[2001-02-01-WWF-Smackdown] Matt & Jeff Hardy vs D-Von & Bubba Ray Dudley (Tables)

[GSR]

Michael Cole welcomes us “to the extreme”, while Jerry Lawler says how we’re going to get “extreme”, this being a special episode of Smackdown called ‘Smackdown: Extreme’.  I never picked up on it when they were plugging the show previously but I wonder if this name has anything to do with ECW dying?  An early ‘Poetry in Motion’ on Bubba.  Electric Chair/neckbreaker combination on Jeff, both teams having early momentum.  After the ‘Wazzup’ diving headbutt, Bubba commands his brother to get the tables. Matt cuts D-Von off on the outside while Bubba sets that table up in the ring.  He lays Jeff across it, heads upstairs, but Matt grabs his ankle to trap him there. Low blow by Jeff.  Top rope Frankensteiner, D-Von moving the table out of the way.  The Dudleys with a double flapjack on Matt, this time Jeff being the one who moves the table to prevent his partner from being put through it.  Bubba crotches Jeff upstairs, he’s about to superplex him through the table when, from the opposite corner, Matt leaps off the top turnbuckle with a double legdrop through it.  It’s smart thinking with the WWF rules being that you have to “put your opponent through a table” not just go through one.  Matt pulls a ladder out from under the ring that he runs into the Dudleys.  The Hardyz set up two tables on the outside, Matt laying D-Von onto them and then climbing up the ladder.  He’s snagged by Bubba and next thing you know D-Von is up alongside Matt battling on that ladder.  Jeff runs at Bubba who hot shots him into D-Von and Matt who’re in turn supposed to go through the table, only it’s too far away and they don’t.  D-Von especially takes a real nasty looking bump, hitting his head on the side of the table.  Both were clearly meant to go through it so the match continues as if they had.  High backdrop on Jeff who gets some serious height.  Bubba drags him towards the back of the arena where he spots a couple more tables below the stage, getting that trance like look on his face.  The two fight onto the stage, Jeff putting the breaks on as Bubba was about to toss him off it.  Jeff battles back with Bubba teetering on the edge.  As he runs at him he’s caught in a full nelson and a ‘Bubba bomb’ off the apron sees the champions retain.

Matt sacrificing himself to save his brother by jumping through the table was a clever spot, although one that I wonder why it isn’t used more often.  He and D-Von were both lucky when they came up short on that table as they could’ve been seriously hurt the way their heads smacked it.

[soup23]

Some clever spots and also some that looked brutal. This was a great follow up to their Rumble match and actually did an impressive job of presenting a fun and satisfying match on tv while also leaving stuff on the table. The Dudley's look like they are really taking a step forward as the leaders of the division currently. ***1/4 (6.6)