I'm a semi-avid reader of the occasional columns here at OWW. Though I haven't been coming to the site for very long, I love the columns a lot, namely a recent one on Cena written by JT, and I felt spurred to write this one. This will be my first OWW column, and I'm not sure when I'll write another one since I really don't think I'm the greatest of wrestling fans and/or analysts. I just really felt that it was my time to contribute a little something to the site.

That being said, this column you're about to read was a big moment in my insignificant history as a WWE fan. (I grew up almost solely on WCW and refused to get into WWE until around WrestleMania X-8). I started to really get into WWE and some of its wrestlers, and I focused a lot of my attention on the likes of Kane and Jeff Hardy, who both stand today as two of my all-time favorites, Jeff Hardy in particular. And this was proven to me after one very special match that you may all remember.

This column is a tribute to the feud and the eventual match that solidified my admiration for two of the WWE's biggest names. Let's first dive into the extensive back-story of the feud; the whole build-up, if you will. It all began in early June 2002.

At the time, the Undertaker was at the top of the business as the Undisputed Champion. And he was in the midst of his Big Evil streak that started with a surprising heel turn on November 26th, 2001. He captured the title from Hogan on May 19th, 2002, and from there weaved a bloody path of destruction that claimed Randy Orton as a victim on Smackdown!, as well as matches with Kurt Angle and Triple H. He was ready to focus his attention on the likes of Angle, Rock, and Triple H, who all wanted that title badly. But this wasn't without two big thorns in his side.

Matt and Jeff Hardy.

On the June 3rd edition of Raw, Jeff Hardy was upset that they don't "live for the extreme" anymore. Matt couldn't understand. Jeff called them both hypocrites. And he decided to show Matt what he was talking about. Later that night, the Undertaker defeated Tommy Dreamer, and eventually dumped the bucket of Dreamer's own vomit over him. As Taker stood satisfied, he received a hard dropkick from behind as Jeff Hardy sent him right into the pile of Dreamer's vomit. Undertaker immediately went backstage for him, but only found Matt. He then told Matt to give Jeff a message, and then proceeded to destroy him and throw him into a cement wall.

The following week, Undertaker comes out to the ring, and in classic heel fashion, makes a stage worker hold up his title. After addressing Triple H about their King of the Ring match, he addresses Jeff Hardy and what happened the previous week. He then calls out Jeff Hardy. Instead, he gets Matt Hardy with a ladder, upset at the disrespect he received last week. During this, Jeff comes out of the crowd for a sneak attack, but instead meets a Chokeslam. Matt runs in for the save, but instead is destroyed, and set up for the Last Ride. Jeff is back up, clipping Taker's knee and sending him down with Matt landing on him. The Hardys then proceeded to take down Taker with the ladder. Then came one of the highlights of the night: Jeff Hardy set up the ladder and to the cheers of the crowd, sprung himself off the top turnbuckle and over the ladder, landing hard with a Legdrop on Big Evil.

It was a moment of victory, but everyone knew it wouldn't last. On the June 17th edition of Raw, Jeff Hardy defeated Raven, as Undertaker watched from the stage. The two got into a stare-down after the match was over, but nothing happened. At least not yet. Undertaker had a match later that night with Matt Hardy. It was a complete squash match, but as Undertaker went for the pin, Jeff Hardy pulled the referee out of the ring and got involved with Undertaker. Raven stepped in, taking out Jeff Hardy and allowing Undertaker to win with a Last Ride. Raven then proceeded to handcuff Jeff Hardy to the top rope. We then watched helplessly as our favorite defiant Hardy boy was wailed on again and again.

For some reason, I thought the feud might have been over. Undertaker had gone on to a match with Angle, and a win over Triple H at the King of the Ring. But it was not over. On the June 24th Raw, Vince gave a speech to the wrestlers around the ring, though I can't remember exactly why. All I remember is that in the process, he gave Jeff Hardy a non-title match against the Undertaker that very night. Like most of us predicted, it was over after a Chokeslam and a vicious Last Ride. But, never say never; Jeff Hardy got on the mic, and challenged Undertaker for a shot at the Undisputed Championship, in a Ladder Match no less. To everyone's surprise, Undertaker accepted.

And the stage was set for the match that this whole feud had fueled. By this time, I was already deeply into the feud, even with all the other things going on in WWE at the time. And now the wrestler I was calling my favorite, Jeff Hardy, was going to fight Big Evil for the biggest prize in Sports Entertainment. I was hooked, as I hope many of you were as well.

Something nagged at me, however. This wouldn't just be another semi-squash match, would it" I mean, it seemed pretty obvious to everyone that Undertaker was going to leave RAW as the champion. Some of the more cynical of us probably even thought the match would be just another "put the champ in a match with a useless wrestler" matches. I only hoped it wasn't.

Already I was psyched up. I was laughing from how awesome the match began. This could not be a bad match, could it" Even with the standard prattling that Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler were making about how Undertaker has never been in a ladder match, or about history possibly being changed that night. It had to be a good match.

And it was, but it didn't seem like it at first. Jeff Hardy dropkicked the ladder onto Taker, and was writhing in pain moments later as the ladder connected to his face, ribs, and sent him to the announce table. The match hadn't even gone 5 minutes, and Hardy was already on the floor, Taker climbing the first two steps. It was over. But Undertaker wanted to destroy this kid. He promised Jeff Hardy wouldn't stand again that night. It was all that we could have expected from this match of David vs. Goliath.

As Hardy was smashed into the announce table, he received several chair hits to the ribs. He was kicked, and he was kneed, he was smashed onto the ladder. You could hear screams of terror from girls in the crowd as Jim Ross went on about how he didn't deserve to have his career ended.

The match just made you HURT watching it. Just made you hug your ribs as you watched this kid take the punishment. But he kept taking it, over and over again. And then, as roughly five more minutes passed in the match, we witnessed magic happen.

Corkscrew. Springboard Legdrop. Hardy brings a much larger ladder in and goes for the belt. Hardy counters the Last Ride with a Hurricanrana and goes for the belt again. He's touching it. The crowd is crazy. *I* am crazy. And then he's hit with a chair. Chair shot after chair shot, and after that, chair shot again. I'm reeling in imaginary pain once more. Here comes the Last Ride. This is it. This has to be it.

Then came two of the loudest chair shots I think I've ever heard as Jeff Hardy countered the Last Ride with one hit, and simply blasted the big man with the other, leaving Jim Ross yelling "KNOCKOUT SHOT!!" By this time I was standing basically in front of my TV, rooting my favorite wrestler on. I listened to J.R. scream the words: "CLIMB THE LADDER, KID! MAKE YOURSELF FAMOUS!!" It sent shivers down my spine.

Typing those words and proofreading those words even sent a shiver down my spine. I watched Jeff touch the belt again, as J.R. screamed how close he was to immortality.

Chair shot.

Chair shot.

It was a deterrence. Undertaker climbed the opposite side. As my excited-ness started to go down, I watched Jeff Hardy continue to climb, even after those two shots. We could see his hand literally on the strap of the belt, ready to yank it down.

Neck grab.

Chokeslam.

It was over. The Undertaker did exactly what we all thought he would do, and defeated Jeff Hardy in the Hardy specialty - the ladder match - to keep his crown. But the fact was they kept us cheering the whole time. We knew damn well that Jeff was not going to win that match, but we were rooting for him anyway. We wanted to see this kid, after taking all that pain, standing amongst a roaring crowd with the top prize of the WWE held high.

But what happened only moments later was the next best thing. Undertaker almost collapses out of the ring, his body exhausted from going through the match, the ref trying to raise his hand as he just goes back to his bike. As it starts up, he looks back, and Hardy slowly stands. Of course, Undertaker comes back in, and like the sadistic champion he was, delivers a Last Ride. But Hardy wouldn't give up. Undertaker rode back up the ramp, and out came Jeff Hardy's voice via microphone. He belts out the words in a broken voice. "Hey!! Taker! You haven't broke me! You haven't broke me, Taker!! I'm still standing!!" He said the words as he was fighting to stand, mocking how Undertaker vowed to kill off his ability to stand that night.

Undertaker stormed back to the ring as Jim Ross was begging Hardy not to do it, noting how defenseless he was. Taker propped him up, grabbed his head, and pulled back his fist. About to destroy Jeff Hardy again. But then, he drops his hands away. He stares at Jeff Hardy, and raises Hardy's fist high as the kid's music begins playing. He lets go, and Hardy falls to the mat. We then watch as we can see Taker mouthing the words "That's one tough son of a bitch" and "You're one tough son of a bitch." Undertaker walks away from the ring with a genuinely surprised look on his face, looking back a few times, as Jeff Hardy stares at the arm that Taker just raised, his music blaring through the arena the entire time.