Jeff Hardy vs. Samoa Joe I (WWE SmackDown) Match Review

On this week’s Rampage, Jeff Hardy and Samoa Joe will meet in the first round of AEW’s latest tournament. It’s a race for the Grand Slam shot at MJF’s World Title, with Hardy likely serving as Joe’s first stop on the road to that destination. As the graphic appeared on my screen, I laughed, shaking my head in perverse admiration for Tony Khan’s demented offering. Then I began to ponder their history, and quickly concluded that this was a Bound for Glory Series bit.

Upon exploring cagematch however, I realised that these two were frequent foes in WWE, reminding me of Joe’s “famous” promo that’s posted daily on social media. Hilariously, I’d still managed to forget that feud and so, I thought I’d explore those matches. We have four to work through, each occurring on SmackDown in the final few months of 2018. We begin on October 9^th, heading to Indianapolis, Indiana, which is ironically the host of tonight’s Rampage bout.

This meeting is part of WWE’s ill-fated World Cup Tournament, playing supporting act to The Big Show and Randy Orton’s main event. Now, the bit here is that Joe is just days removed from Super Showdown, sporting injuries from his latest match with AJ Styles. He limps his way to the ring, with both men receiving dramatic video packages along the way. Just weeks prior, Hardy had entered Hell in a Cell, quietly making magic with Randy Orton for my money.

At the bell, Joe swarms, seeking an early knockout as Hardy stumbles and staggers in response. He quickly finds an answer though, targeting Joe’s injured leg and forcing the big man to bail. We return from the break with Hardy working a headlock, and this is just fascinating. They soon return to their expected form, with Joe clobbering Hardy to the mat in order to regain control. He quickly settles into a hold of his own, grabbing another one before long. Indianapolis is rather quiet.

Hardy rallies regardless, making his comeback and “altering his offence to focus on the left knee.” They then spill to the floor, with Hardy evading Joe’s kick as he instead exacerbates the injury, swinging his left leg into the steps. Hardy pounces, further damaging the leg but eating a punch for his troubles. Joe can’t stand though, rocking Hardy but collapsing as he looks to capitalise. That forces a stoppage, which the people briefly boo until Hardy is announced as the winner, which they cheer.

Beast.

So, at eight minutes or so, this isn’t much. It is deeply weird though, which is why I often pursue such wholly unnecessary projects. Sometimes, you stumble upon things. You know, things like Jeff Hardy opportunistically working over Samoa Joe’s leg. The match isn’t totally that, but it’s enough that to be funny. If you were wondering, Jeff Hardy went on to be defeated by The Miz in seven minutes, with Shane McMahon ultimately being crowned ‘Best in the World.’

To translate, this tournament set the stage for some of the worst programming of an era filled with filth, so this latest AEW entry has an awful lot to live up to.