Video: 18 Year Old Jeff Hardy vs. Razor Ramon in 1996

WWE has uploaded a video of an 18 year old Jeff Hardy taking on Razor Ramon on WWF Superstars in 1996. Matt and Jeff both debuted in the WWF in 1994 and were basically jobbers until they signed full time deals in 1998.

Via Wikipedia, Jeff apparently originally lied about his age and said he was 18, but was actually 16 when he wrestled his first WWF match.

He started on World Wrestling Federation (WWF) television as a jobber — a wrestler who consistently loses to make his opponents look stronger. His first WWF match was against Razor Ramon on May 23, 1994 in Youngstown, Ohio, with Randy Savage mentioning on commentary, “Welcome to the big time”. His ringname that night, Keith Davis, was the name of Razor’s scheduled jobber, who backed out on short notice. Gary Sabaugh, who had brought Hardy in a group along with Davis, suggested him to agent Tony Garea, who agreed after Hardy claimed he was 18 (he was in fact, only 16). The next day, he wrestled under his real name against The 1-2-3 Kid, and the match aired on the June 25 episode of Superstars. He occasionally wrestled as a jobber as late as 1997 (including a match against Rob Van Dam during the ECW “invasion” storyline) before beginning his first major run in 1998.

Check out the end of the match in the video below:

Razor Ramon vs. Jeff Hardy: WWE Superstars, Jan. 13, 1996

Goldust’s distraction helps Jeff Hardy steal a victory from Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon.

Another interesting piece of trivia is that Matt Hardy was Stone Cold Steve Austin’s very first opponent in the WWF in 1995, back when Austin was known as The Ringmaster. This match took place on the December 18, 1995 episode of Raw: