a quarterfinal match in the Owen Hart Cup Tournament on this past week’s Dynamite, defeating Darby Allin in a wild Anything Goes match.
Part of Jeff’s departure from the WWE late last year included him turning down the company’s offer to induct him into the WWE Hall of Fame. He explained his thought process on an episode of The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy.
“It just felt completely wrong, it just didn’t feel like the time at all,” Hardy said. “I almost felt offended, I was very emotional, but almost felt offended like what? After my 90 days are up, the Hall of Fame is in April and I do go to AEW, how’s that going to work? What are y’all trying to hit me with as far as if I sign with AEW when I’m free and me going into the Hall of Fame and how would that even work? My mind and my emotion went crazy and I was in tears man, like this is my career. I know I had been a very influential person to a lot of young misunderstood individuals but yeah, it just felt so wrong. Like how dare you?
“I know that sounds crazy because I guess when people get offered the Hall of Fame it’s like ‘oh, I’m a Hall of Famer’ but it’s never really meant that much to me. It’s not time for that, that’s why it was a hard no,” he continued. “Especially, it feels like something Matt and I should go in together as The Hardy Boyz when the time is right. It was just weird man,I still don’t know how I feel about that overall. It just felt so wrong.”
