WWE 24: The Hardy Boyz Review

Ah, yes. Greetings, my sibling. It is delightful

to see you. And I am so glad you have overcome

your broken condition. Oh, I tried to call you,

man. I actually left a message. I'm sure it accidentally

got deleted. Of course. Because I knew you were

preparing for Andre's Battle Royale of Giants.

Yes, I was. And I won. due to an all too familiar

film. Brother Nero. Wonderful! I'm so glad my

brother rendered Sister Abigail obsolete! How

are you feeling? I feel... wonderful. What was

that all about? Ladies and gentlemen welcome

to the podcast arena coming to the ring at this

time The answer to everything is 42, right? This

is Mayhem Mike's 42. I'm, of course, TFJ and

Mike. Joining me is Ryan, the Uneven Flow Merkley.

Hello, sir. Greetings! Now that you've got your

- I'm about to do that again. Yeah, now that

you've got your brat hardy out of you. Okay,

folks, so... It's another WWE 24 episode. uh...

we are right on the cusp of extreme rules we

will talk about that closer to the end of this

show but uh... w w e twenty four docu series

on w w e network we've done a couple of these

so far the one i'm really waiting for the one

i'm really i was interested in this one and i

am very and i'll get more into that a little

bit but the one i'm really waiting for is they

announced i think back at wrestlemania they're

gonna do one on ronda and i'm like i need to

see that like now like just do it now do it now

but uh... i assume they want to show as much

of her training yes as possible yeah and i mean

she's still here still very much it's funny because

i mean she looks so good but she's still very

much new to this and training so this was w w

e twenty four the hearties woken this was damn

good so the first part was kind of a tough watch

yeah so they went through the highs and lows

and the lows of the hardy brothers are pretty

well known i think to people that yeah a lot

of drug and substance abuse issues and the main

thing i'm just gonna say is people should watch

this i'm Feel kind of bad but the stuff I was

least interested in was after that first 30 minutes

when they talked about the broken persona and

that kind of thing because You can kind of see

that he's having fun with it and it's enjoyable

and that's nice to see but that wasn't really

news to me it was kind of the admissions of Their

problems and that kind of thing. Yeah, it's what

they went through is what we want why we wanted

to see it It's it's their story of what they

have gone through They were on top 20 years ago,

and now they're on top again in between that

time in the 20 years They've had a rough time.

I think it's because we know the end of the story

already that the end is less interesting We already

know they make it out. Okay, thankfully but It

was how they got there that I was really interested.

I was surprised by a couple things I was surprised

they got I knew WWE had purchased some TNA Material

I was surprised that they showed the match between

Sting and Jeff Hardy where Jeff was clearly Intoxicated

yeah, he was high on drugs and sting and Eric

Bischoff had to kind of make the call and end

it quickly because one of the things with wrestling,

we talk about it all the time, you mess up or

if somebody's not at 100%, somebody can get seriously

hurt fast. We just had somebody in New Japan

break their neck. So it's not. This is something

serious and Hardy was in no position to compete.

I was just surprised to see it because that was

a really dark some of the stuff they showed like

some of the interviews with Matt and Jeff behind

the scenes when they were going through this

are a real tough watch and anyone who's seen

That TNA match it's all over YouTube, and it

was all over the place when it happened knows.

It's a real tough watch Yeah, but but again.

It's part. Yes. It is a very tough watch because

these are two people that have gone down paths

that Most people should not anybody should not

go down these paths, but you know you get sucked

into certain things Things like that things happen

you know there's nothing you can really do about

it you know and that's part of their history

that's part of their thing that's what I was

saying earlier like they've had a 20 -year span

where I remember watching them when they first

debuted with it was them and Alita you know the

Hardy Boys and all this even before then it was

them and Michael Hayes I think it's interesting

I thought it was interesting that it got bookended

that One of their debuts was with Michael Hayes,

and yeah, everyone remembers the debut with Lita,

but they originally were with Hayes, and it's

interesting that Hayes was the guy that called

them to say, yeah, I never thought I'd make this

call, but Vince wants to talk to you guys about

coming back. I thought that was kind of neat.

Oh, absolutely. Again, their journey is a complete

circle. it really is it's you know like i said

they were on top they fell off the wagon quite

literally with both of their you know issues

that they've had in the last 20 years and now

they're you know back in the limelight they're

back on top of wwe tag team kind of a thing and

this special this documentary pretty much shows

that and You know we talk about why we've talked

about before why there isn't many if any stone

cold podcasts anymore on the network specifically

because you know he asks the hard questions and

they don't want Vince doesn't want people giving

them the answers some cases here you know and

You know, you know you you've said I'm surprised

that that they showed that or that they that

they were allowed to say that or whatever You

know, I'm surprised this 24 series, especially

with the Hardys Like I knew they weren't gonna

sugarcoat it, but I'm surprised how much of it

is there Well, I was yeah, the other thing I

wanted to say I was surprised by was they brought

up Jeff's recent DWI Yeah that happened It was

after you know, it was around the time he had

the shoulder injury that they go into But yeah,

I was surprised they yeah, I was just after the

shoulder injury. They went into that as well.

I'm just I Wanted I was pleasantly surprised

by How good this was and we've commented on before?

The quality of these and this is no different.

It's really good. I recommend everybody watch

it but Yeah, the surprises were all pleasant

in that they did do diligence. Like I like that

they interview Matt and Jeff's friends. There's

quite a few statements and things from Matt's

wife, from Shane Helms, who people know as the

Hurricane, if you're a big WWF fan, people remember

him as that. But they've been friends for a while.

They've interviews with Christian and a couple

with Edge, which is not surprising because You

really can't talk about the Hardys without Edge

and Christian being somewhere... You cannot talk

about the Hardys... Or the Dudleys. Or the Dudleys

without mentioning Edge and Christian. You can't

talk about... Yeah, the three of them are kind

of joined. Yeah, they are. I mean, and it was

a whole thing of the attitude era. It was that

those two teams, well, three teams, Edge, Christian...

Hardee's and Dudley's they all were all attitude

and it's really nice to see Matt and Jeff where

they should be because one of the unanswered

questions in this is Where would they have been

if they didn't have all the issues? You know,

they were at the top when they got let go or

had various problems and Now they're back at

the top presumably and hopefully They claim of

everything. Yeah, and hopefully they don't have

any relapses, but yeah this didn't like you said

it didn't sugarcoat any of it and it didn't They

didn't shy away from anything and I was a little

bit surprised they didn't but I'm really glad

they didn't I'm very happy they did not I mean

I knew like Like we've said before you read all

the all the news sites and the dirt sheets and

whatever else. I don't And even back then...

Eat all the dirt sheets? Make it sound like unsavory

persons creeping in the dark portions of the

internet. Most people know WWE, you know, wrestling,

dirt sheets, it's all in line with each other.

But the point is, is that you read the news stuff,

I really don't. I catch it at various points.

Same thing, you know, 20 years ago when I was

18, 19, whatever, you know, I didn't... I watched

the show I didn't pay attention to like of course

back then the internet was just you know coming

online kind of a thing so I don't remember seeing

a lot of you know Usenet groups saying hey Jeff

Hardy has gone to jail or Jeff Hardy is overdosing

to the point where he might die or you know so

the point is is that technology in the last 20

years has advanced so much that now we can find

these things out But then we have something like

this. We have this documentary where wwe is saying

hey This is their history. There's nothing we

can do. We can't sugarcoat this We can't take

shit out of this because it's their history And

they bring up at one point matt hardy's online

suicide note. Yep They spend like five minutes

on that or so Yeah, so like I say this not a

pleasant one, but man, I feel like it's well

done I feel like this is another one that if

Same thing we said about the Andre the giant

documentary too that I think even for non -wrestling

fans this would be really interesting because

The story everybody knows somebody who's had

to overcome some type of substance abuse no matter

what and This is a really good example of two

people that repose Just really had a lot of demons

to play Yeah, they've had tons of demons to fight

and they've fought them who knows in the future

what might happen or what may not happen but

as of right now They're back on top and as Ryan

has been saying folks Don't just listen to us

go watch this thing because it is that's what

I love about Doing the podcast the way we're

doing it now where we do the pay -per -view once

a month or sometimes twice a month if they have

special location pay -per -views like in Australia

or in Saudi Arabia or whatever. But we're also,

like I said, we're trying to delve deeper into

the network. And yes, we're doing 365s and we're

doing 24s. I have plans to do other series that

are on there to pick and choose episodes kind

of a thing to see, you know, what is said and

yada yada yada. But the thing of it is, is this

is engaging. This is that. This is that behind

the scenes stuff that I used to watch Total Divas

for at the time. Years and years and years ago

when that debuted. I feel like this stuff, I

mentioned it before, but these little things,

the table for three interviews and some of the

other stuff, why the network is worth it. And

some of these documentaries, I would say, even

if you're not a big wrestling fan, or if you

are not a fan of the stuff, from today, as in

you grew up watching Attitude Era or even earlier,

you grew up watching it in the 80s and you're

not a big fan of watching the live stuff today.

I'd say to them, just try the free stuff for

a month and at least use it to watch some of

the documentaries. Like if you're an Attitude

Era fan, the Monday Night Wars documentaries

must watch. Or if you're just sort of a casual

fan of it or wrestling the WWE 24s are worth

a watch or even some of the behind -the -scenes

Stuff like breaking ground which showed people

trying to become WWE stars little bit something

for everybody on this I really like what the

network's been able to put together and it's

taken a good amount of time but yeah it's been

online for what three four years now yeah something

like that it's one of those things where it's

they don't just have all the old stuff they don't

just have like WCW or Monday Nitro or the Monday

Night Wars. They don't just have just that stuff

they have Original program like I really want

to do table for three not necessarily more than

ride -along but table for three next because

whatever episode we end up doing of that because

that's like three guys or Girls or whatever,

you know that you wouldn't normally see together

in the late, you know Triple H and you know,

insert somebody. You know, I mean, that's why

I love the original programming, the documentary

stuff. And like we said, folks, go watch The

Hardys. The Hardys woken. I love that they brought

Bray into that whole thing. That was super cool.

Because like we've said, they've been needing

to do something with him. Yeah, it's been and

it was kind of fun to see bits of how they I

know I Initially said it wasn't super interested

in the present -day stuff, but it is kind of

neat to see some of how they filmed and did some

of the Broken compound final deletion stuff,

you know You can see the people behind the ring

setting off the fireworks that sort of thing

and that was kind of neat and It is nice like

seeing them clearly enjoying themselves again

for example I Think it's Matt. It's one of the

other that states that that's obviously one of

the other anyway that states that it's one of

the things they love about the whole broken stuff

or woken is that essentially they're doing what

they did when they were growing up they get to

kind of film stuff and shoot ideas off each other

and just you know, the things they did when they

were kids trying to make it or make their own

division of wrestling and that kind of thing.

And that's, oh, I'm glad they're having fun.

I'm glad they're in a much better place. I hope

they're able to stay there. And yeah, I'm glad

this has a good story because there's about 10

different times here where one or the other easily

could have just died. Oh yeah. Rebus got you

know Matt's wife mentions it that she just expected

that this was gonna end with them dying and actually

Christian says it too that You know Matt you

can tell me whatever you want. I know how this

ends as with you dead. So I Think everybody knew

I didn't know the big show was good friends with

them. It's really nice to see him Yeah, exactly.

Like this is what I'm talking about with this

behind, you know these documentaries and things

like, you know, like we said with 365 Kevin Owens

and 24 on Finn. It's the flip side of that coin,

those two documentaries, which is really cool.

And like you said, I didn't expect to see Finn

with Seth. That's the cool thing about WWE Network.

You can watch all the classic matches that you

love on Raw or SmackDown or whatever. and you

can then see other things that you would never

not normally see. Go check out. I was just going

to say, normally we rate the pay -per -views

and stuff we do. I just want to say all the WWE

24s so far have just been a 9 out of 10 or 10

out of 10 for me. They're just really enjoyable

watches that they're... really haven't been stuff

that I sat there and kind of skipped over or

anything like that. It's just, I find it really

neat to see the behind the scenes things, for

example, on the raw 25th anniversary. Right.

Yeah. Or I enjoy hearing stories of the guys

that had to overcome things, be it Finn and his

injury or Matt and Jeff and the just the nightmare

of addiction that they face so her angle as well

actually another excellent special that i know

we haven't delved into the other end of that

yet but we will know but i've watched it and

i mean angles another guy who you wonder what

his career would have been if it hadn't been

derailed with substance abuse and stare at something

he actively talks about as well i mean he ruined

his relationships and Ended up out of WWF and

away from all of his friends and he got to come

back I mean, I'm happy that a lot of these have

a happy ending because there's so many that that

don't you know, how many so many of the wrestlers

I grew up watching are gone already and it's

really depressing and it's really great to see

WWE be able to shine a light on guys who managed

somehow to survive it Exactly. Exactly, and that's

a good thing for any fan, not just us, not just

us old school people, but any of these new people

that didn't like... Okay, yes, now with WWE Network,

you can go back and relive the Attitude Era.

But 10 years ago, 15 years ago, you couldn't

do that. You had to be there! And there's probably

some people who have the network and who are

going to watch this who have never seen the Hardys

before they showed up at WrestleMania 34. Exactly.

Yeah. Oh, absolutely. That's kind of neat that

they didn't know, you know, maybe they didn't

know that they had to go through all this and

they'll get the chance to see it and hopefully

feel the same kind of way we do, which is sad

that they went through it. But hey, at least

they're still here and they're They're still

getting to do what they love again. They're still

kicking ass and breaking ladders tables and chairs

over people's heads Mmm less of that thankfully

I guess Jeff does the Swanton Yeah, less and

isn't doing it at house shows which whoops That's

kind of nice cuz oh, that's gonna take a toll

on you Yeah, if he was if he was doing the Swanton

at house shows He would not be where I couldn't

do one without breaking something. Yeah, we couldn't

do but I know I'm just saying he's done and you

know hundreds and hundreds of these at this point

Yeah, all right, so we're in the lead up to extreme

rules Ron Smackdown I Don't think in the last

three years that I've been doing this podcast

have I fast -forwarded much of Smackdown with

how I'm with how I watched them on Hulu here

in the states But oh my god This past week's

Raw and SmackDown, I was skipping all over the

place. I did not care. Like, the Roman Lashley

thing, fine. I get it. It's to eventually, and

I haven't read the news about Brock. I keep seeing

these news rumors, things about Lesnar, whatever.

I don't know. I don't care. I'm saying - The

Roman Lashley stuff, though, just feels rushed.

It just feels like, okay, we need two guys to

- Big guys we're gonna have these two fight each

other and yeah, there you go Yeah, it feels very

rushed and it feels awkward I did none of it

is cuz lashley since he's come back I don't think

they've he didn't get a chance to find himself

really like he doesn't feel like a complete character

or carey eggs better wording banks Yeah, it doesn't

feel like a complete character, and I don't know

Don't know and then there's all the other stuff.

So the Strowman Owen stuff Owens deserves an

award because it seems like no matter what creative

gives him He somehow makes it reasonably entertaining

because they're giving him some real garbage

lately and this stuff What happened to the WWE's

anti -bullying because all Strowman is doing

is bullying Kevin yeah, I mean it just feels

a little awkward and I mean props to Owens for

making it at least someone entertaining, but

I don't think it's very good and it sucks because

I Really think both guys are better than this

Stroman right now in particular is Red hot why

he isn't at the top of the card each week. I

have no idea This is why I'm not a writer apparently,

right? And what the hell else is going on? I

don't even know. I forget. I'm happy for Rusev

and Stiles. Two guys that should be up there,

but that's another feud that it feels rushed

because it was only about a month ago that Rusev

hadn't won a match in about 700 years. Yeah,

there's that. There's Bailey Sasha and all that.

That's not even at the pay -per -view apparently

I know They seem to that seat that's moving along

at a glacial pace. Yeah, and is has not been

entertaining The team hell knows Reunion but

alternatively I just it's not something long

-term like no offense Absolutely. No offense

meant to Kane who it should be allowed to do

absolutely Whatever what every wants who's he's

had an amazing career and is a day one Hall of

Famer no matter what but He's not a guy who's

gonna be there long term. So You know aside from

a brief kind of pop. I'm not sure I'm not sure

this does anything for Daniel Bryan who's a I

feel like they should be getting more out of

him before he either Leaves the company or gets

injured again higher. Yeah don't know it like

I get it the team like you said the team hell

no stuff is cool it's kind of a nice you know

come back kind of a thing but with Brian like

Brian's until they did that he was gonna be in

a rut like who else at the time before big cast

was let go and they had the whole Brian cast

thing at that time after it was announced that

cast was let go who else There before Cain came

back could Brian have had a feud with or a storyline

with or I'm sure there are people like the hell

is Samoa Joe That's a feud that could be at the

top of the card or even Brian Nakamura or although

having said that I'm happy with Nakamura Hardy

I think that's yeah, that's a much better great.

Yeah, but still there's so many other guys Who

yeah, they literally have Joe doing nothing.

He hasn't appeared on certain episodes. It's

crazy. Yeah, they don't know how to build or

keep guys up. It's the same thing I mentioned

or hinted at with Rusev that he just randomly

goes from a guy who hasn't won in forever to,

oh, hey, you're the number one contender. Well,

then it doesn't, it's not believable when stuff

like that happens. You've got to, you got to

at least pretend that It's real like there's

some sort of Building going on of stars like

you can't just lose a hundred matches in a row

and say I want a title shot and somebody says

like okay Just because it's written. It's got

to feel like they earned it Yeah, and it's earned

it through hard work and everything else, but

if this were UFC or legitimate Competitive sport

There's no way in hell you'd be there You don't

you don't go to the World Series if you lost

a hundred games No, no, you don't because that

no you just don't do that Anything else you want

to bring up before we get out of here No, that's

it. I mean you mentioned it and the wrong smackdown

has been great lately and The hype quote -unquote

for extreme rules. It's See here's the problem.

What was the last one that we just did was it

was money in the bank Okay, so money in the bank

a lot of things happened Yeah, and it actually

turned out on air on air and off air a lot of

things happen Like we said the cast thing and

whatever else they basically swept all that under

the rug It felt like as soon as money in the

bank was over. Yes the people that won were able

to Go off and do whatever they're gonna do. They

you know were able to gloat about how they won

or whatever not saying that they're gloaters

But that's the best term I can come up with at

this point in time And then they just immediately

started pushing extreme rules like I get it.

It was a month away at the time, but like We

had said we'd get on Skype and discuss some behind

-the -scenes stuff. I don't know last week or

yeah, whatever it was and We I asked you I'm

like when the hell is extreme rules is it it's

not this weekend is it? We didn't even know yeah,

we've completely forgot when extreme rules was

going to be And that's not good. No. And I'm

not interested in going over this again. But

all I'm going to say is part of it to me is the

fact that for whatever reason, it just feels

like nothing's happening. That there's just nothing

going on heading into extreme rules. And I really

feel like a lot of that is because, gee, I don't

know, one of your main title holders, nobody

knows when or if he's ever going to show up again.

Yeah. That's a problem. And like I said, we've

talked about it a bunch of times and I'm not

interested in talking about it again. Yeah, that's

a huge problem. And you would think with the

person that manages that person that that person

would want to be on again. Because that person

doesn't really talk. The manager talks. It's

like, what? Yeah, there's obviously something

like behind the scenes. Something's going on.

Going on. And because... even when there have

been breaks and Brock hasn't shown up for a while,

they've still at least mentioned him. They didn't

say his name once during Raw. A, and B, they

would have Heyman show up every once in a while

at least to promote him. They haven't done that

either. So something's going on and nobody seems

to know what. And because of that, this just

kind of feels like a placeholder pay -per -view.

Like I just... I don't know how to describe it.

I think everything at this point is placeholder

for them. I mean, like, what are they gonna do

for... Okay, like, SummerSlam is next month,

I think. Yeah. Yeah. And that's supposed to be

a major pay -per -view. Exactly. Like, what the

hell are they going to do? How are they... What's

gonna happen in Extreme Rules that can then lead

into storylines? Leading up to the raws and smackdowns

for summer slam honestly since money in the bank

there have been a week or two two different weeks

where I've Honestly forgotten to watch raw and

smackdown and it's right there on my phone on

hulu like it's not like I have to go anywhere

something I have to get on the computer if I

don't want to or whatever like I've actually

Forgotten like I haven't watched them like I

usually watch them on the Tuesday and the Wednesday

after because that's usually when Hulu puts them

out is the day after I haven't really watched

it until like the weekend or something or at

3 a .m. On a Sunday morning like I I don't know

it This is why I and I Should be saying the whole

WWE Network 999 That's all you need to pay kind

of thing because this whole episode outside of

talking about the Hardys is essentially pimping

the network That's why I want to get into some

of this other content on the network because

the shows right now are just Sucking hard balls.

Well, I can't remember who it was. There was

somebody who is not on TV Maybe it's Seamus and

Cesar. I can't remember who somebody fairly big

anyway And somebody was asked them why they're

not on TV and the answer was because creative

has nothing for them What? How do you not have

anything? Yeah, how are you bad enough at your

job too that you can't? You know do something

with somebody. Yeah get it also get it either

isn't the entire basis of wrestling supposed

to be keywords supposed to be repeatedly not

in w w a uh... i want to be the best and i want

to win a belt how hard is it to write something

around that i don't know well again like it goes

back to the whole thing one belt is basically

in limbo I mean like okay so they have the universal

they have the WWE championship they have the

US and they have the intercontinental they have

four championships not not counting the tag team

and not counting the women's okay so you count

the tag teams that's that's six and then you

count they've got eight championships total okay

that's plenty of things for people to do for

people to go after for Creating new and interesting

storylines like that's why I like this whole

Nakamura Rusev thing because Nakamura ain't gonna

be able to pull the low blow he'll pull it probably

but anyway, oh well Yeah, Rusev AJ Nakamura Hardy.

That's why I like like I got so sick of the AJ

Nakamura thing as great as they are Working together

really written. It was Horribly written it was

horrible, but so the the the Hardy Nakamura the

Rusev AJ thing Those two matches like I'm gonna

be excited to see Nakamura and Hardy go go at

it. Do I want Hardy to win? Well? Yeah, hello,

but Like I don't know who I would want to win

between AJ and Rusev because I haven't really

always liked Rusev. He's okay. I mean the guy

deserves more than what he's gotten because of

his, you know, ability and all that, but, uh,

I don't know, folks. It's a... It's a trying

summer. The WWE seems to be slamming into a dead

stop at this point. It drives me nuts whenever

I hear stuff that, uh, we couldn't think up anything

for them when there's 30 years, uh, sorry, yeah,

20 -some odd years, sorry, about, uh, gotta catch

them all. Pokemon has been written and you can't

come up with something for a group of world -class

athletes who also by the way and by nature and

by nature of what they do are extremely creative

and could help with ideas but you can't figure

anything out for them. I don't know folks. So

next up is the Unextreme Rules pay -per -view.

Where can the people find you online sir? At

nightbeat on Twitter I'm at TFU and Mike on Twitter.

You can also follow at geek cast radio and at

this week in geek We'll catch you next time folks

where hopefully extreme rules Hopefully it's

good. I mean yeah actually is extreme. Yeah at

least The last one yeah money in the bank was

quite good despite a lackluster set up to it.

So Yeah That's yeah, they have to work on the

setup the event the aftermath They have to work

on a lot of shit right now because it's like

It's just not good anymore. Like I don't know

what happened between WrestleMania and now like

something has happened within that company that

Don't know like you said when we did the raw

25 24 About how Stephanie is you know more like

the face of the company? She's doing all the

cherry work and everything else What the hell

Shane doing right now like I see him behind the

scenes and stuff it at meetings and things like

that on these documentaries But like what the

hell is he doing like I? Don't even know like

do I want Shane in matches and stuff and having

feuds no but the commissioner should at least

show up once a month. Alright, we're gonna get

the heck out of here folks. Catch you next time

here on Mayhem Mikes.