While The Hardy Boys did compete in their final scheduled appearance for House of Hardcore last night, it very nearly didn’t happen. PWInsider reports that WWE initially put a stop to their getting in the ring at the event and that due to other circumstances, Tommy Dreamer’s promotion almost went without a main event as a result.
The Hardys were nearly pulled from their planned appearance at HOH 25 after signing their WWE contracts but still allowing them to finish out their committed dates. They were given clearance to appear, but told not to wrestle. Dreamer then reached out to Ring of Honor and got The Young Bucks to appear to replace the Hardys, with ROH COO Joe Koff signing off on the idea in order to make sure that the sold-out arena of fans wouldn’t be screwed out of a big main event. The plan was to have the Hardys appear and then run an angle where the Bucks replaced them in the match against Dreamer and Bully Ray.
Unfortunately though, Dreamer got a call on Saturday morning notifying him that one of the Bucks was ill and couldn’t make it out. Several people close to the situation said Dreamer was livid, as he built the promotion under the mission statement of “No politics, no BS, just wrestling” and was now being left without a main event or big surprise on his twenty-fifth show in Philadelphia because another company had changed his plans which were in place before the Hardys signed.
Dreamer reached out to WWE late Saturday afternoon and explained the situation. Some people in WWE claimed they didn’t know the Hardys were supposed to compete. Things went “all the way to the top” and Vince McMahon and Triple H made the final call to let the Hardys wrestle, telling all involved to be careful so they wouldn’t get injured. The match went down fine and afterward Dreamer thanked ROH and Joe Koff as well as WWE, Triple H and Vince McMahon. He said that as far as he was concerned, House of Hardcore all owes them one.
