Matt Hardy Recalls Bizarre Hazing Incident Involving The Undertaker

Matt and Jeff Hardy were involved in an unfortunate incident with The Undertaker.

It’s often said that anything went in Attitude Era WWE, and for good reason. Hazing and mean-spirited ribs were commonplace with veterans taking it upon themselves to try and ‘break in’ the next generation.

In the mid-90s, Matt and Jeff Hardy began working with WWE as enhancement talent before eventually teaming together to become one of the most popular tag teams in the world.

During a special live edition of The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy from 90s Wrestling Con, Matt Hardy was asked about the locker room culture in WWE when he and his brother started out. Hardy went on to recall one incident where they were late for a show and ended up getting on the wrong side of JBL.

“Yeah, especially in those days, it was kind of the Wild West days, and thankfully, for wrestlers that followed us, that has changed some. ‘Well, hell.’ JBL was absolutely the master of hazing, and he would make sure the people belonged there.

There was, once we started on the road, it was our second or third loop, maybe. We would do ten days, we would go, they would do a live TV, they would do a taped TV the next day, and then you would work through the whole week. You do ten days on, four days off. It’s our third week on the road, and we’re actually flying from the TV to San Antonio, Texas, where our live event is that evening.

One of our flights in the connection had totally been canceled, and it just wasn’t happening. They knew we were going to be at the show late… We had told Jack Lanza, rest in peace. Jack Lanza was a producer of the show, and we’d let him know,”

Although management knew the pair were going to be late, JBL decided it was time to teach them a lesson.

“We get to the venue that day, and these guys obviously all know about it. I remember we walked in the building, me and Jeff, we’re nervous as you can possibly be. We said, ‘We’re so sorry guys, our flight was canceled, we’re so sorry. We got here as fast as we could.’

I remember JBL said, ‘Well hell, The Hardyz have been on the road for three weeks. Two weeks and a little change, and now they think they’re main-event big-time television stars. They think they’re the champs, that they’re more important than The Undertaker, then the Stone Colds, than all the other top stars here because they just show up whenever the hell they want to.’

We said we let Jack Lanza know, we just got here as fast as we could. We’re gonna try and change real quick because we’ve got to be out there and wrestle in eight minutes,”

Matt And Jeff Hardy Bumped Into The Undertaker – Naked

After finally arriving at the venue, JBL bundled the young stars into a locker room where they were met by The Undertaker — naked. Once they’d survived that shock, the Hardys made it to the ring and wrestled, only to later find out their bags had been stolen during the match.

“[JBL] said, ‘Alright, well, since you’re such a big-timer, I know you don’t want to shake my hand because I’m just a piece of trash, the locker room’s right over there. That’s the locker room you need.’ I was like, ‘Oh, thank you,’ and we scurry, we run over there with our bags. We’re nervous as sh*t, right. We’re new and just starting and rookies, and the last thing we wanted to do was piss off these guys.

We take our bags, and we roll into the room, and whenever the door opens and we take our bags inside, The Undertaker is in the room by himself, back in the corner, naked, wrapping his knees. We go, ‘Oh my god, we’re so sorry.’

JBL said, ‘Oh no, you deserve to be in the dressing room with the main events since you’re a big star, you only stay here at the beginning.’ ‘Taker said, ‘Yeah, go ahead. Have a seat.’ We said, ‘Oh no, we’ll leave.’ ‘No, no, we insist.’ A couple other guys, they made a wall where we couldn’t walk out of this room.

We go, ‘Okay.’ Now ‘Taker is just looking at us, naked, just staring us down. We’re changing, getting dressed. ‘Okay, sorry, we’re gonna leave now, we’re going to the ring.’

We go to the ring, we do our match, all good. We come to the back, and we go in that room. ‘Taker’s bag is still there where he dressed. He isn’t there, but our bags, where they were, they weren’t there. They were nowhere to be found,”

After much searching, Road Dogg eventually took their pair to one side to reveal their bags had been thrown into a dumpster. Thankfully, someone made sure the bags were properly secured so their belongings weren’t ruined in the process.

Road Dogg asked the Hardys to keep his tip off a secret as he didn’t want to get any heat from ‘the boys.’

H/t to Fightful