The Dudley Boyz, The Hardy Boyz, and Edge & Christian arrived at WrestleMania X-Seven after months of escalating battles that mixed ladders, tables, and chairs into one ongoing tag team arms race. The Dudleys were the defending WWF Tag Team Champions, The Hardys were the fearless high-flyers, and Edge & Christian were the smart thieves who looked for the perfect moment to steal the belts.
The match was TLC II, which meant the titles hung above the ring, and the only way to win was to climb a ladder and unhook them. No pinfalls, no submissions, and no disqualifications.
The chaos began right away as all three teams tried to clear space to climb, only to get cut off by chair shots and ladder attacks. The Hardys scored a big early statement when they trapped Christian between ladders and hit Event Omega, using two ladders to launch a leg drop and a splash.
The Dudleys answered with the loudest kind of violence, hitting the “Wassup?” on Edge and then crushing him on a table when Bubba Ray powerbombed Jeff Hardy down onto Edge for a brutal table break.
Allies for each team soon became part of the match. Spike Dudley jumped in to drop Edge and send Christian through a table, while Rhyno charged in with Gores that flattened Bubba Ray and put Matt Hardy through a table in the corner. Lita joined in and fought to keep the Hardys alive during key climbs, but she was stopped in dramatic fashion when The Dudleys hit her with a 3D to take her out.
Jeff Hardy then delivered one of the match’s biggest highlight spots when he climbed a tall ladder at ringside and hit a Swanton Bomb through two tables onto Spike and Rhyno.
Moments later came the image everyone remembers. Jeff climbed again and got his hands on the championships, but Bubba Ray yanked the ladder out from under him and left Jeff hanging from the straps. Edge climbed another ladder and blasted Jeff with a flying Spear mid-air, driving Jeff down to the mat in a violent fall that made the whole building pop.
In the closing scramble, Rhyno tipped a ladder and sent Bubba Ray and Matt Hardy crashing through stacked tables at ringside. From there, it came down to teamwork. Edge grabbed D-Von’s legs to stop his climb, while Christian climbed onto Rhyno’s shoulders, reached the belts, and unhooked them.
Edge & Christian left WrestleMania X-Seven as the new WWF Tag Team Champions, and TLC II became a landmark match that cemented all three teams as the era’s defining tag acts and created moments that wrestling fans still talk about to this day.
Join the Discussion
You must be logged in to post a comment.