Team Extreme Clears Up the Rumors

ATLANTA - Matt Hardy, Jeff Hardy and Lita made their full-time return to the World Wrestling Federation on Sunday at the Royal Rumble, after being off television since mid-December, but contrary to widespread reports, their absence was not for disciplinary reasons, as has been rumored on the Internet.

"I haven't seen one ounce of truth on there," said Matt Hardy, referring to the Internet.

Another inaccuracy, according to Matt: "The big thing going around is that Vince McMahon asked us to have a cruiserweight-style match at Vengeance at we defied him, which is completely absurd."

In interviews with all three superstars, they said the main reason that they were taken off the road was for creative reasons.

As a tag team, the Hardy Boyz had done just about everything they could. They had wrestled the Dudley Boyz innumerable times, in just about every kind of match imaginable. So, the thinking went, maybe it was time to break them up and launch their respective singles careers. The fans disagreed.

"The last thing people wanted to see us do is fight," Lita said.

But a singles match between Matt and Jeff, with Lita as the special referee, was scheduled for the Vengeance Pay-Per-View on Dec. 9. Fans simply did not want to see a breakup; the crowd at the San Diego Sports Arena was noticeably quiet during the match.

"It felt awkward enough to be the referee because I've never done it before," Lita said. "And then the crowd was dead silent."

It became obvious to all three members of Team Extreme - not to mention Federation officials and fans - that it wasn't the right time to split up the Hardyz.

"If we'd break up, there's no place for us to go right now," Matt said. "There are so many singles guys right now."

Agreed Jeff, "I'm confident about wrestling in singles, but when you break it down, there's no sense in it."

So in episodes of Raw and SmackDown! subsequent to Vengeance, the seeds were planted for a Hardy Boyz reunion. First, on a Raw episode, Undertaker destroyed Jeff and Lita - while Matt looked on in horror from WWF New York. On the following episode of SmackDown, Matt challenged 'Taker to a match to avenge their beatings, but 'Taker brutalized Matt as well.

Since then, they hadn't been seen on Federation television. In the short time they've been away, at least two tag teams - Scotty 2 Hotty & Albert and Chuck & Billy - had been further established and another team that the Hardyz never faced, Tazz & Spike Dudley, won the Tag Team Championship. It gives the Hardyz potential new opponents.

Meanwhile, the Hardy Boyz have been teaming up again on non-televised house shows, and based on the reactions they've been getting, it's safe to say that fans are excited about them coming back, together.

"It's odd that all these negative things came up on the Internet because to me it was so obvious why we were taken off television," Lita said. "It's a cool way to be new, but still be the same Team Extreme that you know and love."

One of the first Web sites that strongly implied that Team Extreme was being punished was one that is run by a fan of Lita's. Although Lita knows the fan, and gave her permission to put up a Web site, Lita said she gave no information to the site's Web master.

"I don't have a computer, so I didn't even know about it until it was taken down," Lita said.

Lita said she assumed that the site would be more of a compilation-type site, with general information for Lita's fans.

"So I said (to the fan who created it), Hey, sure, go ahead," Lita said. "And I never checked on it myself."

Lita said she hasn't had any problems with the site before and still is more than happy that fans would take the time to support her. Just as long as they don't say or imply that information on the site is coming directly from her.

But all the members of Team Extreme agree that their time off was a good thing. Nobody on the Federation roster is asked to participate in more appearances and after three straight years (for Matt and Jeff; almost two for Lita) of traveling, they said that the time off was an unprecedented opportunity to recharge their batteries.

"It was a great chance to be at home and let your body heal and actually have time to do stuff, besides just the necessities," said Matt.

For example, Matt said he talked to several housing contractors because he's getting ready to build a new house in his hometown of Cameron, N.C.

On her "time off," Lita traveled to London to promote Royal Rumble, which aired live at 1am in the United Kingdom. She has now been there three times on behalf of the Federation.

Jeff said he worked on the elaborate landscaping in his yard; the volcano is now three times as big. Jeff admits that he may have needed the time off more than anybody.

"Whenever Matt says he loves wrestling more than life, he means it," Jeff said.

On the other hand, Jeff, who says he has other interests besides wrestling, admits that he was feeling burnt out and needed a break. He also admits that he has had trouble being on time for shows.

"It's not that I don't care," he said. "I'm late all around, at home, at the bank. I'm laid back and I guess it leads to lateness. If there's such a thing as a rehab for late people, maybe I should check in."

But Jeff says he intends to do a better job of being on time, especially now that he's more excited about getting in the ring than he has been in months.

"When I was watching SmackDown, I actually got that feeling that I haven't gotten in a long time," he said. "That motivational feeling like, holy shit, I want to be in the ring."