Hold onto your wrestling belts, folks! Matt Hardy has some spicy thoughts on AEW and how he and his brother Jeff Hardy were, in his words, “mishandled” during their time with the company. Despite their legendary status, the Hardys felt their star power wasn’t fully harnessed by AEW, which seemed more preoccupied with racking up five-star matches than creating memorable moments.
Speaking on “Busted Open Radio,” Matt Hardy spilled the beans on their AEW run. “We had fans coming up and crying to us like it was 2000 all the time, but I feel like AEW is more focused on having a five-star match as opposed to having a segment that is hugely impactful and makes a moment,” he said. Ouch!
Matt joined AEW in March 2020, with Jeff hopping on board in March 2022. But Jeff’s AEW journey hit a speed bump when he was arrested for a DUI just three months later, leading to a suspension without pay. Matt shared, “Jeff messed up and he made a mistake and Jeff tried to repent for that. He did everything and he went and he got right and one thing I will say about Jeff [is that] I am very happy at the place that he is in his life and the place he is in his life.”
Post-suspension, Matt questioned why AEW didn’t fully leverage their in-ring prowess to draw more eyes. He chalked it up to a difference in vision. “It’s nothing to be hot about,” Matt said. “Tony Khan, great dude. I was paid great while I was there. It was just –- I think both of us, myself and Jeff, we wanted something different.”