“Anything and everything can happen on the road to WrestleMania,” and the first half hour of Smackdown certainly proved it this week. The show opened with Vince McMahon replacing Kofi Kingston with a returning Kevin Owens in the WWE Championship match against Daniel Bryan at Fastlane, and that was immediately followed by the return of Matt Hardy and the Hardy Boyz.
Despite an earlier advertised Cesaro vs. Johnny Gargano match, Matt and Jeff Hardy showed up as unexpected opponents for The Bar and made quick work of them in the show’s first match. Matt looks like he fixed whatever was “broken,” or took enough naps during his time away to be “woken” without all the laughing and teleporting.
Watch the return below.
Hardy has been away from the ring since last August, when he said that he’d “most likely” retired. He began working backstage as an agent and even got an in-ring send-off at a WWE Live event, but, well … you know how pro wrestling retirements work.
Matt looks like he’s in great shape, so don’t be surprised if the Hardy Boyz Classic end up competing somewhere on the WrestleMania 35 card. Fingers crossed that whatever world the Hardys decide to build this time doesn’t get eaten by Bray Wyatt.
