The city of “Brotherly Love” will lack just that when twins Jimmy and Jey Uso go to war at WrestleMania 40. It’ll mark a rare occasion when brothers battle on “The Grandest Stage of them All” WrestleMania.
Here, we examine the brother-vs.-brother matches that have occurred at WrestleMania. Keep an eye out for our in-depth look at the Jimmy and Jey Uso feud. But for now, enjoy WrestleMania’s biggest brother-vs.-brother battles.
WWE WrestleMania’s Biggest Brother vs. Brother Battles
Heartbroken: Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart
Incredibly, it took ten years of WrestleMania before a sibling feud made the match card. WrestleMania X told one of the finest stories of sibling rivalry as Bret Hart and Owen Hart bookended the show with an intense and emotional story.
Owen Hart entered Survivor Series four months before WrestleMania X with his brothers Bret, Bruce, and Keith by his side.
Above Owen was a shadow he felt Bret had been casting for years.
The Hart Family successfully defeated Shawn Michaels and His Knights. It should have been a great moment. But Owen was the only Hart eliminated, and he was furious. Owen felt an accidental bump with Bret was the reason he was eliminated.
Owen challenged Bret to a match, but his brother refused to fight his flesh and blood. Christmas was ruined in the Hart household. The brothers managed to get back on the same page when they were handed a Tag Team Championship match against the Quebecers at Royal Rumble 94.
Bret injured his leg in the bout, and the referee had to stop the match. Owen was enraged. He unleashed one of the WWE’s most iconic promos when he said he kicked Bret’s leg out of his leg.
To make things worse, Bret won the Rumble match to earn a shot at the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and Yokozuna in the main event of WrestleMania X.
Owen vowed Bret wouldn’t make the match, and the Hart brothers were booked to open WrestleMania X.
‘That’s Why I kicked Your Leg Outta Your Leg!
Had a little Owen Hart "kick your leg out of your leg" vibes from this announcement.#AEWDynamite https://t.co/ADWSCXgsve pic.twitter.com/gGsWpGXWUb
— KayfabeKouncil (@KayfabeKouncil) March 9, 2023
As brother vs brother matches at WrestleMania, go, this is the one to beat on in-ring quality.
A red-hot crowd at Madison Square Garden was seriously into the contest and fully behind Bret. It was fast-paced, technical, and exciting throughout. Bret suffered a knee injury, but this time, it would be to Owen’s advantage. He targeted the leg and controlled proceedings.
Bret went for a victory roll, but Owen reversed it to win and prove he was the greater wrestler. Owen finally claimed to be free of Bret’s shadow.
Bret limped into the main event, where he beat Yokozuna for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Owen appeared on the ramp, crestfallen that his brother had once again cast a shadow over him.
The two feuded for the Championship for the rest of 1994.
Supernatural Brothers: The Undertaker vs. Kane
The Undertaker vs. Kane is the greatest sibling rivalry of all time.
In 1998, WrestleMania 14 was when the two brothers first met inside a WWE ring. The match topped off months of build sparked by The Undertaker’s presumed dead brother Kane revealing he’d been alive all this time. He hadn’t died in a fire started by The Undertaker when the two were children.
It was pure soap opera, at times car crash TV, but always gripping.
The masked Kane seemed under the control of the Undertaker’s former father figure, Paul Bearer. Together, they provoked “The Phenom” for months after he refused to ever ‘lay hands on his flesh and blood’. That sounds familiar!
The Undertaker was steadfast for months. But it turned out all his brother had to do to force his hand was nail The Undertaker in a coffin and set it ablaze.
WrestleMania 14 taking place in Philadelphia meant WWE couldn’t resist having Kane hit a pre-match tombstone piledriver on former Phillies baseball star Pete Rose. Rose was previously part of the Cincinnati Reds – a team known as The Big Red Machine. Kane adopted the Big Red Machine moniker himself.
It was an entertaining and engaging match but simply the fuse of the rivalry. Undertaker won the bout,..two. But the feud continued on and off for years. The two battled in an Inferno Match at Unforgiven a few months later.
This match got 1.5 stars in the Observer: “There’s nothing that flattens the pop more than the loser kicking out just after the third count”
Bruce: “It’s an idiotic criticism. You’re building 2 monsters. We’re telling stories”@DerekSabato @PrichardShowpic.twitter.com/obyj7QJVNm
— On This Day in WWE (@OTD_in_WWE) March 29, 2023
WrestleMania XX: The Deadman Rises
By 2003, Kane had stopped wearing his mask, revealing that the scars it hid were psychological. Undertaker was now a biker. Kane buried Undertaker alive at Survivor Series to rid himself of his brother.
In the weeks leading up to WrestleMania XX, spooky events seemed to signal that The Undertaker was still alive.
Kane refused to believe his brother would return from the dead. He made his way to the center of the ring at WrestleMania XX, visibly shaken. The Undertaker did return with Paul Bearer by his side and dressed as his “Phenom” Deadman character.
The Undertaker again defeated Kane in keeping with a narrative WWE had dedicated decades to telling. Undertaker was and always would be the ultimate supernatural entity in the WWE.
Hard Betrayal Leads To Hardy Boys At WrestleMania 25
The moment Matt Hardy turned on his younger brother, Jeff, was unrivalled compared to everything mentioned above. Matt unleashed an unprotected chair shot across his brother’s head at Royal Rumble 2008, which cost Jeff Hardy his WWE Championship.
Matt revealed he was behind a series of unfortunate events that Jeff had suffered. Ranging from a car accident and an attack in a stairwell to a mistimed pyro and a house fire. The latter, Matt bragged, resulted in the death of Jeff’s dog.
Matt claimed he was sick of protecting his troubled brother for his whole life. He was also unable to swallow the fact that his career had been mediocre compared to Jeff.
Jeff accused Matt of being sick and twisted for his actions. But claimed so was he. The brothers met in an extreme rules match at WrestleMania 25.
It’s been 15 years since the last Brother vs. Brother match at WrestleMania!
The heartbreaking Hardy sibling rivalry came to a head in a hardcore Extreme Rules match at WrestleMania 25. pic.twitter.com/qBsP8c83LN
— Wrestling Heartbreak 💔 (@WWFHeartbreak) March 18, 2024
Tables, Ladders, Chairs and Even a Vacuum Cleaner
An early highlight of the match was Jeff smashing a framed WrestleMania poster across Matt’s head. Matt had sulked about never being featured on a WrestleMania poster during his career.
Ladders, chairs, trash cans, and even a vacuum cleaner were used to inflict damage between the brothers.
Jim Ross said in commentary that Matt and Jeff beat each other so badly that you’d presume they were total strangers, not brothers. Jeff put Matt on a table, stacked a chair and another table on top of him, and then hit a splash on top of the lot. JR’s point is proven.
The match was a fitting reflection of the extreme brand of sports entertainment that the brothers became synonymous with. Jeff missed a leg drop from a ladder. Matt wrapped a chair around the neck of his brother and drove him into the canvas with a twist of fate.
Matt won the match, but Jeff still came out on top. Just two months later, he was the WWE World Heavyweight Champion. Jeff feuded with CM Punk for the big gold belt.
Matt and Jeff ultimately buried the hatchet and went on to win the tag team championship in almost every company.
Jimmy & Jey Uso Bring Their Brother Battle To WrestleMania
So, from a technical masterclass to prove which Hart brother is the better wrestler and the supernatural battle of undead monsters, The Undertaker and Kane to Team Xtreme Matt and Jeff Hardy show what made them famous in an extreme duel. WrestleMania’s sibling rivalries have been perfect reflections of the brothers battling in them.
Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso will step up to the plate at WrestleMania 40 to attempt to encapsulate their careers in one match.
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