#70: The Broken Hardys vs. The Young Bucks, ROH Supercard of Honor XI (4/1/2017).
This is a Ladder Match for the ROH World Tag Team Championships.
As a wrestling fan, I look back on certain eras and wish that I was watching. Most of them are eras that I was way too young to even understand. And then, there's this time period of American wrestling, where Ring of Honor was hot, The Young Bucks were hotter, and thanks to Matt Hardy, the Broken Universe was the hottest thing in wrestling.
At Final Battle in December of 2016, Matt officially made the challenge to the Bucks for their ROH Tag Titles. At Manhattan Mayhem in March, The Hardys took the titles and added them to their ever growing collection of tag team supremacy. The Bucks would respond with a challenge for Supercard of Honor, during WrestleMania 33 weekend. This time, it would be a Ladder Match, a match made famous by Broken Matt and Brother Nero.
The hype for this was unreal, and while I was aware of it at the time, I was simply too enamored by what WWE was doing to check it out. Oh, regrets.
Jeff hisses at the crowd response. The Bucks tell the Hardys to suck it. They strike first to kick things off. The Hardys drive their boots to the Bucks in the corner. They double team Nick to the mat.
Atomic drop and a double leg drop follows. Nick superkicks Jeff airborne. Matt sends his boot into Matt. He bites Nick's head in the corner, and looks for a bulldog, but runs into a superkick.
The Bucks place Matt on the tope rope, hit a double stomp on Jeff, then hit a back breaker to Matt. The Hardys block a pair of superkicks with a pair of Twists of Fate. They become the first men to grab the ladders in this match.
They look to bring it in the Ring, but the Bucks hit a pair of baseball slides to knock the ladder into them. The Bucks do the Kenny Omega Terminator pose, then hit Topes to the Hardys on the outside.
The Bucks grab two ladders and set them up inside the Ring. Matt sends Matt into the turnbuckle with chops, while Jeff works on Nick in the opposite corner. Matt places a ladder against the corner, and he and Jeff Irish whip Nick into it.
They repeat it with Matt. And once more with Nick! Matt hits Nick with a DDT. The Hardys grab the bigger of the two ladders and go for the titles. Matt brings both down and keeps them at bay. On the apron, Matt is knocked off by Jeff with a ladder, sending him through a table.
Neckbreaker by Matt to Nick. Jeff sets two ladders up as a teeter totter. Jeff goes to the top rope, and the Bucks cut him off. Matt hits a Crucifix Bomb to Matt, and Jeff tosses Nick outside. Matt places two Tables side by side on the outside.
The Hardys grab Matt for a double Suplex out of the Ring, but he's able to escape. Matt superkicks Jeff. He places Jeff near the teeter totter, and Nick goes airborne, sending the ladder right into Jeff's face. On the outside, Nick hits a 450 from the turnbuckle, sending Jeff through a table.
Matt climbs the long ladder in the Ring, and Matt Hardy meets him up there, 20 feet high. They exchange in fisticuffs, and Matt gets the upper hand. After knocking him down, The Bucks pull Matt from the ladder and into the turnbuckle.
They lean a ladder against the ropes, and place Matt across it. Superkick to Jeff, and Nick goes to the top rope. Matt is able to get him back to the mat, and hit a clothesline. The Hardys catapult Nick into the ladder, which bends the steel.
Matt climbs the ladder, and Matt Jackson comes in with another ladder. He fights Jeff off, then sends the ladder into Matt's ribs. He removes Jeff from the Ring, then hits a springboard DDT to the apron! Matt with a superkick to Jeff, and lays him across a table. Matt returns to the Ring, and climbs the tall ladder.
Matt Hardy stops him, and now Nick climbs another ladder. Matt pushes that ladder over, sending Nick onto the taller ladder, which falls over and sends Nick flying to the outside with a senton that crushes Jeff through a table. Wild.
Matt climbs the ladder again, and Matt Jackson meets him there. They punch back and forth. Their ladder topples over, and both men fall into the top rope. All four men are back in the Ring. Jeff and Nick go up on, while Matt and Matt climb the other. Fisticuffs engaged from both teams!
Dueling chants of "Delete" and "Suck It." Matt falls off his ladder, and comes off the ropes to knock the other over, sending Nick to the outside, and Jeff onto the other ladder. More forearms and punches follow. Double clothesline from Jeff and Nick.
Matt Hardy grabs Matt Jackson and pushes him off the tall ladder, sending him crashing through the two Tables at ringside. Matt climbs the ladder, and Nick springboards off the ropes to land on the ladder. He clobbers Matt's head, and now both Hardys double team Nick.
Nick with a Tornado kick, a forearm and a superkick to both Hardys. The Bucks counter Whisper in the Wind with a pair of superkicks, followed by ones to Matt, who takes both down with a double clothesline. Matt rushes Matt Hardy, who sends him to the outside through a table. Conversely, Nick sends Jeff to the outside, also through a table.
On the apron, Matt hits the Side Effect on Nick through a table! Both teams return to the Ring, and all four men climb the ladders, one team on each. The Bucks are up the taller ladder. They strike each other with intent to harm. The Bucks superkick the Hardys from their ladder, knocking them to the mat, and they're able to grab the titles to win the match.
This was okay. I've watched this a few times since it happened, and each time, I always hope that something will grab my attention and see this as a classic. It never happens. I don't think the work is bad, but it feels like most of the match is just one move to the next, instead of a natural flow from spot to spot. I enjoy The Young Bucks, so that's not really a bad thing. But this match is not an all time classic.
It is worth watching simply because of the site of the Bucks, who were red hot at this time, going against the Hardys, who were 24 hours away from making a monumental return to WWE at WrestleMania 33. This was the peak of their hot run as the Broken Hardys, and on this night, two major acts in wrestling collided in Ring of Honor. That alone is a sight worth seeing.