Why The Hardy Boyz' Early WWE Career As The New Brood Was A Disaster
Ethan Hayes
Published Mar 28, 2026
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The Hardy Boyz are one of the greatest tag teams in the history of professional wrestling, and had legendary careers in the WWE, both as a duo and as singles competitors. Both Matt and Jeff Hardy hit unbelievable heights in the company, and really stole the hearts of fans worldwide.
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Whether it was the incredible TLC matches they had with The Dudleys and Edge & Christian, or the singles runs both went on that culminated in Jeff winning the WWE Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship, while Matt won the ECW Championship, there's no denying they had all-time great tenures working for Vince McMahon.
The end of their time with WWE, though, didn't go too well, with both men leaving on disappointing notes, and it's quite poetic, seeing as though the beginning of their runs in the company were also pretty terrible.
Breaking into wrestling at a very young age, the brothers regularly worked as jobbers in WWE at the beginning of their careers, putting over many of the company's top stars. They were background characters with very little going for them, but eventually they were noticed, and it seemed things were going to head in a much more favorable direction once they were signed as full-time members of the roster, but - despite a brief spell of success, where they won the WWE Tag Team Championships - things got off to a pretty rough start, when they were faced with the unenviable task of replacing Edge and Christian in The Brood.
Matt And Jeff Hardy Couldn't Replace Edge And Christian In The Brood
It's an unwritten rule in professional wrestling, but any tag team or faction replacing another, and just adding 'new' to the original name, is almost certainly destined to fail. The lazy creative and lack of originality immediately rubs fans the wrong way, and gets the group off to the worst possible start.
Things were no different for the Hardys when they joined forces with Gangrel, replacing Edge and Christian in The Brood, but renaming themselves The New Brood. It came off as a cheap imitation of the original faction, and unfortunately, the Rated 'R' Superstar and Captain Charisma were fantastic in the group. They left huge shoes to fill, and while Matt and Jeff have gone on to become one of the greatest tag teams of all time, they just weren't capable of filling the void that Edge and Christian left behind.
While The Brood was originally a vehicle to propel Gangrel to stardom, it quickly became apparent that Edge and Christian were the real stars of the group, and that's likely why WWE decided to move them away from the vampire, so the decision to align the Hardyz with him instead felt like a step back for the brothers.
Turning Matt And Jeff Hardy Heel In The New Brood Didn't Work
While both brothers would spend time later in their careers as villains, and Matt in particular managed to thrive in the role, turning them in 1999 just fell flat, and didn't make sense.
Having only just broke through as a team, the pair were still fresh, and audiences all over the world loved them. Fans weren't ready or willing to boo them, so having them transition into villains so soon after they established themselves as fan favorites through their high-flying, fast-paced style, felt forced.
Luckily, WWE realized this themselves, and quickly turned the brothers back face just two months later, abandoning Gangrel and going on to have one of the greatest tag team runs in company history, as one of the most popular tandems in professional wrestling.
The New Brood Gimmick Didn't Suit Matt And Jeff Hardy
What helped endure Matt and Jeff to fans was how real and genuine they felt. Sure, they moved around the ring like superheroes, and their intense style set them apart from others on the roster, but the brothers were down-to-earth guys that fans saw a little of themselves in.
They weren't built like Hulk Hogan, or as cool as Bret Hart, but they were grungy outcasts, and fans really took to that. So, the decision to have them align with a vampire, and become all dark, mysterious and brooding - pardon the pun - just didn't work, and fans rejected the idea almost immediately.
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Again, it's fortunate the company realized the mistake early, and the Hardyz soon ditched the vampiric stuff, just in time to create Team Xtreme shortly after, one of the coolest stables in WWE history.
