WWE cult hero recalls delivering brutal career-first to Brock Lesnar that ‘echoed through the building’
Jeff Hardy has recalled the moment he delivered a brutal chair shot to Brock Lesnar that stunned wrestling fans.
The WWE cult hero, known for high-risk, extreme moments in the ring, worked a program with 'The Beast Incarnate' soon after he arrived in 2002.
Lesnar was billed as one of the most powerful and intimidating members of the roster right out of the gate, and set his sights on The Hardy Boyz early on.
He brutalised Jeff and his brother, Matt Hardy, before the pair got their revenge by jumping the new arrival on an episode of Raw in April 2002.
Even with the numbers against him, Lesnar managed to toss both of his rivals out of the ring, flexing to the crowd.
But the Hardy brothers returned with chairs, leading to a very memorable moment.
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First, Jeff delivered a chair shot to Lesnar's face, before Matt followed up with a second to send him out of the ring.
"We were out there and Matt followed up with a chair shot. But the echo in that building that night was just crazy.
"Matt followed up, and (Lesnar) just went out of the ring. I was like the adrenaline was flowing because it was such a loud chair shot. He didn’t go down because he is a beast of a man.
"But then I think after that I found out through Paul Heyman that that was the first chair shot he had ever took to the head.
"And I was like, 'Oh, my God. I had no idea, but I guess I’m sorry.'"
Hardy went on to discuss the shock from the crowd after his chair shot.
"There was half a second of silence in the building, it was like time stopped," he added.
"It echoed through the building, it was extreme."
Chair shots were once a common move in WWE, but are far more rare these days, with most executed square across the back.
Unprotected head shots have also been banned entirely following the study of concussions and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
The fact that Lesnar stayed on his feet after he took a huge shot to the head from Hardy was perhaps a sign of his dominance to come over the next two decades.