Jeff Hardy made his WWE debut at aged 16, making him one of the youngest wrestlers in WWE history. The future WWE Champion started his career off early but would make the most of his opportunity. He was later signed alongside his brother to a developmental contract and they soon became one of the top tag teams in the world.
They won multiple tag team titles in their career but it was Jeff Hardy who would become a bigger star. He won the WWE Championship and World Heavyweight Championship in the company and was one of the most popular wrestlers of all time. He became one of the few men to outsell John Cena in merchandise, a heroic feat when up against one of the greatest WWE superstars of all time.
In this article, we’ll look through the WWE debut of “The Charismatic Enigma”. We’ll look at his first match in WWE, who Jeff Hardy faced in that match and what he lied about to get his shot in the ring with a future WWE Hall of Famer.
Jeff Hardy WWE Debut
Jeff Hardy’s WWE Debut took place on May 23rd, 1996 on an episode of Monday Night Raw against Razor Ramon. He was only 16 years old at the time and had lied about his age to get on the card – WWE would usually not high anyone below the 18, preferably a lot older when they had some experience in the ring and in life.
Jeff Hardy revealed on the “Broken Skull Sessions” that he was in high school at the time and had no formal wrestling training, outside of his own promotion. He told his classmates and teachers to “watch Monday Night Raw tonight, I’m going to get my ass kicked!”. He also talked about how he was paid $150 for the show, but gave $100 back to “The Italian Stallion” as a fee for booking him.
He only got the role as a jobber because the wrestler who was previously booked to wrestle had to pull out. He was named Keith Davis, which WWE then gave to Hardy to use for his debut. His agent told the company his was 18, not 16, to get him into the company and into his debut match with Razor Ramon.
He wrestled for a little over three minutes against the wrestler portrayed by Scott Hall. He was beaten up by the former WWE Intercontinental Champion for the entire match, due to his role as the jobber – somebody brought into the company simply to lose, to make the big stars look good. He lost in the end after being hit by the Razor’s Edge and was pinned for the three count. Jeff Hardy lost his WWE debut but became one of the youngest wrestlers in the company’s history.
The next day he would wrestle against the 1-2-3 Kid and would be signed full-time to the WWE in 1998, alongside his brother Matt Hardy.