Nerd Watch Wednesday: The Undertaker vs Jeff Hardy (Smackdown, 11th november 2008)

Nov 11, 20205 min read

By Ross Casey

"For the foreseeable future, Nerd Watch Wednesday's will feature a match that fell 'on this day' and this week I have picked one filmed 12 years ago today on the 11th November 2008 but aired three days later on the 14th. It had certainly slipped my memory - an Extreme Rules match on Smackdown between Jeff Hardy and The Undertaker from Manchester, England. I'm looking forward to seeing how it fares against their RAW banger from 2002."

EXTREME RULES MATCH: UNDERTAKER vs JEFF HARDY

The previous week, GM Vickie Guerrero had slyly suggested to Jeff Hardy that he wasn't extreme anymore. He responded by beating the shit out of Vladimir Kozlov and The Undertaker in the main event and challenging her to make an Extreme Rules match for him and the dead man next week. Vickie obliged and here we are!

The Undertaker starts Smackdown off cutting a promo inside a coffin in the ring on his Survivor Series opponent the Big Show because why not?! He is interrupted by Jeff on the Titantron, who warns Taker not to overlook his opponent tonight, because it will be EXTREME.

Later in the episode Vladimir Kozlov and Triple H are undergoing their contract signing for their WWE Championship match at Survivor Series. Kozlov spoke in his native tongue, so the English fans booed him and Triple H explained that no one can understand him.

Kozlov breaks into English and says to listen to him - he is going to destroy HHH and become the undefeated champion. Just as he says that Jeff Hardy arrives off the turnbuckle, leg-dropping the contender through the table and ripping up the just signed contract in front of a bewildered Triple H and the crowd love it.

Tell you what, Vickie Guerrero is really bringing the best out of Jeff Hardy. Nyla Rose needs to buck her ideas up.

Jeff Hardy is out first to a huge pop from the Manchester crowd as Jim Ross states "He is tired of being sorry and from now on - he lives in a world of grey." That's a great explanation of a tweener.

Undertaker also receives a good pop from the crowd as JR says, "Hardy may live in a world of grey, but Taker lives in a world of black." Bloody good, that. We then see footage of Hardy costing Undertaker his match last week and hitting him with a huge chair shot to the head. Here we go lads, it's Extreme Rules time!

Jeff Hardy intelligently starts the match by utilising his speed, which Taker struggles to live with of course and ends up on the wrong end of several running strikes, a clothesline over the top rope and a beam walk crossbody off the barrier. The Extreme Enigma goes for a jumping nothing off the barrier again, but this time gets slammed into the steps for his lack of imagination.

The pace of the match slows dramatically once The Undertaker takes control of the match as he systematically takes Hardy apart with strikes, not allowing the much quicker opponent to gain any distance from him. The highlight of this portion of the match is when Taker legdrops a chair into the sternum of Jeff Hardy on the apron.

Jeff Hardy responds by grabbing a Kendo Stick and striking Taker with it over 10 times... now we are getting extreme! Taker fights back and we get some brawling outside of the ring which includes Hardy flying off the ring steps into Taker, bouncing off and landing on the concrete on the other side of the barrier. That looked like a rough fall.

Taker goes for Old School, but falls nuts first on the ropes after being pushed by Hardy. Jeff then goes for a ladder under the ring only to get twatted with it himself. He battles his way back into contention though and lands Whisper In The Wind, before Big Show interferes.

He throws Jeff out of the ring and chokeslams Taker. Hardy gets to the apron and is grappling with the former Giant, giving Taker the opportunity to hit Show with a chairshot to the back and out send him out of the ring.

Jeff then hits Taker with a heinous chair shot to the head and follows up with a leg drop from the ladder for the win! Holy shit, Jeff just beat Taker clean(ish)!!!

Post match Vickie applauds Jeff's efforts but says she never gave him a shot if he won that match. If he truly wants a title opportunity, he will have to beat Triple H next week to make the Survivor Series bout a triple threat. Jeff responds saying fine with him, but if he doesn't get a shot after beating Triple H - he will have to get extreme on her.

WINNER: JEFF HARDY BY LEG DROP OFF THE LADDER

THOUGHTS: This was a blast to watch and whilst it didn't have the raw emotion of their Raw match, it served a good story and really highlighted the progression of his character. Six years previous, he went into his match against Taker with an inferiority complex, in this one, he went for the throat from the off, soaked up what Taker had to offer and eventually beat him using Extreme Rules. This 'new' Jeff Hardy is ready for the top and taker just put him over to prove it. Great stuff.