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In Support of the Tournament

This article was written by Phil Speer for WWF.com.


I love the Terri Runnels Invitational Tournament.

It's clear that not everyone agrees with me. I was reading some of the comments fans have e-mailed to us with their opinions on the past few shows. While everyone seems to agree that the New Brood (Matt and Jeff Hardy) and Christian and Edge put on great matches, some fans think that the two duos have been in too many matches recently.

I couldn't disagree more -- for several reasons, the most important one is the aforementioned fact that these two teams put on great matches. In fact, their matches are more than just great, they're phenomenal. I've been watching the World Wrestling Federation for almost 20 years now and I've never seen Christian and Edge's version of the superplex. Christian jumps on Edge's shoulders and then superplexes the opponent off the top rope!

Some of the moves that Matt and Jeff Hardy do, meanwhile, are simply breathtaking. Nobody does a Senton bomb better than Jeff Hardy.

I hope that the New Brood wins the next battle so that the fifth and final match of the series can be contested at No Mercy. I'd love to see these teams battle in what is sure to be a 15-20 minute classic so we can all see what they can really do.

Matt and Jeff Hardy used to wrestle on their trampoline in Cameron, N.C., and Christian and Edge have known each other since grade school. They've been working together practically all their lives, so instead of being just two superstars thrown together, the two duos really put the "team" in tag team. They execute moves together that aren't possible in a singles match. Like when Jeff springboards off the back of his brother and delivers a flying-sideways-dropkick-type move to the opponent.

Another reason I love the Terri Invitational is that we're seeing the future unfold before our very eyes. Edge turns 26 on Oct. 30. That makes him the oldest out of the four superstars! Christian turns 26 exactly one month later. Matt just turned 25 and Jeff is the baby of the group at 22. These guys represent the future of sports-entertainment and as far as I'm concerned, the more exposure they get, the better. Putting them in a tournament is a great excuse for having them in a match on every show for two or three weeks, and that's fine by me.

Also, there's no obvious winner in this tournament. Thursday night on SmackDown!, the main event saw Val Venis take on The Rock. Sure, it's great to see Val moving up the ladder, but from the beginning it seemed like the adult film star couldn't possibly defeat the "Great One," who's really on top of his game. But unlike that match, there's no front runner or underdog in this tournament. Christian and Edge have been major players in the company a tad longer than Matt and Jeff, but the Hardys have been Federation Tag Team Champions.

Will Terri align herself with the young Canadians or the New Brood? Only time will tell. But either way, you've got to love the tournament that's named after her.


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